Fairfax Co. teachers can’t afford to live near where they work, report finds
Fairfax County teachers largely can’t afford to rent or buy a house near the school where they teach, according to a new report from the National Council on Teacher Quality.
The report said Virginia’s largest school district is one of the Top 10 least affordable places in the nation when it comes to new teachers and housing.
The average cost of a one-bedroom apartment takes about 42% of the salary of a new teacher with a bachelor’s degree, the analysis said. It considered data from 72 urban school districts across the U.S.
“It’s really hard to attract and retain great teachers when they can’t afford to pay rent or a mortgage,” NCTQ President Heather Peske said.
Since 2019, Peske said home prices in Fairfax County have increased 37% and rent has gone up 41%. But teacher salaries, she said, have only increased 16% over that period.
“What this means is that there’s a widening gap between teacher salaries and the cost of housing, meaning that it’s increasingly more difficult for teachers to buy a house or be able to rent in Fairfax County,” Peske said.
As a result, they’re more likely to live outside of the school division, which means a “longer commute, less contact with the students and families they’re teaching, and generally, more negative impacts on teachers, which increases the likelihood that they’ll leave the district and try to teach in places closer to their homes.”
Fairfax County is “one of the most rent-burdened districts in our sample,” Peske added.
However, the school district does have partnerships that help create affordable housing opportunities for employees.
Increasing salaries overall is one approach to addressing the challenge, but Peske said increasing salaries in the areas with “the greatest shortage” within the school division could also be effective. It’s likely to be teachers who work with either students with disabilities or English language learners, she said.
“Housing costs are rising much faster than beginning teacher salaries, and that means that this shrinks teachers’ purchasing power, even after they’ve had salary increases,” Peske said.
In Baltimore, Peske said it takes a beginning teacher with a bachelor’s degree 32% of their salary to pay for rent. New teachers in Anne Arundel County Public Schools spent 32% on rent too.