Bigger District Size Gives Superintendents Earnings Edge

Annual survey of K-12 salaries, wages also looks at more than 20 other public school jobs.

District size has a more pronounced effect on the salaries of superintendents than for any other staff category, with chiefs in larger districts posting far higher earnings on average than their colleagues in smaller ones, according to a recent survey of more than 600 school districts conducted by Educational Research Service.

Superintendents of systems enrolling at least 25,000 students bank average annual salaries of around $185,000, nearly 80 percent higher than their counterparts in the smallest districts surveyed, which had fewer than 2,500 students.

Similar but less dramatic patterns were also found for school administrators. High school principals earn about 27 percent more in the largest vs. the smallest districts surveyed, with narrower gaps found among middle...