Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary salary

SOC 25-1065 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$98,070

per year, nationally

Middle half

$73,260–$129,130

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

16,970

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+2.0%

1,600 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.

$56,450$174,660

10th: $56,450
25th: $73,260
Median: $98,070
75th: $129,130
90th: $174,660

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 political science 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	Massachusetts	$128,150	105.8	920	2.31×
2	California	$124,890	110.7	1,060	0.53×
3	New Hampshire	$124,110	104.2	90	1.18×
4	Montana	$109,050	94.6	—	—
5	Vermont	$107,490	98.0	80	2.36×
6	Michigan	$107,060	96.2	380	0.79×
7	Maryland	$105,630	105.0	370	1.23×
8	New York	$104,050	107.9	1,460	1.38×
9	District of Columbia	$102,310	109.9	1,120	14.67×
10	Virginia	$101,430	101.1	830	1.86×
11	Rhode Island	$101,320	102.3	170	3.04×
12	Washington	$101,140	107.0	450	1.16×
13	Illinois	$100,700	100.0	460	0.69×
14	New Jersey	$100,260	108.8	650	1.39×
15	Connecticut	$100,230	103.6	320	1.70×
16	Arizona	$99,910	100.7	190	0.53×
17	Pennsylvania	$97,230	97.6	660	0.99×
18	Minnesota	$97,170	98.6	250	0.76×
19	Maine	$96,760	97.0	60	0.89×
20	Missouri	$94,500	90.8	280	0.87×
21	Nevada	$93,300	100.0	70	0.42×
22	Louisiana	$88,090	88.2	70	0.31×
23	Texas	$86,950	97.1	1,890	1.23×
24	Nebraska	$86,380	90.1	50	0.49×
25	Wyoming	$84,750	92.7	40	1.23×
26	Indiana	$83,770	93.3	630	1.79×
27	Oregon	$83,580	103.4	540	2.53×
28	Wisconsin	$83,190	94.1	290	0.91×
29	Tennessee	$81,330	91.9	250	0.69×
30	New Mexico	$80,640	92.2	40	0.41×
31	Utah	$80,610	98.9	70	0.39×
32	Iowa	$80,160	87.8	100	0.61×
33	Ohio	$80,090	92.8	460	0.76×
34	Georgia	$79,870	96.3	470	0.87×
35	Kansas	$78,800	90.1	80	0.54×
36	North Carolina	$78,760	94.3	440	0.82×
37	Kentucky	$78,670	90.2	140	0.64×
38	South Carolina	$78,650	93.7	210	0.85×
39	Florida	$77,860	103.4	270	0.25×
40	Alabama	$77,860	88.8	180	0.79×
41	West Virginia	$77,420	89.5	70	0.88×
42	South Dakota	$72,580	88.6	30	0.67×
43	Oklahoma	$63,400	87.8	90	0.47×
44	Mississippi	$59,270	87.0	90	0.71×
45	Arkansas	$58,350	86.9	80	0.57×

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

Best paying metro areas for political science 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	$150,940	106.4	70	0.35×
2	Ann Arbor, MI	$137,430	100.9	140	6.04×
3	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$131,690	108.3	670	2.27×
4	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$131,440	106.7	70	0.57×
5	Fresno, CA	$128,820	102.2	30	0.60×
6	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$128,050	115.6	60	0.24×
7	College Station-Bryan, TX	$126,240	91.0	130	8.59×
8	Lexington-Fayette, KY	$121,300	92.9	40	1.16×
9	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$119,590	113.6	420	0.62×
10	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$118,950	110.4	120	1.00×
11	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX	$111,030	85.9	70	2.23×
12	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$107,490	100.9	40	2.94×
13	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$107,170	111.1	310	1.34×
14	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$107,070	112.6	1,220	1.18×
15	Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI	$107,060	95.5	30	0.46×
16	Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA	$105,200	98.7	40	1.08×
17	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$105,090	111.9	130	0.79×
18	Amherst Town-Northampton, MA	$104,970	100.2	100	14.00×
19	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$104,700	109.4	40	1.51×
20	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$104,120	102.6	310	0.99×
21	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$104,090	100.2	40	0.29×
22	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$104,050	99.6	90	1.86×
23	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$103,370	104.8	140	0.66×
24	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$102,960	98.6	360	1.01×
25	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$102,430	104.5	150	1.00×
26	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$102,310	108.9	1,480	4.31×
27	Worcester, MA	$101,990	102.5	100	2.56×
28	Lincoln, NE	$101,770	91.6	30	1.51×
29	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$101,470	103.2	—	—
30	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$101,320	101.8	190	2.43×
31	Columbia, SC	$101,220	93.7	40	0.87×
32	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$101,090	98.1	300	2.15×
33	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ	$101,070	100.0	40	0.97×
34	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$100,900	102.7	150	2.36×
35	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$100,700	103.6	320	0.65×
36	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$100,630	100.3	70	0.34×
37	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$99,380	97.9	160	1.88×
38	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$98,260	103.3	100	0.40×
39	Harrisonburg, VA	$97,370	94.9	50	7.00×
40	Ithaca, NY	$97,240	103.3	60	12.10×

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 political science 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

Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where political science teachers, postsecondary earn the most

Best paying metro areas for political science teachers, postsecondary

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