School district · Georgia · LEAID 1301290
Cobb County
Cobb County sits in the highest third of Georgia districts on estimated teacher pay at $81,518 (above 99% of in-state peers with reliable estimates). Per-pupil spending, enrollment, and budget for Cobb County come from the NCES Common Core of Data F-33 finance survey (FY2023).
- $81,518
- Est. avg teacher salary
- $16,624
- Per-pupil spending
- 106,703
- Students enrolled
- 99th
- Pct. in GA
Well above benchmark
Cobb County sits in the highest third of Georgia districts on estimated teacher pay at $81,518 (above 99% of in-state peers with reliable estimates). Estimated average teacher salary is $81,518, above the national average of $70,245, serving 106,703 students (NCES CCD F-33, FY2023).
- Upper-third pay in state: Cobb County sits in the highest third of Georgia districts on estimated teacher pay at $81,518 (above 99% of in-state peers with reliable estimates).
- 99th percentile for Georgia
- 76th percentile nationally
- 38% of spending reaches instructional salaries
- Georgia ranks #35 of 49 on the salary estimate and #4 of 49 on enrollment in the same reliable-district pool.
- Cobb County ranks #1 of 179 Georgia districts by estimated teacher salary and #78 of 179 by per-pupil spending. Cobb County pay #1 at $81,518 is not Taylor County spending #1 at $38,272 per pupil
- +33.3% estimated-basis panel FY2019→FY2023 (not applied to the FTE figure above)
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Instructional payroll mix vs Georgia median
Among 180 Georgia districts that break out F-33 program salary totals, Cobb County's instructional payroll puts 2.0% into vocational programs , 2.3 points below the state median of 4.4%. The mix below is the district's own F-33 program split against the in-state median, not a quality score.
| Program | Cobb County | GA median | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular program | 74.2% | 73.6% | +0.6 pp |
| Special education | 17.5% | 16.5% | +1.0 pp |
| Vocational programs | 2.0% | 4.4% | -2.3 pp |
| Other programs | 6.2% | 5.1% | +1.1 pp |
Shares are of this district's reported F-33 teacher-salary program totals (Z35–Z38), compared with the median share across 180 in-state peers with a positive program sum. NCES LEAID 1301290 · FY2023.
LEAID 1301290 · NCES CCD F-33 FY2023
Cobb County F-33 compensation desk
FY2023: $81,518 estimated average teacher salary · P99 in Georgia · P76 nationally · 38% instructional salary share. Nearest salary peer: Fayette ($4,305est. salary).
Salary neighbourhood chart for Cobb County
Salary neighbourhood · Cobb County
Cobb County already leads most of its in-state peer set; the chart plots it against the top and bottom pay poles for context (NCES F-33 FY2023, not a full state reprint).
- Richmond · low pole
Richmond · low pole
$52,647 est. salary
- DeKalb · near
DeKalb · near
$74,911 est. salary
- Fulton · near
Fulton · near
$74,921 est. salary
- Fayette · near
Fayette · near
$77,213 est. salary
- Cobb
Cobb · this district · top pay
$81,518 est. salary
Appropriate use & corrections
National salary distribution for Cobb County
Cobb County's estimated salary vs. every US district
NCES F-33 estimate, reliable-salary districts only
$81,518 Top 24% higher than 76% of 10,684 US districts
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $10K-wide band; taller bars hold more US districts. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source NCES CCD F-33 Finance Survey, FY2023 · FY2023
Cobb County in Georgia's upper-third pay band
Same 179 districts with a usable salary and a comparable per-pupil figure (NCES F-33 FY2023)
- Cobb County
Cobb County
$81,518 est. avg salary
- Taylor County
Taylor County
$60,600 est. avg salary
What this shows Cobb County ranks #1 of 179 Georgia districts by estimated teacher salary and #78 of 179 by per-pupil spending. Cobb County pay #1 at $81,518 is not Taylor County spending #1 at $38,272 per pupil
The same districts by per-pupil spending
Cobb County is marked; a high spending bar is not a high pay bar
- Taylor County
Taylor County
$38,272 per pupil
- Cobb County
Cobb County
$16,624 per pupil
What this shows Taylor County leads spending at $38,272 per pupil; Cobb County leads pay.
