Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary salary

SOC 25-1066 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$80,340

per year, nationally

Middle half

$63,400–$105,920

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

41,530

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+3.6%

4,000 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.

$49,050$153,600

10th: $49,050
25th: $63,400
Median: $80,340
75th: $105,920
90th: $153,600

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 psychology 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	$107,340	110.7	4,410	0.91×
2	Delaware	$102,340	99.8	—	—
3	Maryland	$101,430	105.0	640	0.87×
4	District of Columbia	$101,250	109.9	340	1.80×
5	New York	$100,720	107.9	4,070	1.57×
6	Michigan	$99,900	96.2	920	0.78×
7	North Dakota	$97,110	89.0	60	0.50×
8	New Hampshire	$95,030	104.2	110	0.63×
9	Rhode Island	$94,360	102.3	180	1.35×
10	Utah	$93,090	98.9	200	0.43×
11	Louisiana	$91,340	88.2	140	0.27×
12	Connecticut	$84,500	103.6	920	2.04×
13	New Mexico	$83,600	92.2	100	0.42×
14	Idaho	$83,010	95.5	180	0.77×
15	Massachusetts	$82,930	105.8	2,640	2.72×
16	Minnesota	$82,640	98.6	760	0.96×
17	Maine	$81,660	97.0	110	0.64×
18	Nevada	$81,300	100.0	140	0.34×
19	Vermont	$81,100	98.0	100	1.19×
20	New Jersey	$80,790	108.8	1,630	1.42×
21	Oregon	$80,060	103.4	660	1.25×
22	Kansas	$79,730	90.1	230	0.61×
23	Georgia	$79,440	96.3	820	0.63×
24	Missouri	$79,240	90.8	590	0.76×
25	Alaska	$79,040	102.4	70	0.81×
26	Arizona	$78,610	100.7	940	1.08×
27	Ohio	$78,530	92.8	1,500	1.02×
28	Iowa	$78,450	87.8	320	0.76×
29	Washington	$78,330	107.0	840	0.88×
30	Virginia	$77,950	101.1	1,050	0.95×
31	Illinois	$77,860	100.0	2,260	1.39×
32	Indiana	$77,820	93.3	760	0.89×
33	Wisconsin	$77,580	94.1	630	0.80×
34	Nebraska	$77,340	90.1	170	0.61×
35	Montana	$77,120	94.6	90	0.69×
36	Texas	$77,060	97.1	3,380	0.90×
37	Colorado	$76,810	103.1	960	1.25×
38	Tennessee	$76,010	91.9	790	0.90×
39	Pennsylvania	$75,960	97.6	2,120	1.31×
40	Alabama	$75,340	88.8	610	1.08×
41	North Carolina	$75,260	94.3	1,100	0.83×
42	South Carolina	$74,890	93.7	390	0.63×
43	Kentucky	$74,520	90.2	590	1.10×
44	West Virginia	$74,280	89.5	150	0.77×
45	Florida	$69,050	103.4	1,120	0.42×
46	Wyoming	$65,050	92.7	80	1.02×
47	South Dakota	$65,020	88.6	70	0.54×
48	Mississippi	$62,590	87.0	260	0.84×
49	Oklahoma	$61,720	87.8	410	0.90×
50	Arkansas	$60,730	86.9	190	0.53×

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

Best paying metro areas for psychology 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	Ann Arbor, MI	$142,840	100.9	140	2.35×
2	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$137,810	106.4	400	0.88×
3	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$133,880	106.7	230	0.78×
4	Fresno, CA	$133,490	102.2	150	1.20×
5	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$129,610	115.6	330	0.51×
6	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$126,690	111.9	360	0.88×
7	Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA	$126,080	107.8	40	0.65×
8	Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC	$109,140	91.9	60	1.03×
9	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$105,720	110.4	440	1.47×
10	Wilmington, NC	$105,420	96.4	80	1.47×
11	Fargo, ND-MN	$104,560	90.9	40	1.07×
12	Lansing-East Lansing, MI	$104,480	95.0	130	2.32×
13	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$103,780	108.8	110	2.02×
14	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$102,740	112.6	3,950	1.56×
15	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$101,980	113.6	1,830	1.09×
16	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$101,810	102.7	310	1.95×
17	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$101,670	101.6	70	1.76×
18	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$100,980	108.9	710	0.84×
19	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$100,780	99.6	170	1.39×
20	College Station-Bryan, TX	$100,450	91.0	170	4.77×
21	Columbia, SC	$100,260	93.7	90	0.86×
22	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX	$100,190	85.9	70	0.84×
23	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$99,900	100.3	190	0.37×
24	Auburn-Opelika, AL	$98,250	87.9	80	4.11×
25	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$97,580	104.5	360	0.99×
26	Amherst Town-Northampton, MA	$97,110	100.2	300	17.26×
27	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$94,360	101.8	280	1.49×
28	Ithaca, NY	$93,500	103.3	110	8.34×
29	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$93,160	95.8	210	1.45×
30	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$92,190	104.8	480	0.91×
31	Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI	$89,160	95.5	130	0.78×
32	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$87,780	98.1	350	1.02×
33	Worcester, MA	$86,300	102.5	260	2.80×
34	Greenville, NC	$86,110	88.4	40	1.64×
35	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$85,170	99.8	30	0.71×
36	Bloomington, IL	$84,110	93.5	70	3.05×
37	Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	$83,690	105.8	340	0.79×
38	Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN	$83,670	95.7	220	0.76×
39	St. Cloud, MN	$83,190	87.6	50	1.93×
40	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$82,930	108.3	1,690	2.34×

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 psychology 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

Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where psychology teachers, postsecondary earn the most

Best paying metro areas for psychology teachers, postsecondary

Similar occupations

Compare