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Salary data from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics

Substitute Teachers, Short-Term Salary: Springfield, MO vs Erie, PA

Substitute Teachers, Short-Term earn a median of $30,140 in Springfield, MO and $61,560 in Erie, PA. That is a nominal gap of $31,420 (-51.0%), with Erie, PA 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.

$30,140
Springfield, MO median
$34,024 after COL
$61,560
Erie, PA median
$67,686 after COL
-51.0%
Nominal gap
Erie, PA leads
-49.7%
Adjusted gap
Erie, PA leads after COL

The story behind the numbers

On raw wages, Erie, PA pays $31,420 more per year than Springfield, MO for substitute teachers, short-term, a gap of +51.0%.

After adjusting for cost of living, Erie, PA still comes out ahead, with roughly $33,662 of extra purchasing power (+49.7% real gap). Local prices do not reverse the nominal advantage.

Full breakdown by location

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

Substitute Teachers, Short-Term

Springfield, MO

Median salary
$30,140
Mean salary
$32,130
Employment
580
Location quotient
0.83
Jobs per 1,000
2.6
COL-adjusted median
$34,024
Regional Price Parity
88.6%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Substitute Teachers, Short-Term page for Springfield, MO →

Substitute Teachers, Short-Term

Erie, PA

Median salary
$61,560
Mean salary
$52,920
Employment
250
Location quotient
0.66
Jobs per 1,000
2.1
COL-adjusted median
$67,686
Regional Price Parity
91.0%

Exact metro RPP match.

Full Substitute Teachers, Short-Term page for Erie, PA →

Related pages

Keep digging into substitute teachers, short-term 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.