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When Teachers Can鈥檛 Afford to Live in Their District: New Analysis Shows Skyrocketing Housing Costs Clashing With Stagnant Salaries

National Council on Teacher Quality

Updated: Oct. 23

Teachers across the country are being priced out of local housing markets by low pay, according to a new of 124 of America鈥檚 largest districts by the National Council on Teacher Quality.

Three key findings:

  • In 80 percent of the districts analyzed, a teacher with a master鈥檚 degree and five years of experience cannot comfortably afford a mortgage.

Even in districts where down payments are affordable, most teachers would have to devote more than 30 percent of their income to mortgage payments. In some places, monthly payments may be as high as 50 percent or more of teachers鈥 incomes, even after the increases from an advanced degree and five years of experience.

  • More than a quarter of new teachers cannot afford to rent one-bedroom apartments where they work.

For 28 percent of first-year teachers, the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in their district is more than 30 percent of their salary. In the 10 most expensive districts, teachers in their third year would still have to pay more than 30 percent of their income in rent for a one-bedroom.

In seven districts, a teacher with five years of experience and a master鈥檚 degree cannot comfortably afford a one-bedroom apartment. Five of those districts are in the Northeast and West: New York City; Washington, D.C.; Oakland, California; Portland, Oregon; and San Francisco. The other two are Hawaii and Nashville.

  • Teachers must save for an average of 10 years to make a reasonable down payment on a house, though the time varies wildly from district to district.

Teachers in Detroit can save for a home the fastest, in 2.4 years. In 11 districts, teachers can make a 20 percent down payment within five years if they save 10 percent of their salary annually. Almost all the districts studied in the Midwest and the South pay teachers enough to save for a down payment within 10 years.

The West and Northeast are least affordable for buying a home on a teacher鈥檚 salary. The worst is San Francisco, where it would take a single teacher nearly 30 years to save for a down payment. Even teacher couples have a hard time there: Two teachers with five years鈥 experience and master鈥檚 degrees 鈥渃annot comfortably afford鈥 a mortgage and monthly homeowner costs in San Francisco, according to the analysis.

Photo: National Council on Teacher Quality

Some districts have begun working to make housing affordable for educators. In San Francisco, city and school officials have committed land and $44 million for teacher housing complexes, the San Francisco Chronicle . Indianapolis has similar plans, according to . Generally, district leaders and other officials hope stable, reasonably priced housing options will attract talented teachers and reduce turnover.

The analysis used teacher pay from the National Center for Teacher Quality鈥檚 Teacher Contract , median rent prices from , and median home prices from the .

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