School district · California · LEAID 0622500
Long Beach Unified
Long Beach Unified is in the largest third by enrollment among comparable California districts (65,129 students in the NCES CCD F-33 cohort). Per-pupil spending, enrollment, and budget for Long Beach Unified come from the NCES Common Core of Data F-33 finance survey (FY2023).
- $133,097
- Est. avg teacher salary
- $22,602
- Per-pupil spending
- 65,129
- Students enrolled
- 88th
- Pct. in CA
Well above benchmark
Long Beach Unified is in the largest third by enrollment among comparable California districts (65,129 students in the NCES CCD F-33 cohort). Estimated average teacher salary is $133,097, above the national average of $70,245, serving 65,129 students (NCES CCD F-33, FY2023).
- Large enrollment scale: Long Beach Unified is in the largest third by enrollment among comparable California districts (65,129 students in the NCES CCD F-33 cohort).
- 88th percentile for California
- 98th percentile nationally
- 27% of spending reaches instructional salaries
- California ranks #2 of 49 on the salary estimate and #1 of 49 on enrollment in the same reliable-district pool.
- Long Beach Unified ranks #76 of 750 California districts by estimated teacher salary and #239 of 750 by per-pupil spending. Calaveras County Office of Education pay #1 at $178,519 is not Beverly Hills Unified spending #1 at $61,843 per pupil
- +28.0% estimated-basis panel FY2019→FY2023 (not applied to the FTE figure above)
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Instructional payroll mix vs California median
Among 954 California districts that break out F-33 program salary totals, Long Beach Unified's instructional payroll puts 17.7% into special education , 6.9 points above the state median of 10.8%. That heavier special-education share usually means more of the teacher-salary pool is tied to IEP-driven staffing than at a typical California peer.
| Program | Long Beach | CA median | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular program | 79.0% | 85.8% | -6.8 pp |
| Special education | 17.7% | 10.8% | +6.9 pp |
| Vocational programs | 2.2% | 0.0% | +2.2 pp |
| Other programs | 1.1% | 0.4% | +0.8 pp |
Shares are of this district's reported F-33 teacher-salary program totals (Z35–Z38), compared with the median share across 954 in-state peers with a positive program sum. NCES LEAID 0622500 · FY2023.
LEAID 0622500 · NCES CCD F-33 FY2023
Long Beach F-33 compensation desk
FY2023: $133,097 estimated average teacher salary · P88 in California · P98 nationally · 27% instructional salary share. Nearest salary peer: San ($222est. salary).
Salary neighbourhood chart for Long Beach
Salary neighbourhood · Long Beach
Long Beach 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).
- Modesto · low pole
Modesto · low pole
$79,793 est. salary
- Corona-Norco · near
Corona-Norco · near
$129,563 est. salary
- San · near
San · near
$132,875 est. salary
- Long · this district
Long · this district
$133,097 est. salary
- Fremont · near
Fremont · near
$135,613 est. salary
- San · top pay
San · top pay
$147,163 est. salary
Appropriate use & corrections
National salary distribution for Long Beach
Long Beach Unified's estimated salary vs. every US district
NCES F-33 estimate, reliable-salary districts only
$133,097 Top 2% higher than 98% 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
Long Beach in California's upper-third pay band
Same 750 districts with a usable salary and a comparable per-pupil figure (NCES F-33 FY2023)
- Calaveras County Office of Education
Calaveras County Office of Education
$178,519 est. avg salary
- Long Beach Unified
Long Beach Unified
$133,097 est. avg salary
- Beverly Hills Unified
Beverly Hills Unified
$123,673 est. avg salary
What this shows Long Beach Unified ranks #76 of 750 California districts by estimated teacher salary and #239 of 750 by per-pupil spending. Calaveras County Office of Education pay #1 at $178,519 is not Beverly Hills Unified spending #1 at $61,843 per pupil
The same districts by per-pupil spending
Long Beach Unified is marked; a high spending bar is not a high pay bar
- Beverly Hills Unified
Beverly Hills Unified
$61,843 per pupil
- Calaveras County Office of Education
Calaveras County Office of Education
$50,753 per pupil
- Long Beach Unified $22,602
Long Beach Unified
$22,602 per pupil
What this shows Beverly Hills Unified leads spending at $61,843 per pupil; Calaveras County Office of Education leads pay.
What stands out about Long Beach Unified
- It ranks in the top 5% of US districts for estimated teacher pay, higher than 98% of the 10,684 reliable-salary districts nationally.
- Enrolment fell from 72,661 to 65,129 students (10.4% down) across FY2019–FY2023 while the instructional salary pool per teacher went up. Districts on that path are usually holding staffing steady against a falling roll, which lifts the per-teacher figure without anyone getting a raise, so read this page's salary estimate alongside the enrolment line rather than on its own.
