Charts & Graphs

Living Wage

Teacher salaries in ancient Rome and modern New York.

Monthly salary for teachers per pupil in Rome, c. 301

  • Elementary school: 50 denarii
  • Arithmetic or shorthand: 75 denarii
  • Greek or Latin literature and geometry: 200 denarii
  • Rhetoric and public speaking: 250 denarii

Monthly mean salaries for teachers in New York State, c. 2007

  • Graduate school (teaching assistant): 2,548 dollars
  • Elementary school: 5,208 dollars
  • Speech therapy: 5,572 dollars
  • Physics (postsecondary): 7,580 dollars