Here’s how teachers’ salaries in Merced County compare to the rest of California

Some teachers in Merced County’s largest K-12 districts struggled with pay cuts last year while others took home raises, according to new state data.

Across California, average teacher pay at public schools rose to $88,508 in the 2020-21 school year, an increase of 3.1% from 2020-21, data from the California Department of Education show.

Comparatively, Merced Union High School District, the county’s largest with over 11,000 students and 596 teachers, got an above-average pay raise of 4.2% last year.

The county’s second-largest district of Los Banos Unified, with almost 11,000 students and 508 teachers, also saw an above-average pay raise of 4.6%.

Merced City Elementary, on the other hand, took a pay cut of 0.3%. The district enrolls close to 11,000 and employs 499 teachers.

Meanwhile none of these salary adjustments kept up with inflation, which increased about 8.6% from May 2021 to May 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. So in reality, many teachers across the state and in Merced County saw their purchasing power drop.

Not only that, but over the same period, typical home values in California rose by about 21% to $791,000, according to Zillow.

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.

For example, it would take over four years for a teacher making the average salary of roughly $86,000 in Merced Union High to purchase a typically-priced home in Merced, which cost about $384,923 at the end of 2022.

This isn’t as dramatic as in other parts of the state, such as Silicon Valley’s Mountain View-Los Altos Union High School District, where — despite receiving the highest average pay in California — it would take a teacher roughly 10 years’ worth of paychecks in full to buy an average-priced home in Santa Clara County.

A snapshot of Merced County

Teachers in two of Merced County’s largest school districts made more than the average teacher in California last year.

That includes Merced City Elementary teachers, who had an average salary of $94,910. This is the highest of the county’s three largest district, despite the slight pay cut teachers received from the previous year.

Los Banos teachers also took home more than the state average at roughly $89,162.

Merced Union High teachers’ salaries meanwhile hovered slightly below the state average at $86,250.

It would take teachers in any three of these districts between four and five years’ pay to buy a typical home in Merced.

A yearslong trend

These numbers in Merced County and beyond fit into a larger trend of rising inflation that teacher wages have struggled to keep up with since 2015. Across California, average teacher pay increased by about 15% between 2015-16 and 2021-22. By comparison, inflation rose about 22% during that time period.

It should also be noted that any of the above values only represent the average salary in each district and that pay can still vary widely for individual teachers.

In Merced Union High, for example, while the average pay is over $86,000, the lowest-paid teacher made $57,572.

Average teacher pay depends on a number of factors. Pay increases with seniority, so a district with mostly 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 salary data is taken from a form sent to school districts each year. Districts educating the large majority of the state’s students usually complete the form. The figures used in this story show the “average salary paid” line from the form. That line is “the average salary that is paid to an employee on the certificated salary schedule. The average salary is determined by dividing the total salary schedule cost by “FTE,” an acronym for full-time equivalent teachers.

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab at its website.