SAN DIEGO — Newer San Diego teachers are dishing out nearly half of their annual earnings to pay for housing, a new study finds.

A report from the National Council on Teacher Quality found that renting a typical one bedroom home in the San Diego Unified School District costs 41% of a beginning teacher’s salary.

That conclusion is based on the average income for emerging educators in San Diego, which the think tank reports to be $50,744 per year.

In fact, this San Diego school district is considered the third least affordable in the country for new teachers to afford based on this report. This comes as a one bedroom home in the city costs $2,550 monthly on average, according to Zillow.

This poses the question: can new San Diego teachers afford to live where they work on their salaries alone?

Back in 2016, the state of California passed a law — the Teacher Housing Act — to allow school districts to build affordable housing for those they employ.

Fast-forward to 2022, another state law — Assembly Bill 2295 — was approved by California Governor Gavin Newsom, which loosened some zoning requirements for building come 2024. This was done in an effort to make it easier for school districts to build.

What does this mean for San Diego educators? With the use of $226 million bond — Measure U —  San Diego Unified is planning construction for this kind of affordable housing.

This means there may be some relief on the chalk board for new teachers looking to work in this district.