Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary salary

SOC 25-1052 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$93,250

per year, nationally

Middle half

$68,530–$127,280

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

19,980

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+2.2%

1,900 openings/yr

What the range looks like

A single median hides most of what a job pays. The bar below is the full national range: the wash spans the 10th to 90th percentile, the solid bar is the middle half, and the tick is the median.

$57,870$172,110

10th: $57,870
25th: $68,530
Median: $93,250
75th: $127,280
90th: $172,110

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Doctoral or professional degree
Related work experience: None
On-the-job training: None

Entry requirements describe what is typical, not mandatory. Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34.

Where chemistry teachers, postsecondary earn the most

Nominal pay and pay adjusted for local prices rank states differently — a high-wage state with high costs can be worse off in real terms than a middling one. Switch between the two below.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	State	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	California	$132,960	110.7	1,650	0.71×
2	North Dakota	$111,020	89.0	60	1.03×
3	Massachusetts	$108,270	105.8	820	1.74×
4	Delaware	$104,610	99.8	80	1.34×
5	Minnesota	$104,380	98.6	430	1.14×
6	Arizona	$103,790	100.7	210	0.52×
7	District of Columbia	$103,370	109.9	100	1.12×
8	New Hampshire	$102,220	104.2	70	0.78×
9	Utah	$102,110	98.9	200	0.88×
10	Nevada	$101,640	100.0	60	0.32×
11	Maryland	$101,530	105.0	310	0.87×
12	Oregon	$101,350	103.4	460	1.82×
13	Michigan	$101,030	96.2	560	0.99×
14	Rhode Island	$100,920	102.3	110	1.70×
15	New York	$99,880	107.9	1,840	1.47×
16	Illinois	$97,860	100.0	880	1.12×
17	Colorado	$96,600	103.1	330	0.90×
18	Pennsylvania	$95,070	97.6	1,270	1.63×
19	Kansas	$93,830	90.1	170	0.91×
20	Washington	$85,970	107.0	390	0.85×
21	Georgia	$85,300	96.3	500	0.79×
22	Maine	$85,250	97.0	70	0.83×
23	New Mexico	$85,240	92.2	80	0.69×
24	Nebraska	$85,050	90.1	150	1.13×
25	Montana	$84,680	94.6	80	1.18×
26	Louisiana	$83,680	88.2	140	0.56×
27	Wisconsin	$83,480	94.1	450	1.20×
28	Missouri	$83,000	90.8	460	1.22×
29	Wyoming	$82,830	92.7	30	0.87×
30	Kentucky	$82,550	90.2	250	0.97×
31	Iowa	$82,050	87.8	230	1.12×
32	West Virginia	$81,830	89.5	90	0.94×
33	Texas	$81,810	97.1	1,470	0.82×
34	New Jersey	$81,600	108.8	750	1.36×
35	Indiana	$81,530	93.3	530	1.28×
36	South Carolina	$81,200	93.7	270	0.91×
37	Virginia	$80,330	101.1	760	1.44×
38	Tennessee	$79,150	91.9	370	0.89×
39	Connecticut	$78,820	103.6	350	1.61×
40	North Carolina	$78,620	94.3	900	1.42×
41	Vermont	$78,560	98.0	90	2.26×
42	Ohio	$77,910	92.8	700	0.98×
43	Florida	$77,630	103.4	340	0.27×
44	Alabama	$76,430	88.8	310	1.14×
45	South Dakota	$75,810	88.6	70	1.15×
46	Mississippi	$66,420	87.0	130	0.88×
47	Arkansas	$64,720	86.9	110	0.64×
48	Oklahoma	$64,450	87.8	220	1.01×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. States where chemistry teachers, postsecondary wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for chemistry teachers, postsecondary

The 40 highest-paying metros with a published estimate. BLS suppresses roughly half of all occupation-by-metro cells, so a metro absent here has no local figure rather than a low one.

The median wage as published, before local prices are taken into account.

#	Metro area	Median	Cost of living	Employed	Concentrationvs. national
1	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$156,430	106.4	110	0.50×
2	Wilmington, NC	$144,160	96.4	40	1.62×
3	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$141,370	113.6	560	0.70×
4	Lexington-Fayette, KY	$138,890	92.9	80	2.29×
5	Ann Arbor, MI	$138,330	100.9	80	2.79×
6	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$138,300	111.9	250	1.29×
7	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$137,440	115.6	150	0.48×
8	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$132,590	104.8	290	1.16×
9	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$131,080	110.4	160	1.07×
10	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$130,340	106.7	120	0.84×
11	Fresno, CA	$128,550	102.2	50	0.78×
12	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$123,250	108.3	530	1.54×
13	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$116,670	109.4	70	2.07×
14	College Station-Bryan, TX	$116,090	91.0	90	5.40×
15	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$110,100	103.3	130	0.44×
16	Amherst Town-Northampton, MA	$108,520	100.2	100	11.28×
17	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$105,700	101.1	50	2.35×
18	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$104,710	98.2	150	1.55×
19	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$103,070	100.3	130	0.53×
20	Columbia, SC	$102,690	93.7	50	0.97×
21	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$102,620	100.1	300	0.82×
22	Columbia, MO	$102,400	89.4	80	5.49×
23	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$101,770	95.8	110	1.62×
24	Erie, PA	$101,330	91.0	40	2.40×
25	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$101,270	105.4	300	1.94×
26	St. Louis, MO-IL	$101,060	95.1	200	1.19×
27	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$100,560	103.6	620	1.07×
28	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$99,980	112.6	1,580	1.29×
29	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$99,650	98.6	360	0.85×
30	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$99,230	102.6	500	1.35×
31	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$98,170	108.9	310	0.76×
32	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$97,950	104.5	170	1.00×
33	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ	$97,900	100.0	90	1.78×
34	Lincoln, NE	$97,590	91.6	70	2.89×
35	Greenville-Anderson-Greer, SC	$97,580	93.3	60	1.12×
36	Ithaca, NY	$97,550	103.3	60	9.73×
37	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$97,490	101.8	140	1.52×
38	Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA	$95,780	98.7	40	0.94×
39	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$94,580	108.8	60	2.34×
40	Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA	$93,950	93.6	40	1.14×

Cost of living is the BEA regional price parity for all items, where 100 is the national average. Concentration is the BLS location quotient: how much more of the local workforce does this job than the national average, so 2.00× means twice the national share. It is often the reason wages differ — a place that concentrates an occupation has the employers and the competition for it. Metro areas where chemistry teachers, postsecondary wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Similar occupations

Other jobs in the same field, with what each pays nationally.

Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary$107,310
Postsecondary Teachers, All Other$77,640
Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary$63,820
Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary$78,620
Business Teachers, Postsecondary$99,080
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary$80,250
Education Teachers, Postsecondary$75,350
English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary$78,760

Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where chemistry teachers, postsecondary earn the most

Best paying metro areas for chemistry teachers, postsecondary

Similar occupations

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