Women and people of color remain underrepresented in the superintendent role, according to an annual salary and benefits survey released in April by AASA, The School Superintendents Association.
The survey for the 2024-25 school year showed many continuities in superintendent demographics and only slight changes from the previous year. Eighty-six percent of the survey’s 2,077 respondents were ages 41 to 60. The percentage of superintendents older than 60 fell to 9.87%, down from 10.77% in 2022-23, and 19.48% in 2012, highlighting a trend of people ascending into the position at a younger age.
The mean age for superintendents in 2024-25 was 52, up from 50 in 2023-24, and has remained relatively unchanged for the past decade.
The report showed less than a one percentage point increase in Indigenous American, Black, mixed race, and Hispanic or Latino superintendents. The number of Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander superintendents simultaneously decreased by less than one percentage point.
“Superintendents seem to be getting younger,” said Chris Tienken, one of the researchers on the study. “I make a joke, ‘It’s like the fountain of youth.’”
Gender disparity: Men still dominate top school leadership
The percentage of male superintendents held steady at 73% across all school district sizes, from fewer than 300 students to more than 100,000. A slightly higher percentage of male superintendents (67%) worked in rural school districts compared to 64% women.
Approximately 57.4% of female superintendents had five years or less experience, compared with 44.5% of male superintendents, suggesting women are newer to the role.
Female superintendents were nearly 10 percentage points more likely to hold a doctorate than their male counterparts.
Rachel White, an associate professor of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Texas at Austin, said the higher education levels among women and people of color reflect a type of “safety mechanism.”
“We’ve always had to go above and beyond and prove ourselves in ways that men sometimes do not have to do, and so a higher degree is one way to do that,” White said.
The decade-long decline in the percentage of superintendents over 60 may be a sign of a smaller applicant pool, White said.
“That’s why we’re having to sort of push down into a younger cohort that maybe is still eager to pursue the position,” White said.
The sources of superintendent stress vary with size, with those in larger districts citing school board relations as a common stressor.
Tienken said in AASA’s 2020 decennial study on superintendents, respondents reported moderate to heavy stress and missing family time as a trade-off for the role.
Racial disparity: Few Black, Latino leaders, despite high qualifications
The percentage of superintendents who identified as white decreased nearly six points from 2019-20 to 86.9%. The percentage of superintendents who identified as Black increased to 4.7% and Hispanic or Latino identifying superintendents grew to 4.4%, both gaining approximately two percentage points.
Darrius Stanley, an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development, linked the enduring underrepresentation of Black superintendents to the demotion and displacement of Black educators following the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education ruling that desegregated schools.
The percentage of Black superintendents holding a doctorate increased four percentage points to 80% from the 2023-24 school year compared to 57% of Hispanic or Latino superintendents (a seven-point increase), and 41% of white superintendents (a two-point drop).
Later reforms—namely the No Child Left Behind Act—imposed higher accountability standards, particularly in under-resourced districts, Stanley said.
“The pressure to compete with districts [that] do have the resources was obviously an unequal playing field, but the penalties destroyed those positions for Black leaders and Black teachers,” he said.
Stanley added that concerns about being perceived as a “DEI hire” or facing forms of bias or pushback from colleagues, school board members, or the local community might also dissuade some Black educators from seeking top leadership roles.
Are superintendent salaries keeping pace?
The mean superintendent salary for 2024-25 was $169,343, a 2% increase over the previous year.
The annual inflation rate in 2024 was 2.9%, meaning that even the highest-earning school leaders aren’t keeping up with rising costs. In 2013, the mean superintendent salary was $131,171, according to AASA. When adjusted for inflation, that figure would equal $183,111 today, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The average teacher salary for the 2023-24 school year was $72,030, according to the National Education Association.
In recent years, some state legislatures introduced bills to cap superintendent salaries.
“Teachers work very long hours and work long days, too, but a superintendent truly is on the clock, 24/7, 365 days a year,” White said.
Superintendents with law degrees typically earned the highest salaries, while those with education specialist degrees earned the least. Female superintendents were more likely than men to hire attorneys or external consultants to help negotiate their employment agreements with school boards.
To help retain superintendents from underrepresented demographics, both White and Stanley pointed to the importance of affinity groups and professional organizations where leaders can seek mentorship, networking, and community.
