School district · Virginia · LEAID 5101260
Fairfax County Public Schools
Fairfax County Public Schools is in the largest third by enrollment among comparable Virginia districts (179,858 students in the NCES CCD F-33 cohort). Per-pupil spending, enrollment, and budget for Fairfax County Public Schools come from the NCES Common Core of Data F-33 finance survey (FY2023).
- $93,966
- Est. avg teacher salary
- $21,040
- Per-pupil spending
- 179,858
- Students enrolled
- 97th
- Pct. in VA
Well above benchmark
Fairfax County Public Schools is in the largest third by enrollment among comparable Virginia districts (179,858 students in the NCES CCD F-33 cohort). Estimated average teacher salary is $93,966, above the national average of $70,245, serving 179,858 students (NCES CCD F-33, FY2023).
- Large enrollment scale: Fairfax County Public Schools is in the largest third by enrollment among comparable Virginia districts (179,858 students in the NCES CCD F-33 cohort).
- 97th percentile for Virginia
- 87th percentile nationally
- 36% of spending reaches instructional salaries
- Virginia ranks #33 of 49 on the salary estimate and #10 of 49 on enrollment in the same reliable-district pool.
- Fairfax County Public Schools ranks #4 of 131 Virginia districts by estimated teacher salary and #20 of 131 by per-pupil spending. Falls Church City Public Schools pay #1 at $96,912 is not Arlington County Public Schools spending #1 at $27,287 per pupil
- +13.3% estimated-basis panel FY2019→FY2023 (not applied to the FTE figure above)
Keep this district in your shortlist
Save it in this browser, then return when PlainTeacher adds a newer public-data release. No account or personal details required.
Instructional payroll mix vs Virginia median
Among 131 Virginia districts that break out F-33 program salary totals, Fairfax County Public Schools's instructional payroll puts 40.5% into special education , 22.3 points above the state median of 18.3%. That heavier special-education share usually means more of the teacher-salary pool is tied to IEP-driven staffing than at a typical Virginia peer.
| Program | Fairfax County | VA median | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular program | 55.0% | 73.8% | -18.8 pp |
| Special education | 40.5% | 18.3% | +22.3 pp |
| Vocational programs | 3.6% | 6.1% | -2.5 pp |
| Other programs | 0.9% | 0.8% | +0.1 pp |
Shares are of this district's reported F-33 teacher-salary program totals (Z35–Z38), compared with the median share across 131 in-state peers with a positive program sum. NCES LEAID 5101260 · FY2023.
LEAID 5101260 · NCES CCD F-33 FY2023
Fairfax County F-33 compensation desk
FY2023: $93,966 estimated average teacher salary · P97 in Virginia · P87 nationally · 36% instructional salary share. Nearest salary peer: Alexandria (+$259est. salary).
Salary neighbourhood chart for Fairfax County
Salary neighbourhood · Fairfax County
Fairfax 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).
- Campbell · low pole
Campbell · low pole
$53,897 est. salary
- Manassas · near
Manassas · near
$91,689 est. salary
- Fairfax
Fairfax · this district
$93,966 est. salary
- Alexandria · near
Alexandria · near
$94,225 est. salary
- Arlington · top pay
Arlington · top pay
$95,205 est. salary
Appropriate use & corrections
National salary distribution for Fairfax County
Fairfax County Public Schools's estimated salary vs. every US district
NCES F-33 estimate, reliable-salary districts only
$93,966 Top 13% higher than 87% 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
Fairfax County in Virginia's upper-third pay band
Same 131 districts with a usable salary and a comparable per-pupil figure (NCES F-33 FY2023)
- Falls Church City Public Schools
Falls Church City Public Schools
$96,912 est. avg salary
- Arlington County Public Schools
Arlington County Public Schools
$95,205 est. avg salary
- Fairfax County Public Schools
Fairfax County Public Schools
$93,966 est. avg salary
What this shows Fairfax County Public Schools ranks #4 of 131 Virginia districts by estimated teacher salary and #20 of 131 by per-pupil spending. Falls Church City Public Schools pay #1 at $96,912 is not Arlington County Public Schools spending #1 at $27,287 per pupil
The same districts by per-pupil spending
Fairfax County Public Schools is marked; a high spending bar is not a high pay bar
- Arlington County Public Schools
Arlington County Public Schools
$27,287 per pupil
- Falls Church City Public Schools
Falls Church City Public Schools
$25,176 per pupil
- Fairfax County Public Schools
Fairfax County Public Schools
$21,040 per pupil
What this shows Arlington County Public Schools leads spending at $27,287 per pupil; Falls Church City Public Schools leads pay.
What stands out about Fairfax County Public Schools
- Estimated teacher pay here moved +13.3% between FY2019 and FY2023, trailing Virginia's statewide +17.6% by 4.4 points, a growth rate faster than 31% of the 129 Virginia districts with a comparable FY2019 baseline.
- With 179,858 students, it is the 12th-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 $3.72B puts it among just 9 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 Fairfax County Public Schools
Fairfax County Public Schools enrolls 179,858 students (0.39% 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 $3.72B, putting it among 9 districts at this budget scale or larger.
Reported teacher FTE is 12,676, about 14.2 students per teacher (mega-cohort median 16.0; denser staffing than 76 of the 87 mega-districts with a usable FTE count, rank 11th 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 Fairfax County Public Schools among other large systems, not against a 1,000-student district whose FTE is a handful of classrooms.
