About This Website
This site was built out of frustration. When I was applying to teaching jobs in Michigan, I quickly realized there was no central place to find openings across the state's hundreds of public school districts. Every district runs its own hiring portal — some on Applitrack, some on their own websites, some buried three clicks deep in a navigation menu. Keeping track of them all meant maintaining a sprawling spreadsheet just to know where to look.
So I built that spreadsheet properly, then turned it into this website. The goal is simple: give Michigan teachers a single starting point for their job search, with every district's hiring page one click away and enough context — salary data, school performance scores, distance from home — to make smart decisions about where to apply.
This is a free resource maintained by one person in their spare time. If it has saved you time or helped you land a position, please consider making a small donation to help cover hosting and data costs. Every contribution helps keep the site running and the data up to date.
How the Ranking Works
When you enter your zip code, the site calculates a composite score for every public school district in Michigan and sorts them from most to least desirable based on your location. The score is built from three components:
| Component | What It Measures | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Distance Score | Miles from your zip code to the district's geographic center. Shorter distance = better score. | Zippopotam.us API + district coordinates |
| School Performance Score | Overall district rating based on student achievement and growth metrics. | MiSchoolData (Michigan Dept. of Education) |
| Salary Score | Average teacher compensation derived from each district's collective bargaining agreement. | Publicly available union contracts |
The three scores are added together and districts are sorted in ascending order — a lower combined score means a better overall fit based on these three factors. Distance is weighted relative to an ideal commute radius, so a district that is slightly farther but pays significantly more can still rank highly.
The ranking is intentionally a starting point, not a final verdict. A district that ranks lower might still be the right choice for you depending on grade level, subject area, community feel, or personal priorities that no algorithm can measure.
Data Sources
All data used on this site comes from publicly available sources. Here's where each piece of information originates:
- MiSchoolData — Michigan's official K–12 data portal, maintained by the Michigan Department of Education. District scores reflect accountability ratings based on standardized assessments, student growth, and other outcome measures.
- Collective Bargaining Agreements — Teacher contracts in Michigan are public documents. Salary schedules are pulled from each district's most recently available agreement. Contracts are also linked directly in the results table so you can read the full document.
- District Hiring Pages — Links are verified manually and updated as districts change their platforms. If you find a broken link, please report it using the error button on the results page.
- Geographic Coordinates — District locations are based on each district's administrative office address, which is used as the reference point for distance calculations.
- Zip Code Lookup — Distance calculations use the Zippopotam.us API to convert your zip code into geographic coordinates.
Limitations to Keep in Mind
This tool is designed to be genuinely useful, but it has real limitations that every user should understand before making application decisions:
- Data collection is ongoing. Not every Michigan district has complete salary and performance data yet. Districts with missing data will still appear in results but may not be ranked as accurately.
- Contracts change. Collective bargaining agreements are renegotiated regularly. The salary figures shown reflect the most recently available contract and may not match a district's current offer.
- The score doesn't capture culture. A district's community, administrative style, staff morale, and professional development opportunities are impossible to quantify. Visiting a school and talking to current teachers is irreplaceable.
- Distance is straight-line. The distance calculation is geographic, not driving distance. A district that looks close on paper may require a longer commute due to highways, traffic, or geography.
- Charter schools are not included. This site focuses exclusively on traditional public school districts. Charter and private school positions are not listed.
If you spot an error — a wrong salary figure, a broken link, a missing district — please use the Report a Data Error button on the results page. Your feedback directly improves the site for every teacher who uses it.