CCollegeMatcher

Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary

US occupation · SOC 25-1051

Job titles people report: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Astronomy Professor, Atmospheric Sciences Professor, Geology Professor, Instructor, Meteorology Professor, Oceanography Professor, Professor, Research Professor

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025
$103,170
Half earn more, half earn less
Middle half earn
$77,260 – $135,510
25th to 75th percentile
People employed, May 2025
9,900
Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)
Projected change, 2025–35
+2.4%
Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)
Openings a year (projected)
800
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 the physical sciences, except chemistry and physics. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching, and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

Main tasks

  • Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
  • Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as structural geology, micrometeorology, and atmospheric thermodynamics.
  • Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
  • Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
  • Supervise laboratory work and field work.
  • Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, and course materials and methods of instruction.
  • Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
  • Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.

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
  • Realistic: hands-on work with tools, machines, plants or animals

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 24 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.

Education

  • Science Teacher Education/General Science Teacher Education
  • Earth Science Teacher Education

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Education at the Major step.

Where many students take education

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.

Physics & Chemistry

  • Astronomy
  • Astrophysics
  • Planetary Astronomy and Science
  • Astronomy and Astrophysics, Other
  • Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, General
  • Atmospheric Chemistry and Climatology
  • Atmospheric Physics and Dynamics
  • Meteorology
10 more programmes
  • Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Other
  • Geology/Earth Science, General
  • Geochemistry
  • Geophysics and Seismology
  • Paleontology
  • Hydrology and Water Resources Science
  • Geochemistry and Petrology
  • Oceanography, Chemical and Physical
  • Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences, Other
  • Physics and Astronomy

Find colleges that fit you with our matcher: choose Physics & Chemistry at the Major step.

Where many students take physics & chemistry

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

  • Climate Science
  • Earth Systems Science
  • Environmental Geosciences
  • Mathematics and Atmospheric/Oceanic Science

Related careers

Related occupations from the O*NET database, in its order.

← All careers

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