4) The National Education Association says the average teacher makes $38,611 a year. Many grouse this isn't enough considering we entrust our 45 million public-school students to them daily. But it must be or else we'd pay them more. Sacramento, Calif., tries to hire police officers for as low as $23,904 a year, a plumber in the US averages $27,000, a long-haul trucker $33,580, a firefighter in the Northwest starts around $36,000, a lawyer with no specialty averages $69,804, a doctor $150,000