What stands out about Cobb County
- Estimated teacher pay here rose +33.3% between FY2019 and FY2023, outpacing Georgia's statewide +19.4% by 13.9 points, a growth rate faster than 97% of the 180 Georgia districts with a comparable FY2019 baseline.
- With 106,703 students, it is the 25th-largest school district by enrollment among the 13,149 US districts reporting enrollment data.
- A district of this scale typically enrolls more students than several entire states' worth of smaller districts combined, which is part of why the per-pupil and per-teacher figures here should be read as an aggregate across many schools rather than a single-campus estimate.
- Its total annual revenue of $1.84B puts it among just 28 US districts operating a budget of this size or larger, out of the 13,149 districts in the NCES CCD F-33 survey, a scale that brings dedicated budget offices, multi-year capital planning, and district-wide procurement contracts that a small district's single-person business office cannot replicate.
Scale composition for Cobb County
Cobb County enrolls 106,703 students (0.23% of the 46,412,683 students across 13,149 US districts that report enrollment in the NCES CCD F-33 survey). Only 88 districts clear the 50,000-student threshold used here - sparse districts in the 500-5,000 band cannot show a national-share read of this kind because their headcount is too small for the percentage to mean anything. Total annual revenue is $1.84B, putting it among 28 districts at this budget scale or larger.
Reported teacher FTE is 7,408, about 14.4 students per teacher (mega-cohort median 16.0; denser staffing than 71 of the 87 mega-districts with a usable FTE count, rank 16th densest) . At this enrollment the ratio is an aggregate across many campuses, so a single-school class-size story is the wrong read - use it to place Cobb County among other large systems, not against a 1,000-student district whose FTE is a handful of classrooms.
Instructional salaries take 38% of total expenditure on a $1.77B budget . Large systems carry central offices, transportation, and facilities lines that dilute the classroom share relative to a small district whose budget is almost entirely payroll - comparing that percentage across the enrollment cliff without this scale note misreads both ends.
Nearest mega-district peers by enrollment (same 50k+ cohort):
| District | Enrollment | Est. avg salary | Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memphis-Shelby County Schools · Tennessee | 109,797 | $58,671 | $1.74B |
| Northside ISD · Texas | 102,719 | $60,402 | $1.45B |
| Baltimore County Public Schools · Maryland | 111,082 | $93,213 | $2.45B |
| Lee · Florida | 99,354 | $62,187 | $1.55B |
| Polk · Florida | 114,483 | $55,504 | $1.46B |
This pay stretches further than the headline figure suggests
- Nominal district estimate
- $81,517.933
- Georgia price level
- 96.5 / 100
- National-price equivalent
- $84,480
The FY2023 salary estimate shown in the hero.
BEA all-items regional price parity; 100 is the U.S. average.
+4% versus the nominal figure.
Prices in Georgia run below the national average, so this salary has roughly the buying power of the national-price equivalent above. A district in a costlier state can advertise a larger nominal salary and still leave a teacher with less.
Regional price parity: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2023 all-items RPP by state. The adjustment applies a statewide index to a district figure, so it captures how Georgia compares nationally, not how this district compares with others in its own state. Compare every state on this basis.
How this salary figure is calculated
Full NCES reading for Cobb County
What the Numbers Say About Cobb County
Cobb County is a large urban school district in Georgia, serving 106,703 students at an estimated per-pupil spending of $16,624. Estimated average teacher salary, derived from reported teacher salary expenditure (F-33 items Z35-Z38) divided by teacher FTE, is $81,518, placing the district in the moderately funded tier of NCES F-33 respondents. NCES LEAID 1301290 references the FY2023 Common Core of Data Local Education Agency Finance Survey.
