Struggling to Live in the Communities They Serve: How Housing Affordability Impacts School Employees

Teachers and school district employees across California face stagnant wages and rapidly rising housing costs. These financial barriers impact teacher recruitment and retention in ways that have negative impacts for students, particularly in schools serving low-income and predominantly BIPOC communities.

A new blog post Struggling to Live in the Communities They Serve: How Housing Affordability Impacts School Employees in California authored by Research Assistant Shazia Manji sheds light on how entry-level teachers, non-teaching staff members like bus drivers and janitors, and staff members of color are particularly impacted by housing affordability challenges. The analysis also includes an interactive map that explores beginning teacher salaries and housing costs in school districts across the state.

This is the first in a series of blogs lifting up key findings, resources, and recommendations from our recent research report, Education Workforce Housing in California: Developing the 21st Century Campus, which was developed in collaboration with the Center for Cities + Schools at UC Berkeley, cityLAB at UCLA, and the California School Board Association. 

Read the full analysis and explore the map here.