Teacher relocation decisions are unusually sensitive to the difference between a metro estimate and a district contract. OEWS provides one comparable occupational median across metros, while actual steps, credentials, pensions and school calendars sit outside the dataset. The median is useful as a common screen, not a substitute for the salary schedule.
Rent pressure is shown using current metro asking rent annualized against that occupational median. This prevents a high nominal salary from winning automatically in a high-rent market. The separate location-quotient axis shows whether elementary teaching occupies a larger or smaller share of local employment than the national pattern.
A lower rent-to-wage share may still conceal long commutes, scarce units near a district or lower starting-step pay. Conversely, a metro above the median rent share may offer a deeper set of districts or a specific contract that changes the calculation.