Updated May 2026 · BLS OEWS 2025
Elementary School Teacher Salary in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA
Education · SOC 25-2021 · COL Index 122.4
Elementary School Teachers in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA earn a median salary of $98,520 as of 2025, with a 10th-to-90th percentile range of $62,330 to $130,850. The mean is $96,990 across approximately 18,850 workers. Adjusted for Riverside-San Bernardino, CA's cost-of-living index of 122.4, the median equates to $80,490 of purchasing power in an average-cost U.S. metro.
Elementary School Teacher in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA pays a substantial premium over the national median: $98,520 versus $71,661 nationally, roughly 37% above. The premium reflects local labor demand, cost-of-living adjustment, and industry concentration.
Cost-of-living in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA runs at index 122.4, above the national baseline. The cost-adjusted median works out to about $80,490 in national-baseline dollars. Wage distribution at the 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles: $76,806, $98,520, $114,685, $130,850. 18,850 Elementary School Teacher workers are documented in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA per the BLS OEWS survey. The percentile spread is the most useful framing — entry-level pay clusters near p25, mid-career near p50, senior-level near p75-p90.
Salary Distribution
Percentile Breakdown
| Percentile | Salary | COL-Adjusted |
|---|---|---|
| 10th Percentile (Entry Level) | $62,330 | $50,923 |
| 25th Percentile | $76,806 | $62,750 |
| 50th Percentile (Median) | $98,520 | $80,490 |
| 75th Percentile | $114,685 | $93,697 |
| 90th Percentile (Top Earners) | $130,850 | $106,904 |
What These Numbers Tell You
The 10th-to-90th percentile band for Elementary School Teachers in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA is moderately wide — the 90th-percentile worker earns about 2.1× the 10th-percentile worker. That is typical for a professional role with standard career progression: experience, scope, and employer size all matter, but the spread is not so extreme that the role bifurcates into separate sub-markets.
Riverside-San Bernardino, CA's cost-of-living index of 122.4 (about 22% above the U.S. average) means a $98,520 median translates to roughly $80,490 in an average-cost market. Most of that gap is housing and transportation; the salary premium most professional roles earn here only partially offsets it.
Riverside-San Bernardino, CA ranks #8 of 70 BLS-tracked metros for Elementary School Teacher pay — in the top quartile nationally (top 11%). Markets in this band tend to be major regional employer hubs even when they are not the absolute highest-cost cities.
How to Use This in Negotiation
The classic negotiation move is to anchor your ask on the 75th percentile of the BLS band — $114,685 for Elementary School Teachers in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA — when you have meaningful experience, then bring evidence (years on the job, scope of past work, relevant certifications, comparable offers) to justify why you sit at that point in the distribution. Anchoring on the median when you have 5+ years of experience leaves money on the table; anchoring on the 90th percentile ($130,850) without strong evidence undercuts credibility.
For new entrants, the 25th-to-50th percentile band ($76,806–$98,520) is the realistic target. For mid-career workers, the median-to-75th band ($98,520–$114,685) is the right anchor. Senior specialists and managers should be benchmarking against the 75th-to-90th band ($114,685–$130,850).
For specific scripts and a full negotiation framework, see the data-driven salary negotiation guide. To benchmark your current pay, the salary percentile calculator places any number into the BLS distribution for this role and metro.
How This Salary Is Calculated
Wage figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program — a federal survey of about 1.2 million U.S. establishments, published once per year by Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) code. The Riverside-San Bernardino, CA percentile bands above (10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, 90th) and the mean are pulled directly from the BLS data file for SOC code 25-2021 in this MSA. The COL-adjusted figure rebases salary to a U.S. national average COL of 100, using a composite index derived from public housing, food, and transportation data. Read the full methodology for details.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average Elementary School Teacher salary in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA?
Elementary School Teachers in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA earn a median salary of $98,520 as of 2025, based on Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS data. The mean (employment-weighted average) is $96,990 across roughly 18,850 workers in this metro.
What is the salary range for Elementary School Teachers in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA?
Pay ranges from $62,330 at the 10th percentile to $130,850 at the 90th percentile — a $68,520 spread. The 25th-to-75th percentile band ($76,806 to $114,685) is the typical anchor for salary negotiation.
Is $98,520 a good Elementary School Teacher salary in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA?
$98,520 is the BLS median — half of Elementary School Teachers in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA earn more, half earn less. Whether it is "good" depends on your experience: new entrants typically land near the 25th percentile ($76,806), mid-career workers near the median, and senior specialists near or above the 75th percentile ($114,685). Cost-of-living-adjusted to a national average baseline, the median equates to $80,490.
How does Elementary School Teacher pay in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA compare to other metros?
Riverside-San Bernardino, CA ranks #8 of 70 BLS-tracked metros for Elementary School Teacher median pay. It sits in the top quartile of U.S. metros for this role.
Where does this Elementary School Teacher salary data come from?
Every wage figure comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program at bls.gov/oes — public domain federal data covering 1.2 million U.S. employers. The same data feeds the U.S. Department of Labor's prevailing wage system used for H-1B and federal contracting wage determinations.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, Riverside-San Bernardino, CA MSA, SOC 25-2021, 2025 release. Public domain. See bls.gov/oes. Cite as: "SalaryTruth, BLS OEWS 2025."
Last refreshed 2026-05-21 · 18,850 Elementary School Teachers tracked in Riverside-San Bernardino, CA.