School district · Kentucky · LEAID 2102990
Jefferson County
Jefferson County sits in the highest third of Kentucky districts on estimated teacher pay at $73,395 (above 99% of in-state peers with reliable estimates). Per-pupil spending, enrollment, and budget for Jefferson County come from the NCES Common Core of Data F-33 finance survey (FY2023).
- $73,395
- Est. avg teacher salary
- $20,696
- Per-pupil spending
- 95,171
- Students enrolled
- 99th
- Pct. in KY
Well above benchmark
Jefferson County sits in the highest third of Kentucky districts on estimated teacher pay at $73,395 (above 99% of in-state peers with reliable estimates). Estimated average teacher salary is $73,395, near the national average of $70,245, serving 95,171 students (NCES CCD F-33, FY2023).
- Upper-third pay in state: Jefferson County sits in the highest third of Kentucky districts on estimated teacher pay at $73,395 (above 99% of in-state peers with reliable estimates).
- 99th percentile for Kentucky
- 65th percentile nationally
- 27% of spending reaches instructional salaries
- Kentucky ranks #40 of 49 on the salary estimate and #24 of 49 on enrollment in the same reliable-district pool.
- Jefferson County ranks #1 of 171 Kentucky districts by estimated teacher salary and #18 of 171 by per-pupil spending. Jefferson County pay #1 at $73,395 is not Newport Independent spending #1 at $28,225 per pupil
- +9.1% estimated-basis panel FY2019→FY2023 (not applied to the FTE figure above)
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Instructional payroll mix vs Kentucky median
Among 171 Kentucky districts that break out F-33 program salary totals, Jefferson County's instructional payroll puts 6.4% into other programs , 4.9 points above the state median of 1.5%. The mix below is the district's own F-33 program split against the in-state median, not a quality score.
| Program | Jefferson County | KY median | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular program | 75.8% | 79.8% | -4.0 pp |
| Special education | 14.0% | 16.6% | -2.6 pp |
| Vocational programs | 3.8% | 0.2% | +3.6 pp |
| Other programs | 6.4% | 1.5% | +4.9 pp |
Shares are of this district's reported F-33 teacher-salary program totals (Z35–Z38), compared with the median share across 171 in-state peers with a positive program sum. NCES LEAID 2102990 · FY2023.
LEAID 2102990 · NCES CCD F-33 FY2023
Jefferson County F-33 compensation desk
FY2023: $73,395 estimated average teacher salary · P99 in Kentucky · P65 nationally · 27% instructional salary share. Nearest salary peer: Fayette ($5,922est. salary).
Salary neighbourhood chart for Jefferson County
Salary neighbourhood · Jefferson County
Jefferson 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).
- Montgomery · low pole
Montgomery · low pole
$50,638 est. salary
- Bullitt · near
Bullitt · near
$66,873 est. salary
- Laurel · near
Laurel · near
$67,188 est. salary
- Fayette · near
Fayette · near
$67,473 est. salary
- Jefferson
Jefferson · this district · top pay
$73,395 est. salary
Appropriate use & corrections
National salary distribution for Jefferson County
Jefferson County's estimated salary vs. every US district
NCES F-33 estimate, reliable-salary districts only
$73,395 Top 35% higher than 65% 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
Jefferson County in Kentucky's upper-third pay band
Same 171 districts with a usable salary and a comparable per-pupil figure (NCES F-33 FY2023)
- Jefferson County
Jefferson County
$73,395 est. avg salary
- Newport Independent
Newport Independent
$62,094 est. avg salary
What this shows Jefferson County ranks #1 of 171 Kentucky districts by estimated teacher salary and #18 of 171 by per-pupil spending. Jefferson County pay #1 at $73,395 is not Newport Independent spending #1 at $28,225 per pupil
The same districts by per-pupil spending
Jefferson County is marked; a high spending bar is not a high pay bar
- Newport Independent
Newport Independent
$28,225 per pupil
- Jefferson County
Jefferson County
$20,696 per pupil
What this shows Newport Independent leads spending at $28,225 per pupil; Jefferson County leads pay.
What stands out about Jefferson County
- Estimated teacher pay here moved +9.1% between FY2019 and FY2023, trailing Kentucky's statewide +13.0% by 3.9 points, a growth rate faster than 28% of the 160 Kentucky districts with a comparable FY2019 baseline.
