Do local teachers earn enough? Search average pay for every district in the state
Average teacher pay in California public schools rose to $84,531 last school year, an increase of 2.2% from the prior year, new state data show.
Teacher pay was highest in Silicon Valley’s Mountain View-Los Altos Union High school district, where teachers earned, on average, about $139,100.
A quick way to adjust pay for cost of living is to calculate the difference between average teacher salary and the cost of the median-priced home. A teacher making $139,100 in Mountain View would have a hard time buying the median-priced home in Santa Clara County, which costs about $1,350,000, according to tracking firm Zillow.com.
By that same metric, the best-off teachers are in the small community of Tulelake in Modoc County, where average pay last year was $74,800 and the median-priced home cost about $135,000. The toughest place to be — by that metric — is the Jefferson Union High district in San Mateo County, where the average pay is $73,900 but the median-priced home costs about $1.4 million.
More than a dozen very small districts in rural areas of California paid their teachers, on average, less than $50,000 last school year. Among districts employing at least 100 teachers, the lowest average pay was about $57,800 at Fort Bragg Unified. The median-priced home in surrounding Mendocino County sells for about $440,000, according to Zillow.
Among the 15 school districts with the most teachers in the four-county Sacramento region, the highest average teacher pay last school year was about $90,300 at Roseville Joint Union High. The lowest average pay was about $71,000 at Davis Joint Unified.
The average teacher pay at Sacramento City Unified was about $82,100 last school year, a big jump from the average pay of $75,300 the prior year. (In a separate report, the state auditor listed average pay in the district in 2019-20 as $91,250 and noted that the district paid more for health benefits than other local districts.)
It was about $81,400 at Elk Grove Unified; $77,500 at San Juan Unified; $79,400 at Twin Rivers Unified and $77,400 at Folsom-Cordova Unified.
Statewide, average teacher pay increased by about 14% between 2014-15 and 2019-20. By comparison, inflation rose about 9% during that time period.
Average teacher pay depends on a number of factors, not just the relative generosity or stinginess of a community’s school board. Pay usually increases with seniority, so a district with a preponderance of veteran teachers would tend to pay more on average than a district with a lot of inexperienced teachers. Cost of living also plays a role, as districts located in expensive communities must pay more to attract talent.
Story updated at 11:15AM on 1/20/21 with information about Sacramento City Unified from a state auditor report.
This story was originally published January 20, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Do local teachers earn enough? Search average pay for every district in the state."