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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Special Education Teachers, Secondary School Salary: Beckley, WV vs Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA

Special Education Teachers, Secondary School earn a median of $52,440 in Beckley, WV and $100,640 in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA. That is a nominal gap of $48,200 (-47.9%), with Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, 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.

$52,440
Beckley, WV median
$59,342 after COL
$100,640
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA median
$94,347 after COL
-47.9%
Nominal gap
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA leads
-37.1%
Adjusted gap
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA pays $48,200 more per year than Beckley, WV for special education teachers, secondary school, a gap of +47.9%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA still comes out ahead, with roughly $35,005 of extra purchasing power (+37.1% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

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

Special Education Teachers, Secondary School

Beckley, WV

Median salary
$52,440
Mean salary
$52,810
Employment
50
Location quotient
1.09
Jobs per 1,000
1.1
COL-adjusted median
$59,342
Regional Price Parity
88.4%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Special Education Teachers, Secondary School page for Beckley, WV →

Special Education Teachers, Secondary School

Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA

Median salary
$100,640
Mean salary
$93,600
Employment
780
Location quotient
0.70
Jobs per 1,000
0.7
COL-adjusted median
$94,347
Regional Price Parity
106.7%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Special Education Teachers, Secondary School page for Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA →

Related pages

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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.