Why does salary deter people from becoming teachers?

It doesn't!
I am a retired teacher and I have 6 teachers in my family.
No one ever thought about money.
Teachers do what they do because they love to teach and they love kids and they love to make this world a better place.
If you truly wanted to teach,money would not dissuade you.

I have to disagree with the previous post. Some people would like to switch careers to become teachers and make a difference, but they cannot afford to live on a beginning teacher's salary.

Some people don't want to enter the teaching field because there is the opportunity to make much, much more in a white collar job. I stress the word "opportunity" because of the lack of job security.

I've been teaching for 8 years and I am lucky enough to be in a well-paying district. My wife's pay scale is quite the opposite. My wife has been teaching for 5 years and it will take her another 15 years to reach my current salary!

Art lady is partially correct. If you were really meant to be a teacher you will find a way to make it work for you. Millions and millions of people learn to live very happy lives with much less than teachers. I have thought about it many times during my first year as a teacher and there is no other profession I could picture myself in.

That being said, you do need to put food on your table and pay your bills. That's where I agree with teacherjenn.

Perhaps the answer lies in where you live. Prime jobs are in well-paying districts with students whose parents see to it that their children do their own work. If your job is in Oklahoma, where teacher pay is 48th to 50th in the nation, and if your students have "entitlement issues", teaching can be much less rewarding.