Sacramento City Unified Teacher Salary Analysis

With the recent Sacramento City Unified strike, the California Policy Center conducted an analysis which compared Sacramento City Unified teacher salaries to nearby Elk Grove Unified. Looking at 2020 data from Transparent California, we found that Sacramento City Unified’s average regular pay for their teachers is between $81,344 and $84,407 which is about $2,000 and $10,000 more than Elk Grove Unified teachers make. When you include total pay and benefits, the difference becomes more stark at between $10,000 and $20,000 more for Sacramento City Unified teachers.

But that is not all.

Sacramento City Unified has a lower cost of living compared to Elk Grove Unified. Elk Grove is 12.5% more expensive than Sacramento. So if you adjust for cost of living, the difference is more like $24,000 to $35,000 extra in pay and benefits for Sacramento City Unified compared to Elk Grove Unified.

But it is also clear the district cannot afford it. Sacramento City Unified is $1 billion in the hole per their unrestricted net deficit. Sacramento City Unified has more in net pension liabilities than they do general revenues according to their most recent financial report.

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Brandon Ristoff is a policy analyst at the California Policy Center.