California teacher pay is not keeping up with inflation. See average pay for every district
Inflation and rising home prices are biting into teacher pay in California.
Average teacher pay in California public schools rose to $85,856 in the 2020-21 school year, an increase of 1.6% from 2019-20, new state data show.
By comparison, inflation rose by about 5% from May 2020 to May 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, meaning that California teachers typically saw their real wages drop.
Over the same period, typical home values in California rose by about 15% to $657,000, according to Zillow.
Teacher pay was highest in Silicon Valley’s Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, where teachers earned, on average, about $145,200.
A quick way to adjust pay for cost of living is to calculate the difference between average teacher salary and the cost of the typically priced home. A teacher making $145,200 in Mountain View would have a hard time buying the median-valued home in Santa Clara County, which cost about $1,560,000 at the end of 2021, according to tracking firm Zillow.com.
By that metric, the best-off teachers are in the small community of Tulelake in northeastern California, where average pay last year was $75,027 and the typically valued home cost about $163,000. The toughest place to be — by that metric — is the Ravenswood City Elementary district in San Mateo County, where the average pay is $74,400 but the typically priced home cost about $1.67 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 $60,000 at River Delta Joint Unified, located in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The typically priced home in surrounding Rio Vista was worth about $485,000 at the end of 2021, 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 $91,100 at the Roseville Joint Union High School District. The lowest average pay was about $73,100 at Woodland Joint Unified.
The average teacher pay at Sacramento City Unified — where teachers are currently on strike — was about $83,400 last school year, up from $82,100 the prior year.
It was about $81,000 at Elk Grove Unified; $78,200 at San Juan Unified; $80,800 at Twin Rivers Unified and $80,600 at Folsom Cordova Unified.
Statewide, average teacher pay increased by about 11% between 2015-16 and 2020-21. By comparison, inflation rose about 12% during that time period, meaning that teachers typically are not seeing any real bump in their wages.
Average teacher pay depends on a number of factors. Pay 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.
This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 5:00 AM.