- With 65,129 students, it is the 58th-largest school district by enrollment among the 13,149 US districts reporting enrollment data.
- Its total annual revenue of $1.71B puts it among just 38 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 Long Beach Unified
Long Beach Unified enrolls 65,129 students (0.14% 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 $1.71B, putting it among 38 districts at this budget scale or larger.
Reported teacher FTE is 2,734, about 23.8 students per teacher (mega-cohort median 16.0; denser staffing than 3 of the 87 mega-districts with a usable FTE count, rank 84th 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 Long Beach Unified 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 $1.47B 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia Beach City Public Schools · Virginia | 65,456 | $65,655 | $1.09B |
| Washoe County School District · Nevada | 64,442 | $63,687 | $860M |
| Chesterfield County Public Schools · Virginia | 63,916 | $65,825 | $967M |
| Seminole · Florida | 66,680 | $61,649 | $798M |
| Volusia · Florida | 63,365 | $58,795 | $863M |
California prices absorb part of this salary
- Nominal district estimate
- $133,096.925
- California price level
- 112.2 / 100
- National-price equivalent
- $118,630
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 California run above the national average, so this salary has roughly the buying power of the national-price equivalent above. Comparing it with a district in a cheaper state without this adjustment overstates its relative value.
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 California 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 Long Beach Unified
What the Numbers Say About Long Beach Unified
Long Beach Unified is a large urban school district in California, serving 65,129 students at an estimated per-pupil spending of $22,602. Estimated average teacher salary, derived from reported teacher salary expenditure (F-33 items Z35-Z38) divided by teacher FTE, is $133,097, placing the district in the high-investment tier of NCES F-33 respondents. NCES LEAID 0622500 references the FY2023 Common Core of Data Local Education Agency Finance Survey.
Relative to the California statewide average of $110,546, teacher pay in Long Beach Unified runs meaningfully above the state benchmark, a 20.4% gap, and above the national instructional-salary estimate of $70,245 (89.5% differential). Among enrolling districts in California, it pays more than 88% of them. California itself ranks #2 of 49 nationally on average teacher compensation, which shapes the funding ceiling districts operate under.
On the budget side, Long Beach Unified reports $1472.1M in total expenditure against $1706.6M 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 $287.3M, special-education teacher pay is $64.5M.
How does Long Beach Unified compare?
Estimated average teacher salary versus a peer district, the California average, and the national average. Pick any in-state district to compare.
Long Beach Unified pays +28.2% more than Los Angeles Unified · per-pupil $22,602 vs $26,962
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 California districts
On pay, Long Beach Unified sits closest to Montebello Unified; on per-pupil investment, its nearest match is Palm Springs Unified. 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 Long Beach Unified's enrollment scale
Two out-of-state peer sets for Long Beach Unified: closest on enrollment (65,129 students here) and closest on estimated average teacher salary ($133,097 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 Long Beach Unified: the regular program, special education, vocational programs and other programs. Every program category NCES breaks out separately carries a figure here. Together they are 92% of everything the district spends on instructional salaries; the other 8% pays instructional aides, paraprofessionals, substitutes and other instructional staff who are not counted as teachers here.
California Teacher Pay Overview
The highest average among comparably sized California districts belongs to San Bernardino County Office of Education at $178,265. Long Beach Unified sits in the upper quarter of that field at 78 of 644, nearer the ceiling than the floor. Because California prices run above the national average, this salary is worth less than the same number elsewhere; District of Columbia and Hawaii are the states it can be compared with directly on BEA's price parity.
View all California districts →Other California Districts
Large-district sample from 776 California peers with reliable NCES data; bar length shows pay magnitude within this slice.
This is a sample of 6 from 776 California districts with enrollment and salary data reliable enough to compare in the NCES CCD F-33 survey.
Frequently Asked Questions about Long Beach Unified
What is the average teacher salary in Long Beach Unified?
The average teacher salary in Long Beach Unified is $133,097 (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 Long Beach Unified teacher pay compare to the California average?
Long Beach Unified pays 20.4% more than the California state average of $110,546. The district's average is $133,097.
How does Long Beach Unified teacher pay compare to the national average?
Long Beach Unified pays 89.5% above the national average of $70,245. The district average is $133,097.
What is the per-pupil spending in Long Beach Unified?
Long Beach Unified spends approximately $22,602 per student annually (NCES FY2023), covering instructional salaries, support services, and administration.
What percentage of Long Beach Unified's budget goes to teacher salaries?
Instructional salaries account for 27% of Long Beach Unified's total expenditure of $1472.1M (NCES FY2023).
Next read for Long Beach Unified
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 |