School district · Wisconsin · LEAID 5509600
Milwaukee School District
Milwaukee School District is in the largest third by enrollment among comparable Wisconsin districts (67,500 students in the NCES CCD F-33 cohort). Per-pupil spending, enrollment, and budget for Milwaukee School District come from the NCES Common Core of Data F-33 finance survey (FY2023).
- $80,043
- Est. avg teacher salary
- $22,253
- Per-pupil spending
- 67,500
- Students enrolled
- 89th
- Pct. in WI
Above benchmark
Milwaukee School District is in the largest third by enrollment among comparable Wisconsin districts (67,500 students in the NCES CCD F-33 cohort). Estimated average teacher salary is $80,043, above the national average of $70,245, serving 67,500 students (NCES CCD F-33, FY2023).
- Large enrollment scale: Milwaukee School District is in the largest third by enrollment among comparable Wisconsin districts (67,500 students in the NCES CCD F-33 cohort).
- 89th percentile for Wisconsin
- 74th percentile nationally
- 21% of spending reaches instructional salaries
- Wisconsin ranks #19 of 49 on the salary estimate and #20 of 49 on enrollment in the same reliable-district pool.
- Milwaukee School District ranks #44 of 403 Wisconsin districts by estimated teacher salary and #82 of 403 by per-pupil spending. Gibraltar Area School District pay #1 at $100,669 is not Nicolet Union High School School District spending #1 at $43,137 per pupil
- +21.6% estimated-basis panel FY2019→FY2023 (not applied to the FTE figure above)
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Instructional payroll mix vs Wisconsin median
Among 421 Wisconsin districts that break out F-33 program salary totals, Milwaukee School District's instructional payroll puts 30.2% into special education , 10.4 points above the state median of 19.8%. That heavier special-education share usually means more of the teacher-salary pool is tied to IEP-driven staffing than at a typical Wisconsin peer.
| Program | Milwaukee School | WI median | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular program | 67.6% | 70.7% | -3.2 pp |
| Special education | 30.2% | 19.8% | +10.4 pp |
| Vocational programs | 0.8% | 5.2% | -4.4 pp |
| Other programs | 1.4% | 3.9% | -2.5 pp |
Shares are of this district's reported F-33 teacher-salary program totals (Z35–Z38), compared with the median share across 421 in-state peers with a positive program sum. NCES LEAID 5509600 · FY2023.
LEAID 5509600 · NCES CCD F-33 FY2023
Milwaukee School F-33 compensation desk
FY2023: $80,043 estimated average teacher salary · P89 in Wisconsin · P74 nationally · 21% instructional salary share. Nearest salary peer: Hudson ($34est. salary).
Salary neighbourhood chart for Milwaukee School
Salary neighbourhood · Milwaukee School
Milwaukee School 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).
- McFarland · low pole
McFarland · low pole
$44,345 est. salary
- Madison · near
Madison · near
$79,883 est. salary
- Waukesha · near
Waukesha · near
$79,936 est. salary
- Hudson · near
Hudson · near
$80,008 est. salary
- Milwaukee
Milwaukee · this district
$80,043 est. salary
- Verona · top pay
Verona · top pay
$86,051 est. salary
Appropriate use & corrections
National salary distribution for Milwaukee School
Milwaukee School District's estimated salary vs. every US district
NCES F-33 estimate, reliable-salary districts only
$80,043 Top 26% higher than 74% 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
Milwaukee School in Wisconsin's upper-third pay band
Same 403 districts with a usable salary and a comparable per-pupil figure (NCES F-33 FY2023)
- Gibraltar Area School District
Gibraltar Area School District
$100,669 est. avg salary
- Nicolet Union High School School District
Nicolet Union High School School District
$93,476 est. avg salary
- Milwaukee School District
Milwaukee School District
$80,043 est. avg salary
What this shows Milwaukee School District ranks #44 of 403 Wisconsin districts by estimated teacher salary and #82 of 403 by per-pupil spending. Gibraltar Area School District pay #1 at $100,669 is not Nicolet Union High School School District spending #1 at $43,137 per pupil
The same districts by per-pupil spending
Milwaukee School District is marked; a high spending bar is not a high pay bar
- Nicolet Union High School School District
Nicolet Union High School School District
$43,137 per pupil
- Gibraltar Area School District
Gibraltar Area School District
$27,852 per pupil
- Milwaukee School District
Milwaukee School District
$22,253 per pupil
What this shows Nicolet Union High School School District leads spending at $43,137 per pupil; Gibraltar Area School District leads pay.
What stands out about Milwaukee School District
- Estimated teacher pay here rose +21.6% between FY2019 and FY2023, outpacing Wisconsin's statewide +14.3% by 7.3 points, a growth rate faster than 83% of the 410 Wisconsin districts with a comparable FY2019 baseline.
- Enrolment fell from 75,431 to 67,500 students (10.5% 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 67,500 students, it is the 54th-largest school district by enrollment among the 13,149 US districts reporting enrollment data.
- Its total annual revenue of $1.50B puts it among just 41 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 Milwaukee School District
Milwaukee School District enrolls 67,500 students (0.15% 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 $1.50B, putting it among 41 districts at this budget scale or larger.
