Economics Teachers, Postsecondary salary

SOC 25-1063 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$123,920

per year, nationally

Middle half

$86,840–$168,770

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

11,560

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+2.1%

1,200 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.

$64,060$224,200

10th: $64,060
25th: $86,840
Median: $123,920
75th: $168,770
90th: $224,200

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 economics 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	New Hampshire	$201,610	104.2	80	1.52×
2	Massachusetts	$164,410	105.8	750	2.76×
3	District of Columbia	$161,860	109.9	220	4.26×
4	Connecticut	$155,950	103.6	300	2.37×
5	California	$137,360	110.7	770	0.57×
6	Arizona	$137,250	100.7	100	0.41×
7	Oregon	$136,450	103.4	180	1.24×
8	Vermont	$134,850	98.0	80	3.40×
9	Maryland	$133,540	105.0	200	0.97×
10	Louisiana	$132,670	88.2	70	0.47×
11	Nebraska	$130,980	90.1	90	1.21×
12	Michigan	$129,400	96.2	350	1.06×
13	Virginia	$128,790	101.1	460	1.52×
14	Utah	$128,370	98.9	150	1.18×
15	New York	$127,500	107.9	1,240	1.72×
16	Maine	$125,960	97.0	70	1.39×
17	Illinois	$124,850	100.0	460	1.00×
18	Texas	$118,530	97.1	770	0.73×
19	Pennsylvania	$117,970	97.6	610	1.35×
20	Georgia	$117,600	96.3	370	1.00×
21	Missouri	$116,530	90.8	150	0.67×
22	North Carolina	$114,200	94.3	490	1.34×
23	New Mexico	$110,020	92.2	60	0.92×
24	New Jersey	$109,880	108.8	410	1.29×
25	South Carolina	$109,060	93.7	110	0.67×
26	Minnesota	$108,460	98.6	250	1.16×
27	Oklahoma	$107,260	87.8	110	0.87×
28	Kentucky	$106,250	90.2	120	0.79×
29	Ohio	$105,930	92.8	410	0.99×
30	Indiana	$105,390	93.3	150	0.65×
31	Tennessee	$104,560	91.9	250	1.03×
32	Kansas	$103,490	90.1	130	1.22×
33	Alabama	$101,250	88.8	90	0.57×
34	Wisconsin	$99,970	94.1	310	1.41×
35	Colorado	$98,870	103.1	270	1.28×
36	Washington	$96,500	107.0	190	0.73×
37	West Virginia	$91,170	89.5	40	0.86×
38	Florida	$91,140	103.4	150	0.21×
39	Mississippi	$88,290	87.0	70	0.80×
40	South Dakota	$85,700	88.6	40	1.03×
41	Iowa	$85,090	87.8	80	0.73×
42	Arkansas	$76,610	86.9	40	0.38×

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 economics teachers, postsecondary wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for economics 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	Lexington-Fayette, KY	$220,690	92.9	30	1.56×
2	College Station-Bryan, TX	$219,160	91.0	50	5.12×
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$203,720	115.6	50	0.26×
4	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$202,030	108.8	30	2.10×
5	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$194,520	106.4	40	0.35×
6	Ann Arbor, MI	$185,830	100.9	70	4.21×
7	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$174,910	108.3	530	2.66×
8	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$164,050	110.4	90	1.09×
9	Knoxville, TN	$162,850	92.6	30	1.08×
10	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$155,060	108.9	360	1.55×
11	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$152,390	103.2	—	—
12	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$140,700	111.9	80	0.73×
13	Amherst Town-Northampton, MA	$140,360	100.2	110	22.37×
14	Fort Collins-Loveland, CO	$138,460	101.1	70	5.53×
15	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$137,740	113.6	250	0.54×
16	Raleigh-Cary, NC	$137,420	98.2	70	1.23×
17	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$137,250	103.3	60	0.34×
18	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$135,940	106.9	—	—
19	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$135,290	102.7	100	2.23×
20	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$133,540	104.5	110	1.09×
21	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$133,520	101.8	130	2.38×
22	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$133,460	100.1	230	1.07×
23	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$132,140	112.6	930	1.31×
24	El Paso, TX	$130,210	89.9	30	1.20×
25	Oklahoma City, OK	$129,960	90.4	40	0.74×
26	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$129,910	98.1	130	1.38×
27	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$129,470	97.9	100	1.78×
28	Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN	$129,360	96.3	100	1.20×
29	Richmond, VA	$128,470	97.9	60	1.28×
30	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$127,430	102.6	290	1.33×
31	Columbus, OH	$127,420	95.5	70	0.87×
32	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$125,080	99.6	90	2.72×
33	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$124,360	103.6	260	0.77×
34	Syracuse, NY	$123,940	95.7	—	—
35	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ	$122,450	100.0	50	1.67×
36	Rochester, NY	$121,660	97.0	80	2.16×
37	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$121,210	105.4	140	1.53×
38	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$112,370	103.1	150	0.50×
39	Worcester, MA	$110,680	102.5	40	1.58×
40	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$109,060	101.0	40	1.35×

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 economics 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

Economics Teachers, Postsecondary salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where economics teachers, postsecondary earn the most

Best paying metro areas for economics teachers, postsecondary

Similar occupations

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