Many ESL teachers have been struggled to decide where they should teach. Some prefer big cities since there are many foreigners living in city and easy to access everything that they need. The international community and convenient life are really attractive to them. However, the salary in the big cities has been kept the same for many years, not like small cities they have been keeping increasing their salary to attract more foreigners to work there.
One of the recent teachers I have talked with complained about the salary in shanghai and Beijing, he said it’s just too low and many of his friends have given up to teach in China. I have to admit that it’s true that the schools in big cities don’t pay a lot to ESL teachers since they don’t need to pay and can even get good teachers. Many ESL teachers want to work in big cities is also a reason to make the salary low compared to the cost of living. As we all know, the cost of living in big cities are really expensive. For example, it cost at least 4000RMB to rent a one-bedroom apartment in suburban areas of Shanghai or Beijing, but it only cost no more than 2000RMB in a Tier two cities like Zhengzhou. It’s a big difference.
I think there is a big misunderstanding about the cities in China for foreigners. Many foreigners only know cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen. They think cities except that are all small cities, no foreigner community and hard to get services such as gyms, bars. That’s wrong. I can a Tier three cities or even Tier four cities is as big as the capital of the state in the United States. There may be not a lot of foreigners, but very easy to access gyms or bars. And the people are there in small cities are very friendly.
The most common salary in shanghai is 20,000RMB right now, most of the schools don’t offer free apartment or housing allowance. There are many schools who are in small cities can also offer 15k, sometimes even 20k and with free apartment. The 15k is a really different value in two cities. In Shanghai, you may have nothing left after one month with 15k, but in small cities, you may save 12k after one month. So that’s pretty clear if you want to save some money to pay off your bill or debt. However, if you just want to enjoy life in China and no need to save money, then big cities are great options.
Therefore, don’t just look at the number when you find a job, look at the cost of living in that place.
Generally, small cities have better wage compared to big cities and have more to explore. I know there are many ESL teachers who like to go to small cities, especially those cities in the south part of China or close to the coast. They have fresh air, lower cost of living and beautiful sight. Last month, I have an American teacher who got a job in Linhai, Zhejiang. The school paid him 18k after tax with free apartment, which is a great offer. Although the salary is good, not many teachers would like to go since they only want to work in big cites. I had asked several other ESL teachers, but the answers I got were no. Fortunately, the school got a good teacher and the teacher got good pay.
In conclusion, when you are looking for an ESL job in China, please think of what the most important thing to you, money or the city, then it will be much easier to make a decision.
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