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Hello! My husband and I are both teachers but have been looking for a place where we could afford to live off of just one teacher salary so that I can stay home with kids for a while. After doing some research, Waco and the suburbs around it look like that might be possible. Does anybody have any info on what it's like to teach in the Waco area, if it's possible to find housing on one teacher salary, and any other info for a family looking for a good family friendly place to live? We live in Colorado and it's not possible to afford to live here on one teaching salary.
Yep, fixer upper ain't what you are expecting, if that is part of the attraction, visit first, then come on over to Tyler. You just may be more impressed, lol shame on me. To start with save one to two thousand per year on your CITY property taxes, the rest are average taxes. This is just for starters. A teaser, lol. Just looked up city tax rates. Waco's almost just under 300% more, that's three times as much as Tyler's, which is lowest of any city any Texas over 17,000 population.
Last edited by Mark Senior; 06-23-2016 at 08:21 PM..
My wife and I just left Waco to return to the west coast where I'm originally from. I taught for 9 years in the Waco area.
There are only 2 districts in the Waco area that pay decently.
Midway ISD is the more affluent southern suburbs and the district where most of the area teachers want to teach. The majority of professional types in the Waco area live in the Midway district so you have supportive parents. I taught at Midway and my kids attended Midway schools. Midway has passed some big tax levies recently so the schools have a lot of resources. All the kids K-12 get personal iPads for example. The HS has an indoor football practice facility and they just did a $10+ million expansion of the fine arts facilities. The elementary schools are all mostly newer and nice. Probably the equivalent of decent suburban schools you find pretty much anywhere in the US.
Waco ISD is the large inner city district that covers most (but not all) of the city limits of Waco. It is the typical inner city Texas district, predominantly poor and minority. The schools suffer from lots of turnover of teachers and administrators as well as all the other social ills that come with working in a poor district. I know teachers who are happy there but it can be tough. I think the pay scale is slightly higher than Midway as they have a harder time attracting teachers. The schools are mostly older but there are a few newer ones. University HS is basically brand new.
Other than Midway and Waco ISD there are perhaps a dozen other smaller suburban and rural districts that are within easy commuting distance of Waco. But they are all going to pay substantially less. Like $10 thousand to $15 thousand less for the equivalent position depending on the stipends. You can go to all the district web sites and find the pay scales and see where you would fall. Lorena, Robinson, and China Spring are the three most affluent suburban districts and are mostly bedroom communities of Waco. Similar to Midway but smaller districts but with MUCH lower pay scales. La Vega and Connally districts are in a more blue collar poorer area north of Waco but pay similarly poorly. Then there are a bunch of small rural districts that are easy drives from Waco. Axtell, Valley Mills, Crawford, McGregor, Moody, Bruceville-Eddy, Troy, and so forth that will all be on the rock bottom of the pay scale. Some teachers who live in Waco commute as far as Temple, Belton, and even Killeen to the south where the pay scales are more equivalent to Waco and Midway.
As for your fundamental question of making a go on one teacher's salary. It could be done but you would be making compromises in terms of where you chose to live. It would be tough in the nicer areas such as Woodway and Hewitt where housing prices are rising. But there are plenty of urban pioneer type opportunities in inner city Waco where you could live if you wanted. People in your circumstances do it but it wouldn't be my choice. You could probably find plenty of older 3 br. ranch type houses in older but still fairly decent neighborhoods for around $100,000. But those neighborhoods don't seem to have a lot of kids as most middle class families are moving to the suburbs for the schools. Like this for example
If you can spend a bit more you can move out to Hewitt where the schools are better and the neighborhoods more quiet and kid friendly. Like these for example
Waco is a very doable city on two teacher's salaries though. I know a lot of teachers who do it. You can live a very comfortable middle class suburban life on two teachers salaries which isn't really possible on the coasts.
EDIT: Another factor you should be aware of is that Texas school districts for the most part do not pay into social security so your only retirement benefit will be the fairly meager Texas Retirement System pension that is not indexed like social security. The only exceptions are some districts in the Austin and San Antonio area. If you have worked outside Texas under a social security job and come to Texas you are going to see your social security benefits cut. You basically get screwed. Google "Windfall Elimination Provision" or WEP if you don't understand what I am talking about.
Last edited by texasdiver; 06-23-2016 at 08:41 PM..
Thanks for the response. We've been researching a lot of areas in Texas since I have family in Dallas and Houston so we thought Waco was a good half-way point. Some friends of mine told me they loved living in San Antonio. I'm still in the research phase so it's nice to get feedback from people who live in the area. Midway ISD was recommended by a friend who lives in Austin. I'd rather live in Austin, but that didn't seem possible on one teacher income and could be a struggle on two incomes.
Waco is on I 35. Houston is on I 45. Unless you want to drive back roads halfway to Houston, you need to be further east.
San Anyonio would be a much better option.
You might look in Fairfield, Ennis or Corsicana.
Waco is on I 35. Houston is on I 45. Unless you want to drive back roads halfway to Houston, you need to be further east.
San Anyonio would be a much better option.
You might look in Fairfield, Ennis or Corsicana.
Highway 6 runs all the way from Waco to 290 to Houston. I think it's 4 lanes the entire way now. Hardly a back road. It's roughly 3 hours to downtown Houston and 2 hours to downtown Dallas.