Instructional salaries take 36% of total expenditure on a $3.78B 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gwinnett County · Georgia | 181,814 | $70,765 | $2.85B |
| Hawaii Department of Education · Hawaii | 170,209 | $75,494 | $4.34B |
| Houston ISD · Texas | 189,934 | $60,017 | $3.06B |
| Palm Beach · Florida | 190,567 | $58,861 | $3.31B |
| Montgomery County Public Schools · Maryland | 160,554 | $80,717 | $3.83B |
Virginia sits close to national prices
- Nominal district estimate
- $93,965.88
- Virginia price level
- 101.3 / 100
- National-price equivalent
- $92,732
The FY2023 salary estimate shown in the hero.
BEA all-items regional price parity; 100 is the U.S. average.
-1% versus the nominal figure.
Prices in Virginia sit close to the national average, so the nominal and national-price figures tell nearly the same story here. That is not true in the most and least expensive states.
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 Virginia 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 Fairfax County Public Schools
What the Numbers Say About Fairfax County Public Schools
Fairfax County Public Schools is a large urban school district in Virginia, serving 179,858 students at an estimated per-pupil spending of $21,040. Estimated average teacher salary, derived from reported teacher salary expenditure (F-33 items Z35-Z38) divided by teacher FTE, is $93,966, placing the district in the high-investment tier of NCES F-33 respondents. NCES LEAID 5101260 references the FY2023 Common Core of Data Local Education Agency Finance Survey.
Relative to the Virginia statewide average of $63,048, teacher pay in Fairfax County Public Schools runs meaningfully above the state benchmark, a 49.0% gap, and above the national instructional-salary estimate of $70,245 (33.8% differential). Among enrolling districts in Virginia, it pays more than 97% of them. Virginia itself ranks #33 of 49 nationally on average teacher compensation, which shapes the funding ceiling districts operate under.
On the budget side, Fairfax County Public Schools reports $3784.2M in total expenditure against $3724.6M in revenue, with instructional salaries accounting for 36% of spending, a compensation-to-budget ratio that signals how much of each tax dollar reaches classroom educators. Regular-program teacher salary outlay is $654.8M, special-education teacher pay is $482.8M.
How does Fairfax County Public Schools compare?
Estimated average teacher salary versus a peer district, the Virginia average, and the national average. Pick any in-state district to compare.
Fairfax County Public Schools pays +16.0% more than Prince William County Public Schools · per-pupil $21,040 vs $17,479
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 Virginia districts
Loudoun County Public Schools is Fairfax County Public Schools's nearest match on both pay and per-pupil investment, which is uncommon: the two signals point at different districts for roughly 98% of districts. 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
- Loudoun County Public Schools$86,520 estimated salary-7.9% versus this district · 81,678 students
- Prince William County Public Schools$81,008 estimated salary-13.8% versus this district · 91,101 students
- Henrico County Public Schools$66,690 estimated salary-29.0% versus this district · 50,389 students
Similar per-pupil investment
- Loudoun County Public Schools$23,762 per pupil+12.9% versus this district · $86,520 estimated salary
- Prince William County Public Schools$17,479 per pupil-16.9% versus this district · $81,008 estimated salary
- Virginia Beach City Public Schools$16,561 per pupil-21.3% versus this district · $65,655 estimated salary
Out-of-state districts near Fairfax County Public Schools's enrollment scale
Two out-of-state peer sets for Fairfax County Public Schools: closest on enrollment (179,858 students here) and closest on estimated average teacher salary ($93,966 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 Fairfax County Public Schools: the regular program, special education, vocational programs and other programs. Every program category NCES breaks out separately carries a figure here. Together they are 87% of everything the district spends on instructional salaries; the other 13% pays instructional aides, paraprofessionals, substitutes and other instructional staff who are not counted as teachers here.
Virginia Teacher Pay Overview
The highest average among comparably sized Virginia districts belongs to Falls Church City Public Schools at $96,912. Fairfax County Public Schools sits in the upper quarter of that field at 4 of 128, nearer the ceiling than the floor. On BEA's price parity Virginia sits near the national average, so its salaries need less adjustment than most; Colorado and Arizona are its nearest price peers.
View all Virginia districts →Other Virginia Districts
Large-district sample from 130 Virginia peers with reliable NCES data; bar length shows pay magnitude within this slice.
This is a sample of 6 from 130 Virginia districts with enrollment and salary data reliable enough to compare in the NCES CCD F-33 survey.
Frequently Asked Questions about Fairfax County Public Schools
What is the average teacher salary in Fairfax County Public Schools?
The average teacher salary in Fairfax County Public Schools is $93,966 (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 Fairfax County Public Schools teacher pay compare to the Virginia average?
Fairfax County Public Schools pays 49.0% more than the Virginia state average of $63,048. The district's average is $93,966.
How does Fairfax County Public Schools teacher pay compare to the national average?
Fairfax County Public Schools pays 33.8% above the national average of $70,245. The district average is $93,966.
What is the per-pupil spending in Fairfax County Public Schools?
Fairfax County Public Schools spends approximately $21,040 per student annually (NCES FY2023), covering instructional salaries, support services, and administration.
What percentage of Fairfax County Public Schools's budget goes to teacher salaries?
Instructional salaries account for 36% of Fairfax County Public Schools's total expenditure of $3784.2M (NCES FY2023).
Next read for Fairfax County Public Schools
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
| Publisher | PlainTeacher |
| Sources | Public official public datasets |