27-year-old first-grade teacher earning $63,000 a year: The 'majority' of teachers I know have a side gig to earn extra money

CNBC

4 days ago

When Maddie Baker told her mom she wanted to be a teacher, her mother had three words for her: Don't do it.
Baker's mother, a teacher who raised Baker and her two siblings as a single parent, warned her that teachers don't get paid enough to live comfortably — a reality Baker says she experienced firsthand, especially during the holiday season when her mom would go six weeks without a paycheck because of how teacher pay is structured around the break.
"I watched her struggle a lot ... But I'm the type of person that if my mom [tells] me not to do it, naturally, I'm going to do it," Baker says. "I have known pretty much my whole life that I wanted to be a teacher."
In August, the 27-year-old first-grade teacher from Rockingham, Virginia, will begin her sixth year teaching. As a teacher, she's slated to make around $58,000 for the upcoming school year.
But to work toward financial goals like building an emergency fund and saving for a house, she creates social media videos on the side, where she expects to earn at least an additional $5,000 this year, bringing her total income to $63,000 this upcoming school year before taxes, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.
Here's how Baker budgets her money from full-time teaching and content creation.
Being a teacher is a constant hustle, Baker says. Before she started taking content creation seriously in early 2024, she says she was always looking for other ways to make a bit of extra cash.
She spent one summer tutoring kids privately outside of school hours, and she takes on extra responsibilities at her school that come with stipends, including managing the school's Facebook page and website, mentoring first-year teachers and setting up the teachers' lounge, she says.
"The majority of people I know are doing something extra to try to make money," Baker says.
Nationally, 40% of primary and secondary school teachers hold more than one job, and 37% of primary and secondary school teachers say they struggle to make a living wage, according to data from the National Education Association published in April.
Baker's sister, a teacher and licensed nurse, spends a few days a week working as a nurse after school. Many of her co-workers have online shops where they sell crafts they make, and one co-worker works on their family's Christmas tree farm during the holiday season, she says.
In May, Baker took home around $5,000 before taxes and deductions between teaching and content creation, where she earns income through TikTok views, brand deals and commissions from Amazon recommendations.
She's very intentional with how she spends that money, she says. Instead of going to a nail salon, she does her own nails. She plans her meals at the beginning of each week to make the most of her groceries. When she first started teaching, she bought at least one coffee a day, but that quickly became unsustainable. Now, she says, "Starbucks is a special occasion for me," opting to make her coffee at home.
Splitting expenses like rent, utilities, household items and subscriptions equally with her husband, a truck driver who makes $53,000 a year, also helps her keep costs down. They don't have a joint bank account but share all expenses evenly, including caring for their dog Junie — a dachshund-chihuahua mix named after children's book character Junie B. Jones.
It's "a little bit nontraditional, but it works really well for us and the current stage [of life] we're in right now," Baker says. Paying for living expenses on her teacher salary alone would be challenging, she says. "I actually don't know how that would even be possible, to be honest."
Here's a look at how Baker spent her money in May 2025:
Baker also has $32,000 in student loans, which she began repaying in June through an income-driven plan after realizing the federal pandemic payment pause on her loan repayment program would end soon.
Baker's deposits are set up so her teaching salary goes into her checking account for everyday expenses, and her social media income — which can range from $0 to $2,000 a month — is deposited directly into her savings account, she says.
That was an intentional choice, she says. "I wanted to be really specific about not increasing my income just to spend more money, but increasing my income to be able to achieve some goals I have."
In May, she used $790 in content creation earnings to buy a Canon G7 X camera she had been eyeing for over a year. This upcoming school year she wants to prioritize saving money so she can afford a down payment on a house with her husband one day, she says.
Additionally, the extra income helps pay for supplies and small gifts for her students. In May, Baker spent $92 on teaching supplies. Last summer, she spent around $1,000 to make her classroom more efficient and organized.
Her school gives her a stipend that ranges from $100 to $250 at the start of every school year for supplies like glue and paper, but she says she's responsible for anything that doesn't cover the bare minimum. Last year, 95% of U.S. teachers said they spend their own money to meet their students' needs, according to the National Education Association.
"All of the organizational supplies I have in my classroom were things I needed to buy myself," Baker says. "In order for my classroom to function and for my students to be successful, I need those things."
Although there are schools that pay more and are closer to her home, Baker says she wouldn't trade teaching at her elementary school in the Shenandoah Valley for any other job.
From the students to the supportive community of teachers, "there are absolutely magical things happening at my school" that make the 27-mile one-way commute well worth the time and money, she says.
"I need a paycheck, but that is not why I do what I do and never will be," Baker says. "It has never been about how much I was going to make, it's about the difference I was going to create. That's always been my driver."