A report released by AASA, The School Superintendents Association, found people are rising to the superintendency role at earlier ages compared to previous years. Among almost 2,100 superintendents in 49 states, just 10 percent were aged 60 or older during the 2024–25 school year, down from 19 percent in 2012. Meanwhile, 34 percent of superintendents fell between the ages of 41-50 — up from 30 percent in 2012.
The AASA also found that female superintendents, who represented a little over a quarter of total respondents, earned 99.16 percent of what their male peers earned in 2024–25; that almost 52 percent of those surveyed had more than five years of experience as superintendent; and that 93 percent would continue to serve in the position of superintendent during the 2025–26 school year. Approximately 90 percent of respondents intend to remain superintendent in their current district.
A separate survey from RAND Corporation touted an overall decline in job stress reported by superintendents from 2023 to 2025, but researchers noted that while stress improved most for small-district superintendents, results were mixed for large-district superintendents.
The survey also revealed a divide between what’s causing the most stress among superintendents of small districts (those with fewer than 3,000 students) and large districts (those serving 10,000 or more students).
“Small-district superintendents flagged budgets as the most common source of job stress in 2025, as they did in the two prior years,” according to the RAND report. “Large-district superintendents continued to mark the intrusion of political issues and opinions as the most common source of stress in their jobs.”
Similar to last year’s results, superintendents in large districts reported spending most of their time on communications — particularly school board communications — while those in small districts devoted most of their time to school facilities, school staff communications and budget.
However, leaders of both small and large districts indicated that instruction, school data, parent communication and communication with school staff should be where they devote most of their time, while less time should be spent dealing with facilities, budgets and school board communications.
