Reno teacher Savannah Parsons’ apartment in Virginia City is far from ideal for her and her fiancé. There’s no washer, no dryer, no dishwasher, no driveway, no closets and no backyard for their two chocolate-colored, pitbull-lab mix dogs.
But at $900 a month, the four-bedroom, one bathroom unit on the first floor of the Silver Dollar Hotel is a better and more affordable option than anything they could find in Reno, where the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is almost double what they pay in the former mining boomtown about 25 miles outside of Reno.
Even with her fiancé’s income, Parsons’ housing choices are limited given her $38,000-a-year salary as a high school English teacher at the Washoe County School District.
“It’s disappointing to me,” she said. “I feel like I’ve dedicated my life to a community I can’t afford to be a part of.”
Parsons is not alone. Teachers across the Silver State are feeling the squeeze of a hot housing market, rising inflation and largely stagnant wages. Education leaders are worried about what the state of the economy portends for educators who are struggling to afford housing at a time when schools are struggling to recruit and retain them.
Washoe County School District teacher Savannah Parsons poses for a photo in Virginia City on June 25, 2022. (David Calvert/The Nevada Independent)
Priced out
Housing costs in Nevada’s two largest metropolitan areas have skyrocketed over the last six years. The average price of a one-bedroom apartment in Reno is about $1,350 a month, almost twice the average rate from November 2014, according to data from Zumper, a rental listing platform. Rents for one-bedroom apartments in Las Vegas have seen similar increases during that time period.
Homeownership became a more pricey endeavor over the last three years as well. The median sale price of a Reno home is $580,000, according to data from Redfin. In May 2017, it was $325,000. In Las Vegas, the median sale price of a home is about $438,000, up from $230,000 in 2017.
These prices put renting or buying a home out of reach for some educators in Nevada, where the average starting teacher salary is about $41,277, according to figures from the National Education Association.
In the Washoe County School District, entry-level pay for a teacher with a bachelor’s degree is near the state average, and about $39,000 for a new teacher without a bachelor’s degree such as business or industry experts who have ample experience in their subjects, but no degree. These salary amounts aren’t enough to afford renting a one-bedroom apartment in the area, said Dawn Etcheverry, president-elect of the Nevada State Education Association.
“We’re not looking to be millionaires,” …….