Reported teacher FTE is 4,035, about 16.7 students per teacher (mega-cohort median 16.0; denser staffing than 32 of the 87 mega-districts with a usable FTE count, rank 55th 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 Milwaukee School District among other large systems, not against a 1,000-student district whose FTE is a handful of classrooms.
Instructional salaries take 21% of total expenditure on a $1.50B 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frisco ISD · Texas | 66,916 | $63,858 | $869M |
| Seminole · Florida | 66,680 | $61,649 | $798M |
| Guilford County Schools · North Carolina | 68,894 | $49,373 | $971M |
| Fresno Unified · California | 69,424 | $109,992 | $1.87B |
| Virginia Beach City Public Schools · Virginia | 65,456 | $65,655 | $1.09B |
This pay stretches further than the headline figure suggests
- Nominal district estimate
- $80,042.582
- Wisconsin price level
- 93.2 / 100
- National-price equivalent
- $85,864
The FY2023 salary estimate shown in the hero.
BEA all-items regional price parity; 100 is the U.S. average.
+7% versus the nominal figure.
Prices in Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin 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 Milwaukee School District
What the Numbers Say About Milwaukee School District
Milwaukee School District is a large urban school district in Wisconsin, serving 67,500 students at an estimated per-pupil spending of $22,253. Estimated average teacher salary, derived from reported teacher salary expenditure (F-33 items Z35-Z38) divided by teacher FTE, is $80,043, placing the district in the high-investment tier of NCES F-33 respondents. NCES LEAID 5509600 references the FY2023 Common Core of Data Local Education Agency Finance Survey.
Relative to the Wisconsin statewide average of $70,465, teacher pay in Milwaukee School District runs meaningfully above the state benchmark, a 13.6% gap, and above the national instructional-salary estimate of $70,245 (13.9% differential). Among enrolling districts in Wisconsin, it pays more than 89% of them. Wisconsin itself ranks #19 of 49 nationally on average teacher compensation, which shapes the funding ceiling districts operate under.
On the budget side, Milwaukee School District reports $1502.1M in total expenditure against $1495.2M in revenue, with instructional salaries accounting for 21% of spending, a compensation-to-budget ratio that signals how much of each tax dollar reaches classroom educators. Regular-program teacher salary outlay is $218.3M, special-education teacher pay is $97.5M.
How does Milwaukee School District compare?
Estimated average teacher salary versus a peer district, the Wisconsin average, and the national average. Pick any in-state district to compare.
Milwaukee School District pays +0.2% more than Madison Metropolitan School District · per-pupil $22,253 vs $27,731
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 Wisconsin districts
On pay, Milwaukee School District sits closest to Madison Metropolitan School District; on per-pupil investment, its nearest match is Green Bay Area Public School District. 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
- Madison Metropolitan School District$79,883 estimated salary-0.2% versus this district · 25,237 students
- Kenosha School District$81,247 estimated salary+1.5% versus this district · 19,069 students
- Green Bay Area Public School District$76,023 estimated salary-5.0% versus this district · 18,922 students
Similar per-pupil investment
- Green Bay Area Public School District$18,245 per pupil-18.0% versus this district · $76,023 estimated salary
- Kenosha School District$17,076 per pupil-23.3% versus this district · $81,247 estimated salary
- Madison Metropolitan School District$27,731 per pupil+24.6% versus this district · $79,883 estimated salary
Out-of-state districts near Milwaukee School District's enrollment scale
Two out-of-state peer sets for Milwaukee School District: closest on enrollment (67,500 students here) and closest on estimated average teacher salary ($80,043 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 Milwaukee School District: the regular program, special education, vocational programs and other programs. Every program category NCES breaks out separately carries a figure here. Together they are 100% of everything the district spends on instructional salaries; the other 0% pays instructional aides, paraprofessionals, substitutes and other instructional staff who are not counted as teachers here.
Wisconsin Teacher Pay Overview
The highest average among comparably sized Wisconsin districts belongs to Gibraltar Area School District at $100,669. Milwaukee School District sits in the upper quarter of that field at 38 of 304, nearer the ceiling than the floor. South Carolina and Idaho are the states closest to Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin districts →Other Wisconsin Districts
Large-district sample from 402 Wisconsin peers with reliable NCES data; bar length shows pay magnitude within this slice.
This is a sample of 6 from 402 Wisconsin districts with enrollment and salary data reliable enough to compare in the NCES CCD F-33 survey.
Frequently Asked Questions about Milwaukee School District
What is the average teacher salary in Milwaukee School District?
The average teacher salary in Milwaukee School District is $80,043 (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 Milwaukee School District teacher pay compare to the Wisconsin average?
Milwaukee School District pays 13.6% more than the Wisconsin state average of $70,465. The district's average is $80,043.
How does Milwaukee School District teacher pay compare to the national average?
Milwaukee School District pays 13.9% above the national average of $70,245. The district average is $80,043.
What is the per-pupil spending in Milwaukee School District?
Milwaukee School District spends approximately $22,253 per student annually (NCES FY2023), covering instructional salaries, support services, and administration.
What percentage of Milwaukee School District's budget goes to teacher salaries?
Instructional salaries account for 21% of Milwaukee School District's total expenditure of $1502.1M (NCES FY2023).
Next read for Milwaukee School District
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 |