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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

History Teachers, Postsecondary Salary: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA vs San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA

History Teachers, Postsecondary earn a median of $108,480 in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA and $133,070 in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA. That is a nominal gap of $24,590 (-18.5%), with San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA paying more before any cost-of-living adjustment.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2024 estimates. Cost-of-living adjustment uses BEA Regional Price Parities, most recent release.

$108,480
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA median
$95,522 after COL
$133,070
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA median
$118,932 after COL
-18.5%
Nominal gap
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA leads
-19.7%
Adjusted gap
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA pays $24,590 more per year than Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA for history teachers, postsecondary, a gap of +18.5%.

After adjusting for cost of living, San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA still comes out ahead, with roughly $23,411 of extra purchasing power (+19.7% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

Detailed wage, employment, and cost-of-living figures for history teachers, postsecondary in each location. Click through to the full local salary page for percentiles, outlook, and peer areas.

History Teachers, Postsecondary

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA

Median salary
$108,480
Mean salary
$128,910
Employment
580
Location quotient
0.72
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$95,522
Regional Price Parity
113.6%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full History Teachers, Postsecondary page for Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA →

History Teachers, Postsecondary

San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA

Median salary
$133,070
Mean salary
$139,390
Employment
160
Location quotient
0.79
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$118,932
Regional Price Parity
111.9%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full History Teachers, Postsecondary page for San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA →

Related pages

Keep digging into history teachers, postsecondary from a different angle.

Common questions about this comparison

What does the cost-of-living adjustment actually do? +

It divides each location's nominal median wage by its Regional Price Parity (RPP), which measures how local prices compare to the national average (100 = national). A wage of $100,000 in an area with RPP 120 has the same purchasing power as roughly $83,000 nationally.

Why would the nominal and adjusted winners disagree? +

High-cost metros often pay higher salaries, but not by enough to fully offset the higher cost of housing, goods, and services. When that happens, the location with the lower nominal wage actually offers more real purchasing power.

What is a location quotient? +

The location quotient measures how concentrated an occupation is in a given area versus the national average. A value of 2.0 means the occupation is twice as common there as nationally. It is a signal of what a metro specializes in.