TexasDiver is pretty accurate on everything. I have friends who teach in Midway and like it, but it's difficult to get hired there because it's so popular. I taught in Waco for several years - and have friends who continue to teach there - and it can be difficult, but it is also really rewarding. I became a diagnostician, otherwise I'd still be in Waco and teaching those kids because I enjoyed it so much. The surrounding communities tend to pay a lot less, but there is also less stress and often fewer kids in your classes. If you are trying to maximize salary, then Midway or Waco is the way to do it. Marlin also recently started offering a comparable salary, but their school has been failing for years and it's going to be way tougher than Waco to work in.
One salary would be pretty tough to do. Starting pay is much higher in the bigger cities in Texas but then again, so is cost of living (or you end up with a hellish commute). Depending on how many years you have, you'd probably make about $45,000 in Waco or Midway and closer to $35,000 to $38,000 in some of the surrounding areas. Home prices are skyrocketing here in the past few years (probably at least in part because of Magnolia) so getting something on that salary would be tough. You'll have to compromise with a commute or sf or age of the home, but it would be doable.
If you want to live in a big city, then look into one of them. If you want a smaller city that has many big city amenities, then Waco is a good option.
Waco is on I 35. Houston is on I 45. Unless you want to drive back roads halfway to Houston, you need to be further east.
San Anyonio would be a much better option.
You might look in Fairfield, Ennis or Corsicana.
The drive between Waco and Houston is fine and hardly back roads. As Mcwick pointed out it is nearly entirely a 4 lane freeway except where you go through the small towns of Calvert and Hearne. People from outside Texas seem to assume that because a highway isn't an interstate highway with an interstate number then it isn't a freeway, but there are state roads and older US highways throughout Texas that have been widened into 4 lane freeways or wider. I've driven the drive between Waco and Houston many times and it is frankly more pleasant than just about any section of I35 between DFW and San Antonio with its endless construction and congestion. The only headache on the drive into Houston is coming into Houston on US 290 which is a freeway but seems to be one of the more congested ones in the Houston area.
If you want to be centrally located between the major Texas metro areas than Waco is hard to beat. DFW and Austin are 1.5 to 2 hours deepening on traffic and destination. Houston and San Antonio are each 3 hours.
Fairfield, Ennis, and Corsicana are all much smaller one HS towns and are going to be way more rural and insular.
Last edited by texasdiver; 06-25-2016 at 10:26 AM..
Highway 6 runs all the way from Waco to 290 to Houston. I think it's 4 lanes the entire way now. Hardly a back road. It's roughly 3 hours to downtown Houston and 2 hours to downtown Dallas.
TexasDiver is pretty accurate on everything. I have friends who teach in Midway and like it, but it's difficult to get hired there because it's so popular. I taught in Waco for several years - and have friends who continue to teach there - and it can be difficult, but it is also really rewarding. I became a diagnostician, otherwise I'd still be in Waco and teaching those kids because I enjoyed it so much. The surrounding communities tend to pay a lot less, but there is also less stress and often fewer kids in your classes. If you are trying to maximize salary, then Midway or Waco is the way to do it. Marlin also recently started offering a comparable salary, but their school has been failing for years and it's going to be way tougher than Waco to work in.
One salary would be pretty tough to do. Starting pay is much higher in the bigger cities in Texas but then again, so is cost of living (or you end up with a hellish commute). Depending on how many years you have, you'd probably make about $45,000 in Waco or Midway and closer to $35,000 to $38,000 in some of the surrounding areas. Home prices are skyrocketing here in the past few years (probably at least in part because of Magnolia) so getting something on that salary would be tough. You'll have to compromise with a commute or sf or age of the home, but it would be doable.
If you want to live in a big city, then look into one of them. If you want a smaller city that has many big city amenities, then Waco is a good option.
I looked up the 2015 salary schedules of of curiosity for China Spring, a typical smaller district in the area and for Waco ISD. They are all on the district web sites, although the 2016-17 schedules aren't up yet. A teacher with 5 years of experience would earn $38,000 at China Spring and $45,500 at Waco ISD. Waco also offers a lot of different stipends for scarce skills ranging up to $8,000 per year for HS math and a science. So a science teacher with 5 years experience could earn $53,500. Midway's base salary is similar to Waco but with smaller stipends although Midway does offer stipends for masters degrees. All the other smaller districts in the area will be similar if not identical to China Spring.
If I was looking for teaching jobs in a bigger city I would probably look at San Antionio. Austin is way tougher because UT pumps out so many education grads and so many young people want to live there. San Antonio has some up and and coming aspects to it. DFW and Houston are both enormous metropolises that would also have lots of jobs but with potentially much tougher commutes and traffic and headaches compared to San Antonio which is still manageable. But there are a bazillion bedroom communities around all the big Texas cities that are viable options depending on your budget and ability to find jobs. There are no "secret" places though. The nice areas will be more expensive and harder to find teaching jobs. Just a fact of life. People want to live and work in nice areas.
Bottom line. Waco is a reasonably smart choice for a young family of teachers. Wouldn't be very exciting for a young single teacher but it is a good family place that pretty much hits the sweet spot in terms of affordability and amenities and access to the rest of Texas.
Last edited by texasdiver; 06-25-2016 at 10:35 AM..
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To start with save one to two thousand per year on your CITY property taxes, the rest are average taxes. This is just for starters. A teaser, lol. Just looked up city tax rates. Waco's almost just under 300% more, that's three times as much as Tyler's, which is lowest of any city any Texas over 17,000 population.