Relative to the Georgia statewide average of $61,790, teacher pay in Cobb County runs meaningfully above the state benchmark, a 31.9% gap, and above the national instructional-salary estimate of $70,245 (16.0% differential). Among enrolling districts in Georgia, it pays more than 99% of them. Georgia itself ranks #35 of 49 nationally on average teacher compensation, which shapes the funding ceiling districts operate under.
On the budget side, Cobb County reports $1773.8M in total expenditure against $1838.6M in revenue, with instructional salaries accounting for 38% of spending, a compensation-to-budget ratio that signals how much of each tax dollar reaches classroom educators. Regular-program teacher salary outlay is $448.1M, special-education teacher pay is $105.9M.
How does Cobb County compare?
Estimated average teacher salary versus a peer district, the Georgia average, and the national average. Pick any in-state district to compare.
Cobb County pays +15.2% more than Gwinnett County · per-pupil $16,624 vs $15,296
Derived from NCES F-33 teacher salary expenditure (Z35-Z38) and CCD Staff Universe teacher FTE (FY2023); a small minority use the documented fallback. Unreliable service entities are excluded.
Data-derived comparison paths
Find comparable Georgia districts
On pay, Cobb County sits closest to Fulton County; on per-pupil investment, its nearest match is Hall County. These are not simply nearby districts: each group is selected from the same NCES FY2023 dataset using a matching salary or per-pupil-investment signal and a comparable enrollment range.
Similar estimated teacher pay
Similar per-pupil investment
Out-of-state districts near Cobb County's enrollment scale
Two out-of-state peer sets for Cobb County: closest on enrollment (106,703 students here) and closest on estimated average teacher salary ($81,518 here). Rows stay link-disjoint so each axis is a distinct neighborhood.
Similar enrollment
Nearest other districts by NCES student count (floored at ≥200).
Similar estimated salary
Nearest other districts by F-33-derived average teacher salary, distinct from the enrollment row.
Enrollment and salaries from NCES CCD F-33; estimated teacher pay can diverge widely at the same student count because of state funding, cost of living, and local bargaining.
Revenue & Expenditure
Instructional Salary by Program
The teacher salaries behind this page's average are the ones NCES reports for 4 programs in Cobb County: the regular program, special education, vocational programs and other programs. Every program category NCES breaks out separately carries a figure here. Together they are 90% of everything the district spends on instructional salaries; the other 10% pays instructional aides, paraprofessionals, substitutes and other instructional staff who are not counted as teachers here.
Georgia Teacher Pay Overview
No comparably sized Georgia district reports a higher average than Cobb County, so this page is the state's ceiling rather than a point on the way to it. Only the state ceiling itself: among the 172 districts of comparable size, Cobb County is paid at the very top of the state, and the state average sits well below it. Texas and Vermont are the states closest to Georgia on BEA's price parity, which makes them the fair comparison; against a costlier state this salary goes further than its number suggests.
View all Georgia districts →Other Georgia Districts
Large-district sample from 178 Georgia peers with reliable NCES data; bar length shows pay magnitude within this slice.
This is a sample of 6 from 178 Georgia districts with enrollment and salary data reliable enough to compare in the NCES CCD F-33 survey.
Frequently Asked Questions about Cobb County
What is the average teacher salary in Cobb County?
The average teacher salary in Cobb County is $81,518 (NCES CCD FY2023), from reported teacher salary expenditure (F-33 items Z35-Z38) divided by the district's reported teacher headcount (NCES CCD Staff Universe Survey).
How does Cobb County teacher pay compare to the Georgia average?
Cobb County pays 31.9% more than the Georgia state average of $61,790. The district's average is $81,518.
How does Cobb County teacher pay compare to the national average?
Cobb County pays 16.0% above the national average of $70,245. The district average is $81,518.
What is the per-pupil spending in Cobb County?
Cobb County spends approximately $16,624 per student annually (NCES FY2023), covering instructional salaries, support services, and administration.
What percentage of Cobb County's budget goes to teacher salaries?
Instructional salaries account for 38% of Cobb County's total expenditure of $1773.8M (NCES FY2023).
Next read for Cobb County
Disclaimer & data sources
Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD). Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainTeacher
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| Sources | Public official public datasets |