Superintendent Stressors and Job Satisfaction

Superintendents reported fewer job-related stressors in 2025, but more say the stress isn’t worth it.

The American School District Panel recently released its annual State of the Superintendent survey report.  Results come from superintendents of 208 responding school districts, which is only a 2.6 percent response rate and a small percentage of the approximately 13,000 school districts in the United States.

Responding superintendents indicated fewer causes of work-related stress when compared to 2023 and 2024. However, there is an overall decline of superintendents who say the job is worth the stress.  In spring 2025, 53 percent of respondents agreed that the stress is worth it, down from 59 percent in 2023 and 2024. Respondents in larger districts (10,000+ students) were more likely to report that the stress of being a superintendent was worth it than those in smaller districts (fewer than 3,000 students).

The top five areas of stress for superintendents, according to the survey, are:

• District budget
• Students’ mental health
• Staffing shortages
• Educators’ mental health
• Intrusion of political issues and opinions

Visit the Rand Corp website to download the full State of the Superintendent report.