City Year reviews

3.4

53% would recommend to a friend

(2,292 total reviews)
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Michael Brown

46% approve of CEO

41% positive business outlook

City Year has an employee rating of 3.4 out of 5 stars, based on 2,292 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The City Year employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
1.0
Feb 3, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

if you put up with a year of lies, burnout, empathy fatigue from working with kids you can’t save, below minimum wage, then you can get a lot of money at the end.

Cons

they use the fact that you care about these kids to get you to put up with any and everything. that 900 something dollar check is basically 10 dollars an hour while you have to be an english and math tutor to multiple students, emotionally support them. mind you majority of these kids are experiencing poverty, several grades behind their reading and math level, extremely syndications home lives. these kids go through more than the average adult and you didn’t sign up to be a therapist. they are vague during the interview about the task and what you’re actually doing for a reason. so many other task and responsibilities. mangement does not care about you at all. they won’t care if you get injured, they won’t try to defend you to outside sources. i won’t ever get over how my school had teachers telling them kids they would never amount to anything, wouldn’t graduate, got called slurs, yet we stayed there, basically had to “turn the other cheek” and “be the lights” in the school….. majority of the people you work with WILL QUIT because who would want to stay in an environment like this. but majority of the people that leave will be black. that’s very telling.

5.0
Jan 29, 2026

CY LR

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Community, connection, support, and its a great place for recent graduates to go until they figure the next step.

Cons

You won't make a lot of money.

Viewing 19 - 21 of 2,292 Reviews

Glassdoor has 2,502 City Year reviews submitted anonymously by City Year employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if City Year is right for you.