March 2014: Teacher Salaries and Housing Affordability

March 2014: Teacher Salaries and Housing
Affordability

After a break of a couple
of months, we’re excited to bring back the Teacher Trendline series with one of
our most popular topics:  teacher
salaries. When we presented last year’s salary data, we received some well-deserved
criticism about adjusting for cost-of-living differences. This year, in
addition to our salary data, we’ve approached this issue in the last section of
this Trendline, by looking at housing affordability and teachers’ purchasing
power for each of the cities in our database.

In 2013-2014, the average salary in NCTQ Teacher Contract
Database districts for a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree is about $40,030.

At the other end of teachers’ careers, for those with master’s degrees
(which most teachers have), the salary scale tops out, on average, at $69,930.

The highest salaries, both
at the beginning and end of a teacher’s career, are listed in the tables below.
Click here to see a list of salaries for all 116 districts in the Teacher
Contract Database.

While there has been some movement of districts since last year within the “Top Ten” for lowest and
highest teacher salaries, this year’s list looks a lot like last year’s salary
breakdown.

It’s important to note
that several of the districts that appear in the top ten highest salary list– D.C., Baltimore City, Newark, Pittsburgh, and Harrison (CO)–have  implemented
performance-based pay systems. In Baltimore City, Pittsburgh and Harrison,
teachers progress on the salary schedule based, in part, on high evaluation
ratings. In Pittsburgh and Harrison, salaries are listed as a range; the higher end of those ranges
is listed above. In D.C. and Newark,
teachers receive significant bonuses based on performance, but because bonuses
aren’t the same as a salary, they are not included in the salaries listed in the
table above.

Pay increases

We also took a look at
the average pay increase for earning an additional year of experience and
adjustments for cost-of-living and other factors.

This year, across the 105 districts in which we could calculate
this year-to-year change, teachers received a 3.36 percent average pay
increase.

Highest and lowest average
annual increases

It’s worth mentioning that Sioux Falls (SD) had the largest salary increase this year of any district in
our Teacher Contract Database, yet it still ranks in the list for lowest
salaries. Clearly the district has made an aggressive step to move out of the
bottom ranks, moving from 2^nd
lowest paying district to now the 9^th lowest paying district for
starting salary and 6^th lowest paying district for typical ending
salary.

Putting salaries in context: housing affordability & teacher
salaries

Adding a bit more context to this discussion,
we looked at housing affordability for teachers. After all, if a district is near
the top of the list of highest paying districts and their teachers cannot
afford housing in the area, that’s indicative of unequal purchasing power
between high and low cost-of-living districts.

In order to look at housing affordability, we
created the “Teacher Housing
Affordability Index.” We used the American
Community Survey‘s 5-year estimates for
median housing values from 2008-2012 by school district geographic area to
estimate housing prices. Dividing a teacher’s annual salary by the median home value produced the affordability index. We’ve identified housing as “affordable” when the annual teacher’s salary is greater than one-third of median home value.[5]

It’s
clear from the graphic below that a higher salary does not necessarily mean a
more comfortable way of living.

We looked at the least and most affordable
districts based on the Teacher Housing Affordability Index, over the length of
a career for teachers.

The map below shows the Teacher Housing Affordability Index for a 5^th
year teacher with a master’s degree. The salary teachers earn at the 5-year mark
is an important milestone to consider. It is a common point in teachers’ careers
when many are making a decision of whether or not to stay in the classroom, and
their ability to buy a house may be an important factor.

There are clear geographic differences in teachers’ purchasing
power. In most districts in the Midwest, teachers can feasibly afford a home at
the 5-year career mark.[6] Teachers on both the
East and West Coast have relatively low purchasing power, with the exception of
a few standout districts in the Northeast (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Rochester and Buffalo).

To view an interactive map of the Teacher
Housing Affordability Index over the length of a teacher’s career, click here.

[1] First-year
teachers with a BA.

[2] Teacher
with an MA on the highest salary step.

[3] First-year teachers with a BA.

[4] Teacher with an MA on the highest salary step.

[5] The Teacher Housing Affordability Index is a blunt instrument for
estimating housing affordability; we don’t account for mortgage rates, down
payments or variability in location or housing types. 

[6] Fifth-year teacher with an MA.