- With 95,171 students, it is the 28th-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 $1.99B puts it among just 22 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 Jefferson County
Jefferson County enrolls 95,171 students (0.21% 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 $1.99B, putting it among 22 districts at this budget scale or larger.
Reported teacher FTE is 6,052, about 15.7 students per teacher (mega-cohort median 16.0; denser staffing than 45 of the 87 mega-districts with a usable FTE count, rank 42nd 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 Jefferson County among other large systems, not against a 1,000-student district whose FTE is a handful of classrooms.
Instructional salaries take 27% of total expenditure on a $1.97B 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pinellas · Florida | 93,702 | $64,513 | $1.33B |
| San Diego Unified · California | 93,694 | $147,163 | $2.99B |
| Katy ISD · Texas | 92,667 | $64,100 | $1.33B |
| DeKalb County · Georgia | 92,368 | $74,911 | $1.79B |
| Prince William County Public Schools · Virginia | 91,101 | $81,008 | $1.74B |
This pay stretches further than the headline figure suggests
- Nominal district estimate
- $73,394.829
- Kentucky price level
- 89.9 / 100
- National-price equivalent
- $81,650
The FY2023 salary estimate shown in the hero.
BEA all-items regional price parity; 100 is the U.S. average.
+11% versus the nominal figure.
Prices in Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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 Jefferson County
What the Numbers Say About Jefferson County
Jefferson County is a large urban school district in Kentucky, serving 95,171 students at an estimated per-pupil spending of $20,696. Estimated average teacher salary, derived from reported teacher salary expenditure (F-33 items Z35-Z38) divided by teacher FTE, is $73,395, placing the district in the high-investment tier of NCES F-33 respondents. NCES LEAID 2102990 references the FY2023 Common Core of Data Local Education Agency Finance Survey.
Relative to the Kentucky statewide average of $56,482, teacher pay in Jefferson County runs meaningfully above the state benchmark, a 29.9% gap, and near the national instructional-salary estimate of $70,245 (4.5% differential). Among enrolling districts in Kentucky, it pays more than 99% of them. Kentucky itself ranks #40 of 49 nationally on average teacher compensation, which shapes the funding ceiling districts operate under.
On the budget side, Jefferson County reports $1969.6M in total expenditure against $1988.2M in revenue, with instructional salaries accounting for 27% of spending, a compensation-to-budget ratio that signals how much of each tax dollar reaches classroom educators. Regular-program teacher salary outlay is $336.9M, special-education teacher pay is $62.0M.
How does Jefferson County compare?
Estimated average teacher salary versus a peer district, the Kentucky average, and the national average. Pick any in-state district to compare.
Jefferson County pays +8.8% more than Fayette County · per-pupil $20,696 vs $20,889
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 Kentucky districts
Fayette County is Jefferson County'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
Similar per-pupil investment
Out-of-state districts near Jefferson County's enrollment scale
Two out-of-state peer sets for Jefferson County: closest on enrollment (95,171 students here) and closest on estimated average teacher salary ($73,395 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 Jefferson 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 83% of everything the district spends on instructional salaries; the other 17% pays instructional aides, paraprofessionals, substitutes and other instructional staff who are not counted as teachers here.
Kentucky Teacher Pay Overview
No comparably sized Kentucky district reports a higher average than Jefferson 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 161 districts of comparable size, Jefferson County is paid at the very top of the state, and the state average sits well below it. Kansas and West Virginia are the states closest to Kentucky 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 Kentucky districts →Other Kentucky Districts
Large-district sample from 170 Kentucky peers with reliable NCES data; bar length shows pay magnitude within this slice.
This is a sample of 6 from 170 Kentucky districts with enrollment and salary data reliable enough to compare in the NCES CCD F-33 survey.
Frequently Asked Questions about Jefferson County
What is the average teacher salary in Jefferson County?
The average teacher salary in Jefferson County is $73,395 (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 Jefferson County teacher pay compare to the Kentucky average?
Jefferson County pays 29.9% more than the Kentucky state average of $56,482. The district's average is $73,395.
How does Jefferson County teacher pay compare to the national average?
Jefferson County pays 4.5% above the national average of $70,245. The district average is $73,395.
What is the per-pupil spending in Jefferson County?
Jefferson County spends approximately $20,696 per student annually (NCES FY2023), covering instructional salaries, support services, and administration.
What percentage of Jefferson County's budget goes to teacher salaries?
Instructional salaries account for 27% of Jefferson County's total expenditure of $1969.6M (NCES FY2023).
Next read for Jefferson 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 |