Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has more than 20 employees that make more than $200,000 a year. That’s significantly more than other districts in North Carolina, including Wake County.

Wake County Public Schools is the largest school district in the state, with around 161,000 students, and comes in at the 14th largest in the nation. CMS is the state’s second largest, with around 140,000 students, and is the 16th largest district in the country.

But CMS has 22 employees making over $200,000 while WCPSS has just three, according to data The Charlotte Observer obtained via public records. The 22 highest-paid CMS employees make around $5 million combined.

Both districts’ highest-paid employees are their superintendents: WCPSS’ Superintendent Robert Taylor makes around $340,000 per year, while CMS’s Crystal Hill makes $318,000.

Hill is slated to get a 7% raise, which would raise her pay to $340,700, but it will go into effect only after the state legislature passes a new budget with raises for teachers. The two chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly are embroiled in a long-running budgetary stalemate and have yet to pass a budget for this fiscal year, which began in July. As a result, state employees, like teachers, have not received a raise this year.

WCPSS only has two other employees whose salaries exceed $200,000 – Chief Business Officer David Neter and Chief of Facilities and Operations Mark Strickland. CMS has many more, including Chief Financial Officer Kelly Kluttz, Deputy Superintendent Melissa Balknight and Acting General Counsel Anna Hehenberger, among others.

Wake County has a slightly higher cost of living than Mecklenburg County, according to Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator, though both counties are among the most expensive in the state. The living wage in Wake County sits at around $55,250 a year for a single adult with no children. Meanwhile, in Mecklenburg County, it’s currently estimated around $53,100.

Starting teacher salaries in CMS are around $48,900, while in Wake County, starting teachers make around $48,340. Beginning teacher pay in both districts lags behind the cost of living.

Teachers and public education advocates around the state, including CMS district leaders, have called on more funding from the state for public education in recent years, as North Carolina has continued to rank among the nation’s lowest for per-pupil spending and teacher pay.

The North Carolina Association of Educators is encouraging teachers to call out of work on May 1 for a march in Raleigh to call for higher state investment in public education.

CMS Superintendent Crystal Hill has said she will continue to ask for the county to fund some teacher pay increases regardless of what raises the state may pass.

“We have to have both… because it is more expensive to live in Charlotte-Mecklenburg than in, for example, some parts of Union County,” she said when presenting her 2026-27 budget recommendation to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education March 25. “We want people to live here, not just work here.”

Hill proposed asking the county for $25.1 million more, while also cutting some central office positions. The CMS school board will vote on the proposal later this month.

Both WCPSS and CMS are significantly larger than the next biggest district in North Carolina, Guilford County Schools, which has around 66,000 students. GCS did not provide the Observer with salary data in time for publication.

The next biggest is Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, with around 50,000 students. Its highest-paid employee is Superintendent Don Phipps, who makes around $292,000 in total, according to public records obtained by the Observer.

When compared to other similarly-sized U.S. school districts, CMS has a comparable number of executives making over $200,000. However, teacher pay in those districts looks much different than in North Carolina.

The 17th largest school district in the country, just behind CMS, is Dallas Independent School District, in Texas. Its superintendent, Stephanie Elizalde, makes $430,000 a year, according to public records obtained by the Observer – significantly more than Hill or Taylor. In total, 18 DISD employees make over $200,000.

However, starting teachers in DISD make $65,000. That’s well over the estimated living wage for a single adult in Dallas County, which currently sits at around $48,500.

Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland is the 18th largest district in the country, with around 131,000 students. All 25 of its highest-paid employees make over $200,000.

Starting teacher pay in Prince George’s County sits just under $64,000. Meanwhile, the cost of living for a single adult with no children is estimated at around $57,600.