The authors use data from the 2025 State of the American Teacher survey to explore teachers’ perceptions of their work-life balance and its relationship with well-being. They compare teachers’ responses with those of similar working adults. The authors focus on female teachers because women are three-quarters of the teaching workforce and because of the documented, worrying patterns in female teachers’ reported job stress and burnout.

To Make Teaching Sustainable, Help Teachers Balance Work and Personal Demands

Findings from the 2025 State of the American Teacher Survey

Elizabeth D. Steiner, Ashley Woo, Sy Doan

ResearchPublished Oct 14, 2025

The authors used the 2025 State of the American Teacher survey to explore teachers’ perceptions of their work-life balance, personal and work factors that are plausible drivers of work-life balance, and relationships between work-life balance and well-being. The authors compare teachers’ responses with those of similar working adults to provide context for teachers’ responses. They focus on female teachers because women are three-quarters of the teaching workforce and because of the documented, worrying patterns in female teachers’ reported job stress and burnout.

The authors found that poor work-life balance—specifically a lack of job flexibility and more job intrusion—is highly correlated with poor well-being, and that teachers were consistently more likely than similar working adults to report experiencing multiple job flexibility and job intrusion challenges. Working conditions, such as weekly hours worked or access to employer-provided benefits, can affect teachers’ perceptions of work-life balance. Female teachers’ greater time spent on household chores and child care, relative to male teachers, appears to contribute to worse well-being.

Although fewer than one-half of teachers reported that their school or district was making efforts to help teachers balance work and life, these teachers highlighted ease of taking time off, schedule flexibility, and access to classroom coverage as supports that could improve their perceptions of their work-life balance.

Key Findings

  • In 2025, teachers reported less job flexibility than similar working adults. Three times as many teachers as similar working adults said that it was difficult to change their work schedule or attend to personal or family matters while at work.
  • More teachers than similar working adults reported that their job intruded on their home life. Forty-six percent of teachers said that their job made them too tired for activities in private life compared with 13 percent of similar working adults.
  • Teachers experienced worse work-life balance than similar working adults, in part because they worked longer hours and spent more time on household chores and child care.
  • Female teachers reported worse work-life balance than male teachers but worked the same number of hours. Female teachers with children spent an average of 40 hours per week on household duties—about 10 more hours per week than male teachers with children.
  • A lack of job flexibility and increased intrusion of work into home life were each highly correlated with poor well-being for teachers.
  • Fewer than one-half of teachers nationally said that their school or district was making efforts to help teachers balance work and life.
  • Teachers said that leadership support for work-life balance, including adherence to policies that help teachers manage their workloads and flexibly use paid leave, improved their work-life balance.

Recommendations

  • District and school leaders should allow teachers to flexibly use their paid leave and provide classroom coverage to support instructional quality.
  • District and school leaders should consider offering flexible job options, such as team teaching or job-sharing opportunities, to teachers.
  • District and school leaders should provide teachers with benefits that could alleviate household responsibilities.
  • District and school leaders should adjust their messaging and expectations to encourage work-life balance and help teachers set work boundaries.

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: National Education Association
  • Publisher: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web-Only
  • Year: 2025
  • Pages: 24
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RRA1108-20
  • Document Number: RR-A1108-20

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Steiner, Elizabeth D., Ashley Woo, and Sy Doan, To Make Teaching Sustainable, Help Teachers Balance Work and Personal Demands: Findings from the 2025 State of the American Teacher Survey. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2025. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1108-20.html.
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This report is based on research funded by the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers and conducted within RAND Education and Labor.

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