What is the salary of a Visual Arts teacher?

Im going to school to be an art teacher - help please?

• Alright, so I'm currently a college freshman, and majoring in "Visual Arts Education" just meaning, im going to be an art teacher. I was wondering if anyone knew anything about employment rates, states where the employment rates for art teaching is good, and salary. I really want to be an art teacher, but I dont want to be really poor/without a job. I just need some answers for this one. Thank you much =) -Kaci.

• Answer:

  you should look more at individual school districts rather than states. larger school districts tend to support the arts better because they have a higher population to do so. i teach in clark county (5th largest in nation). every elementary school has an art teacher, middle schools have at least one or more, and high schools can have as many as 6. arts are still the first thing to go during budget cutbacks but the jobs are still there. many smaller districts have no art in the elementary, little or none in the middle school, and maybe 2 or 4 at the high school level. as far as the pay, teacher compensation is mostly relative to the area you are in. areas with higher cost of living have higher pay and vice versa. you're not really making any more money though. oh, and it helps to diversify yourself as an art teacher. if all you do is teaching drawing/painting then you're a dime a dozen. try getting into ceramics, photography, or computer graphics. you'll have a much better chance of landing that first job and avoiding the axe when budget cuts come.