Teacher Assistant

Across all employers in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN area, the median wage for Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary — about 46,770 people — is $37,840. Columbia Explorers Academy pays a median base salary of $49,002 for this role, 29% above that figure — above the 90th percentile of local pay for the occupation.

Median total compensation for this role at Columbia Explorers Academy is $68,671, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.

Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.

Teacher Assistant is held in 324 Chicago Public Schools departments. In Columbia Explorers Academy, the median of $68,671 ranks #150 of 324.

This role is reported in 4 jurisdictions. In Chicago Public Schools, the median of $67,753 ranks #1 of 4. See Teacher Assistant across all of Chicago Public Schools →