USA Today printed an article (October 19, 2019) entitled, San Francisco is losing residents because it’s too expensive for nearly everyone. The article continued by stating that the “median home price of $1.4 Million, also $5-a gallon gas, private schools priced like universities and restaurants that cost nearly double the national average.” People are leaving San Francisco because it is too expensive to live there. The flight of the middle class has left the poor, the homeless and the rich. “In the Bay area, (according to the USA Today article) median household income is around $100,000. It is interesting that according to glassdoor.com, teachers in San Francisco earn between $42,900 to $77.1 per year resulting that teachers who work there must travel between 1-1 ½ hours each way.
But San Francisco is not the only city where the teachers who work there cannot live there. I have looked at a number of cities where teacher salaries mean that teachers cannot live in the places where they work>
- Seattle: Median home price $580,000 Teacher salary: $36.100 – $64, 6OO
- Denver: Median home price $425,000 Teacher salary: $32,400 – $$57,700
- Los Angeles Median home price $632,000 Teacher salary: $45,500 – $72,300
- Phoenix Median home price $280,000 Teacher salary: $28,300 ““ $50,200
Lack of affordable housing could jeopardize attracting highly educated workers looking for good schools for their children.
My book, Who Will Teach The Children? Recruiting, Retaining & Refreshing Highly Effective Educators proposes a number of solutions to this problem.