Education Teachers, Postsecondary

Pay and outlook

Median annual wage, May 2025

$75,350

Half earn more, half earn less

Middle half earn

$53,770 – $97,590

25th to 75th percentile

People employed, May 2025

60,830

Wage and salary jobs (OEWS)

Projected change, 2025–35

+2.5%

Growing slower than all jobs (0% to under 3.5%)

Openings a year (projected)

5,300

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 pertaining to education, such as counseling, curriculum, guidance, instruction, teacher education, and teaching English as a second language. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

Main tasks

• Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
• Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
• Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
• Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
• Supervise students' fieldwork, internship, and research work.
• Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
• Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as children's literature, learning and development, and reading instruction.
• 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

Work experience in a related job: less than 5 years

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).

Fields of study that lead here

From the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk, which links 74 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.

Related careers

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

• Instructional Coordinators

  $77,440 median · +1.6% projected

• Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors

  $61,540 median · -13.9% projected

• Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary

  $42,910 median · +2.7% projected

• Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary

  $84,290 median · +2.2% projected

• Social Work Teachers, Postsecondary

  $77,570 median · +2.6% projected

• Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary

  $80,340 median · +4% projected