Houston vs. Los Angeles
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education. Median, spread and buying power, side by side.
Data released May 2025
BLS OEWS · SOC 25-2031
Fig. 1 — Side by side
Both distributions, one scale
10th to 90th percentile, median struck in red
Table 1 — Adjusted
Los Angeles's median is 54.0% higher — but after local prices, Los Angeles still leads by 33.8%.
Houston's median $65,540 buys $66,500 at national prices (price parity 98.6); Los Angeles's $100,960 buys $88,900 (113.6).
Table 2 — The figures
Point by point
Published percentiles for both metros; the last column is Los Angeles against Houston.
| Houston | Los Angeles | Δ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Employment | 26,260 | 32,250 | +22.8% |
| 10th percentile | $56,760 | $67,190 | +18.4% |
| 25th percentile | $61,950 | $81,430 | +31.4% |
| Median | $65,540 | $100,960 | +54.0% |
| 75th percentile | $74,670 | $126,650 | +69.6% |
| 90th percentile | $80,470 | $133,850 | +66.3% |
Sources
How this page was made
- Wage data
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release. Public domain.
- Price parity
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024.
- Full pages
- Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Houston · Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education in Los Angeles
Percentiles are reported exactly as released. Derived (price-adjusted) figures round to the nearest hundred. We take no payment for how any figure is presented.