Analysis: New Los Angeles-Area Teachers Spending 85 Percent Of Income On Rent
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — As Los Angeles students settle into the new school year, a new study has found that their teachers are struggling to pay the rent.
An analysis from Zillow found that entry-level teachers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area are spending more than 85 percent of their income on the typical rent, compared with 52 percent for mid-level teachers and just short of 40 percent for the highest-paid teachers.
For those lucky teachers who do own a home, entry-level teachers spend 72 percent of their income on the median mortgage payment. Mid-level and the highest-paid teachers spend 44 percent and a little less than 34 percent of their incomes on rent, respectively. Home-owning teachers are in a slightly better position due to the benefit of low mortgage interest rates.
The median rent in Los Angeles is $2,386, according to the Zillow analysis. The Riverside area is slightly more affordable with a median rent of $2,017.
It's a similar picture across the country. The analysis found that entry-level teachers in 49 of the 50 largest U.S. cities are spend nearly 50 percent of their income on rent. In high-income areas like San Francisco or San Jose, teachers just starting out cannot even afford the median payment on a typical home or rental.
Just one U.S. city is affordable for entry-level teachers – Pittsburgh.