Architecture Teachers, Postsecondary
US occupation · SOC 25-1031
Job titles people report: Adjunct Instructor, Adjunct Professor, Architecture Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Faculty Member, Instructor, Interior Design Professor, Lecturer, Professor
Pay and outlook
- Median annual wage, May 2025
- $96,870
- Half earn more, half earn less
- Middle half earn
- $74,970 – $128,510
- 25th to 75th percentile
- People employed, May 2025
- 7,700
- Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
- Projected change, 2025–35
- +2.6%
- Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)
- Openings a year (projected)
- 700
- New jobs plus replacing people who leave
- Typical education to enter
- Doctoral or professional degree
- BLS
- All figures are for the United States as a whole. Pay varies a lot by state and city.
- Wages are for everyone working in the occupation in May 2025, at every career stage. They are not starting salaries or figures for new graduates.
- Growth and openings are BLS projections for 2025–35. They are estimates, not promises. Openings include jobs that open up when people retire or change occupation, not just new jobs.
What the work involves
Teach courses in architecture and architectural design, such as architectural environmental design, interior architecture/design, and landscape architecture. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Main tasks
- Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, and course materials and methods of instruction.
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as architectural design methods, aesthetics and design, and structures and materials.
- Evaluate and grade students' work, including work performed in design studios.
- Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
- Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
Description and tasks from the O*NET® 31.0 Database.
Getting in
- Typical education to enter (BLS)
- Doctoral or professional degree
- O*NET Job Zone 5
- Extensive preparation
- Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Interests it suits
The strongest of the six O*NET interest types for this occupation, highest first. The short glosses are ours.
- Social: helping, teaching and caring for people
- Investigative: research, analysis and solving problems with ideas
- Artistic: creating, designing and self-expression
Fields of study that lead here
From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 18 programmes to this occupation. A link means the programme prepares people for this kind of work. It doesn't mean the programme is required, or that it's the only route.
Engineering
- Architectural Engineering
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Engineering at the Major step.
Where many students take engineering
- Purdue University-Main CampusWest Lafayette, IN · 25% of degrees · 44,503 undergraduates
- Texas A&M University-College StationCollege Station, TX · 17% of degrees · 59,615 undergraduates
- Georgia Institute of Technology-Main CampusAtlanta, GA · 42% of degrees · 18,785 undergraduates
- University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignChampaign, IL · 21% of degrees · 36,258 undergraduates
- Ohio State University-Main CampusColumbus, OH · 15% of degrees · 45,638 undergraduates
- North Carolina State University at RaleighRaleigh, NC · 24% of degrees · 27,371 undergraduates
Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.
Visual & Performing Arts
- Interior Design
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Visual & Performing Arts at the Major step.
Where many students take visual & performing arts
- Savannah College of Art and DesignSavannah, GA · 42% of degrees · 15,243 undergraduates
- Southern New Hampshire UniversityManchester, NH · 4% of degrees · 163,164 undergraduates
- University of Central FloridaOrlando, FL · 8% of degrees · 59,146 undergraduates
- New York UniversityNew York, NY · 16% of degrees · 28,663 undergraduates
- The New SchoolNew York, NY · 68% of degrees · 6,563 undergraduates
- Berklee College of MusicBoston, MA · 57% of degrees · 7,468 undergraduates
Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.
Architecture
- Architecture
- Architectural Design
- Architecture, Other
- City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning
- Environmental Design/Architecture
- Healthcare Environment Design/Architecture
- Sustainable Design/Architecture
- Environmental Design, Other
7 more programmes
- Interior Architecture
- Landscape Architecture
- Architectural Conservation
- Architectural Studies
- Architectural History, Criticism, and Conservation, Other
- Architectural and Building Sciences/Technology
- Architectural Sciences and Technology, Other
Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Architecture at the Major step.
Where many students take architecture
- Arizona State University Campus ImmersionTempe, AZ · 2% of degrees · 64,674 undergraduates
- California Polytechnic State University-San Luis ObispoSan Luis Obispo, CA · 4% of degrees · 21,996 undergraduates
- California State Polytechnic University-PomonaPomona, CA · 4% of degrees · 25,042 undergraduates
- The University of Texas at San AntonioSan Antonio, TX · 3% of degrees · 30,580 undergraduates
- University of ArkansasFayetteville, AR · 3% of degrees · 28,677 undergraduates
- University of Colorado BoulderBoulder, CO · 2% of degrees · 31,939 undergraduates
Ordered by the field's share of degrees awarded times undergraduate enrolment (College Scorecard), among colleges with at least 1,000 undergraduates. Online universities are included. It's a rough measure of how big the programme is. It says nothing about quality. The share counts every programme in the field, not only the ones linked to this career.
Other fields
Our college matcher doesn't offer this field as a major, so we can't suggest colleges for it here.
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies
- Design for Human Health
Related careers
Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.
- Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary
$78,620 median · +2.2% projected
- Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School
$65,030 median · -0.5% projected
- Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary
$63,820 median · -0.3% projected
- Landscape Architects
$79,870 median · +4.4% projected
- Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary
$109,270 median · +7.8% projected
- Instructional Coordinators
$77,440 median · +1.6% projected
Sources
This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. CollegeMatcher has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. O*NET 31.0 Database · CC BY 4.0
Changes: we show the core tasks in the O*NET database with the highest importance ratings (up to eight, in that order), the top three O*NET interest types by score, and shortened Job Zone names. Titles, descriptions and task text are unchanged.
Wages: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Projections, typical entry education and training: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–35. Fields of study: NCES and BLS CIP 2020–SOC 2018 Crosswalk. All public domain. OEWS · Employment Projections · CIP–SOC crosswalk