The increasing cultural and linguistic diversity in academic settings necessitates greater cultural competence on the part of teachers, and enhancing the cultural competence of teachers requires a greater understanding of both the level of cultural competence among teachers and the experiences that enhance cultural competence. Teacher educators and pre- and in-service teachers from two geographic regions in the U.S. completed a cultural competence survey, and their responses were used to construct a cultural competence score. Cultural competence scores were higher in the Mid-Atlantic location than in the Midwest location, and the scores of participants were positively related to the extent of three cross-cultural experiences (speaking a foreign language, having been abroad, and having friends from other cultures). ANCOVA revealed an independent effect for teacher group and cross-cultural experiences, but not for location. The results of this study highlight the importance of cross-cultural experiences in the development of cultural competence and the importance to institutions of higher learning of understanding the cross-cultural experiences typical of the locations from where they draw their students.