It’s often said that there’s a special place in heaven for teachers — but most U.S. teachers would settle for an affordable home. The struggle to find affordable housing is an issue that many Americans face, but a new study from housing economist Chris Salviati of Apartment List shows that U.S. teachers are shouldering a much heavier burden than non-teachers.
According to the study, the median income for pre-school and kindergarten teachers with Bachelor’s degrees is $30,000. That rises to $48,000 a year for those with graduate degrees. Teachers of grades 1 to 12 who hold Bachelor's degrees earn a median income of $45,000. Those teaching the same grades with a graduate degree earn $60,000.
That’s 27.4% less than non-teachers who hold Bachelor’s degrees — and the difference gets greater for those with a graduate-level education. Teachers with graduate degrees earn 33.3% less than similarly educated non-teachers.
Same education, less pay, less money for rent
As a result, teachers are increasingly burdened by their housing costs. “Nationally, 19.9% of primary-earner teachers are burdened by their housing costs. This is 21.3% higher than the cost-burden rate for households where the primary earner is a non-teacher with a college degree,” the study found. And this gap has widened over time; in 1990, the cost burden rate for teachers was 15% lower than that of college-educated non-teachers.
While teaching has long been a relatively low-paying profession, increases in housing costs have made it harder for teachers to get by. While rates of housing cost burden among teachers are lower than the national average, they are higher than that of other Americans with college degrees, and in certain parts of the country — particularly the country’s pricey coastal metros — teachers are especially strained.
Miami has the highest cost burden rate for teachers of the top 25 U.S. metro areas — 35% — followed by San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Washington D.C.
Several of the top metro areas show large gaps between teachers and non-teachers. “Certain metros are really kind of off the charts,” said Salviati. “And it's kind of interesting that cities at the top, with the biggest gaps ... San Francisco, Denver, places that have really strong tech teams and the college educated non-teachers, you know you are in these kind of high-paying industries, but then Phoenix and Tampa also are at the top of the list there; those are places that have had solid economic growth recently, so certainly good opportunities for non-teachers, but those are also areas where teachers are just paid very poorly in comparison to other metros,” he said.