Upward Communities Research
The cost of losing teachers is already on the district's books, whether or not it is counted. This report sets out what the published research puts on replacing a teacher, and where those figures come from.
Between $11,860 and $24,930 for each teacher replaced, depending on district size, according to the Learning Policy Institute's 2024 figures. The estimate covers separation, recruitment, hiring and training costs borne by the school and the district. It does not attempt to price the loss of institutional knowledge or the effect on students.
LPI's per-teacher figures, in January 2024 dollars, are $11,860 for districts under 10,000 students, $16,450 for districts of 10,000 to 50,000, and $24,930 for districts above 50,000. The figures are built by averaging reported turnover costs across districts in each size band, drawing on five underlying studies. LPI is explicit about the limit of its own number, noting that the estimates do not capture other consequences of turnover such as academic learning losses for students.
The reason this cost is structural rather than occasional is that most teacher movement is neither retirement nor growth. LPI's 2026 analysis of national data found that 15.1% of US teachers moved schools or left the profession between 2020-21 and 2021-22, split 8.0% who moved and 7.1% who left. Nearly three quarters of that movement, 74%, was voluntary and for reasons other than retirement. An earlier LPI estimate holds that about 90% of annual national demand for teachers is created by teachers leaving, not by enrolment growth.
Turnover is also concentrated where districts can least afford it. LPI found that 20.1% of teachers who were not fully certified left their schools, against 14.7% of those who were fully certified. Districts filling vacancies with underqualified staff are therefore buying a higher probability of filling the same vacancy again.
The national vacancy picture gives the scale. LPI's 2025 scan estimated about 411,500 teaching positions nationwide were either unfilled or filled by teachers not fully certified for their assignment, roughly 1 in 8 positions, affecting more than 6 million students.
A district can put its own number on this without a consultant. Multiply the LPI figure for your size band by the number of teachers you replaced last year. That product is a real recurring line in your budget, and it is the number any housing programme should be measured against.
The Learning Policy Institute estimates $11,860 in districts under 10,000 students, $16,450 in districts of 10,000 to 50,000, and $24,930 in districts above 50,000, in January 2024 dollars. These cover separation, recruitment, hiring and training. They exclude the effect on student learning, which LPI states plainly.
Sources
We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or in partnership with any organisation cited below.
Learning Policy Institute. (2017). What's the Cost of Teacher Turnover? Published 13 September 2017. Source for the more than $20,000 per new hire figure in urban districts, the 6 of 10 replacement figure, and the 20% beginning and 30% mid-career pay gap.
Learning Policy Institute. (2024). About 2024 Teacher Turnover Calculations. Published 17 September 2024. Source for $11,860, $16,450 and $24,930 per teacher replaced, in January 2024 dollars, and for the stated exclusion of student learning losses. Companion to 2024 Update: What's the Cost of Teacher Turnover?
Tan, T., Wei, W., Carver-Thomas, D., & García, E. (2026). Teacher Turnover in the United States: Who Moves, Who Leaves, and Why. Learning Policy Institute. Source for 15.1% turnover, the 8.0% and 7.1% split, 74% voluntary and non-retirement, and 20.1% against 14.7% by certification status.
Comai, S., Kemper Patrick, S., & Tan, T. (2025). 2025 Update: Latest National Scan Shows Teacher Shortages Persist. Learning Policy Institute blog, 15 July 2025. Source for 411,500 positions, 1 in 8, and more than 6 million students.
Carver-Thomas, D., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2017). Teacher Turnover: Why It Matters and What We Can Do About It. Learning Policy Institute. Source for the estimate that about 90% of annual national teacher demand is created by teachers leaving. Note this is a 2017 estimate.
Bowser, K. (2025). Priced Out: The Growing Challenge of Teacher Pay and Housing Costs. National Council on Teacher Quality, District Trendline, 8 May 2025. Source for home prices up 47%, rents up 51%, beginning salaries up 24% from 2019 to 2025; for the 72 district sample; for 39 of 72 and 34 of 72 unaffordable for beginning teachers; for 18 of 72 and 8 of 72 at ten years of experience; and for San Diego Unified at 45%.
Allegretto, S. (2025). The Teacher Pay Penalty Reached a Record High in 2024. Economic Policy Institute. Source for the 26.9% regression-adjusted weekly wage penalty and the 17.1% total compensation gap. These are weekly wages, not annual pay.
Hinkley, S., & Proussaloglou, E. (2025). Housing California Educators: Insights from Nine Education Workforce Housing Developments. Center for Cities + Schools, UC Berkeley, and cityLAB, UCLA. April 2025. Source for all nine unit counts, the 2 to 6 storey and 18 to 141 units per acre ranges, one-bedroom affordability at or below 30% of entry-level income, financing mechanism by project, the 7.5 year average concept to occupancy, the five year contract to move-in figure, the Jefferson Union 85% and 90% retention figures from that district's 2023-24 Local Control and Accountability Plan, the Casa del Maestro rent trajectory from about 50% to about 80% of market, the halved commute time, the 36% storage and 25% safety satisfaction figures, and the permitting and construction delay findings.
Gottlieb, A., Lagana, M., Spearman, K., & Schoales, V. (2025). We Can't Live Where We Teach: Teacher Perspectives. Keystone Policy Center, August 2025. Source for the survey of more than 3,200 Colorado educators, 58% interest in district housing, and the 70% comfortable with the district as landlord figure, which the report itself notes drew limited responses.
Texas and Florida board decisions reported by: Community Impact and KUT News on Hays CISD; KXAN on Lockhart ISD; Ocala Gazette on Marion County; Taylor Press on Taylor, Texas.
The first two steps in the process above take an afternoon and need nothing from us. If you would rather talk it through, or you want the affordability test run against your own salary schedule, we will do that.
Get in touch →Upward Communities develops workforce housing for public sector employees. We have a commercial interest in this subject and would rather say so here than have you find out later. Everything on this page is sourced so you can check it without taking our word for anything.
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