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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Philosophy And Religion Teachers, Postsecondary Salary: St. Louis, MO-IL vs Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA

Philosophy And Religion Teachers, Postsecondary earn a median of $76,810 in St. Louis, MO-IL and $131,140 in Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA. That is a nominal gap of $54,330 (-41.4%), with Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, 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.

$76,810
St. Louis, MO-IL median
$80,778 after COL
$131,140
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA median
$123,203 after COL
-41.4%
Nominal gap
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA leads
-34.4%
Adjusted gap
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA pays $54,330 more per year than St. Louis, MO-IL for philosophy and religion teachers, postsecondary, a gap of +41.4%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA still comes out ahead, with roughly $42,425 of extra purchasing power (+34.4% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

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

Philosophy And Religion Teachers, Postsecondary

St. Louis, MO-IL

Median salary
$76,810
Mean salary
$91,070
Employment
250
Location quotient
1.37
Jobs per 1,000
0.2
COL-adjusted median
$80,778
Regional Price Parity
95.1%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Philosophy And Religion Teachers, Postsecondary page for St. Louis, MO-IL →

Philosophy And Religion Teachers, Postsecondary

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA

Median salary
$131,140
Mean salary
$138,600
Employment
120
Location quotient
0.52
Jobs per 1,000
0.1
COL-adjusted median
$123,203
Regional Price Parity
106.4%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Philosophy And Religion Teachers, Postsecondary page for Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA →

Related pages

Keep digging into philosophy and religion 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.