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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education Salary: Wisconsin vs District of Columbia

Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education earn a median of $59,130 in Wisconsin and $75,210 in District of Columbia. That is a nominal gap of $16,080 (-21.4%), with District of Columbia 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.

$59,130
Wisconsin median
$62,841 after COL
$75,210
District of Columbia median
$68,434 after COL
-21.4%
Nominal gap
District of Columbia leads
-8.2%
Adjusted gap
District of Columbia leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, District of Columbia pays $16,080 more per year than Wisconsin for kindergarten teachers, except special education, a gap of +21.4%.

After adjusting for cost of living, District of Columbia still comes out ahead, with roughly $5,594 of extra purchasing power (+8.2% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

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

Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education

Wisconsin

Median salary
$59,130
Mean salary
$59,980
Employment
2,030
Location quotient
0.94
Jobs per 1,000
0.7
COL-adjusted median
$62,841
Regional Price Parity
94.1%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education page for Wisconsin →

Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education

District of Columbia

Median salary
$75,210
Mean salary
$76,770
Employment
180
Location quotient
0.34
Jobs per 1,000
0.3
COL-adjusted median
$68,434
Regional Price Parity
109.9%

Exact state RPP match.

Full Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education page for District of Columbia →

Related pages

Keep digging into kindergarten teachers, except special education 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 state specializes in.