Education Teachers, Postsecondary salary

SOC 25-1081 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$75,350

per year, nationally

Middle half

$53,770–$97,590

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

60,830

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+2.1%

5,600 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.

$39,530$126,860

10th: $39,530
25th: $53,770
Median: $75,350
75th: $97,590
90th: $126,860

Getting in

Typical education to enter: Doctoral or professional degree
Related work experience: Less than 5 years
On-the-job training: None

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

Where education 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	$111,850	110.7	3,100	0.44×
2	Louisiana	$83,710	88.2	460	0.61×
3	New York	$82,020	107.9	5,430	1.43×
4	District of Columbia	$80,810	109.9	230	0.85×
5	Connecticut	$80,620	103.6	900	1.35×
6	Rhode Island	$80,030	102.3	190	0.97×
7	Massachusetts	$79,980	105.8	2,050	1.44×
8	Michigan	$79,910	96.2	1,140	0.66×
9	Nebraska	$78,950	90.1	600	1.50×
10	Minnesota	$78,950	98.6	950	0.82×
11	Maryland	$78,820	105.0	870	0.81×
12	Arizona	$78,520	100.7	1,590	1.26×
13	Vermont	$78,100	98.0	170	1.44×
14	New Jersey	$77,600	108.8	2,580	1.54×
15	North Dakota	$77,540	89.0	230	1.36×
16	Utah	$77,090	98.9	330	0.48×
17	Virginia	$77,060	101.1	1,630	1.01×
18	Maine	$77,050	97.0	190	0.76×
19	Washington	$75,170	107.0	1,270	0.91×
20	Pennsylvania	$74,910	97.6	3,390	1.43×
21	Wisconsin	$74,790	94.1	1,540	1.34×
22	Arkansas	$74,500	86.9	250	0.49×
23	Nevada	$74,240	100.0	310	0.51×
24	Oregon	$73,880	103.4	1,240	1.61×
25	Tennessee	$72,390	91.9	950	0.74×
26	Montana	$70,320	94.6	130	0.63×
27	North Carolina	$70,050	94.3	2,130	1.10×
28	Texas	$68,280	97.1	6,400	1.16×
29	Colorado	$66,870	103.1	1,060	0.95×
30	South Carolina	$66,690	93.7	1,270	1.41×
31	Wyoming	$66,350	92.7	80	0.76×
32	Indiana	$66,150	93.3	1,830	1.46×
33	Missouri	$65,910	90.8	1,140	1.00×
34	Idaho	$65,720	95.5	170	0.50×
35	New Mexico	$64,830	92.2	290	0.84×
36	Alabama	$63,730	88.8	840	1.02×
37	Florida	$63,640	103.4	1,290	0.33×
38	South Dakota	$63,350	88.6	190	1.08×
39	West Virginia	$63,270	89.5	320	1.15×
40	Kansas	$63,010	90.1	590	1.05×
41	Georgia	$62,510	96.3	1,750	0.92×
42	Ohio	$62,400	92.8	2,120	0.98×
43	Iowa	$62,090	87.8	690	1.12×
44	Mississippi	$61,860	87.0	430	0.96×
45	Illinois	$61,560	100.0	3,930	1.65×
46	Kentucky	$61,450	90.2	620	0.80×
47	Oklahoma	$60,880	87.8	560	0.84×
48	Hawaii	$49,800	110.0	460	1.86×
49	New Hampshire	$49,250	104.2	630	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. States where education teachers, postsecondary wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for education 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	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$129,100	111.9	160	0.27×
2	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$123,910	106.4	240	0.36×
3	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$121,520	110.4	430	0.97×
4	Wilmington, NC	$106,070	96.4	100	1.29×
5	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$105,730	113.6	1,330	0.54×
6	Ann Arbor, MI	$105,640	100.9	180	2.14×
7	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$103,930	101.6	—	—
8	Fargo, ND-MN	$103,850	90.9	80	1.31×
9	Chattanooga, TN-GA	$103,790	91.5	110	1.02×
10	College Station-Bryan, TX	$96,960	91.0	220	4.28×
11	Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, LA	$96,920	85.1	80	2.58×
12	Ithaca, NY	$92,870	103.3	190	10.18×
13	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$92,720	115.6	240	0.25×
14	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$90,940	102.7	300	1.29×
15	Lansing-East Lansing, MI	$86,290	95.0	160	1.84×
16	Reading, PA	$83,780	97.1	160	2.28×
17	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$83,400	100.3	240	0.32×
18	Reno, NV	$83,000	101.0	70	0.61×
19	New Orleans-Metairie, LA	$82,700	92.6	110	0.61×
20	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$82,370	106.7	80	0.20×
21	New Haven, CT	$82,310	104.6	140	1.27×
22	Charleston-North Charleston, SC	$81,870	101.0	240	1.58×
23	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$80,640	112.6	5,120	1.38×
24	Rochester, NY	$80,560	97.0	300	1.56×
25	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$80,440	100.4	100	1.94×
26	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$80,030	101.8	250	0.90×
27	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$79,980	108.3	1,680	1.59×
28	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$79,820	111.1	600	0.74×
29	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$79,680	99.6	330	1.88×
30	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$79,560	95.8	460	2.18×
31	Auburn-Opelika, AL	$79,380	87.9	70	2.60×
32	Lincoln, NE	$79,340	91.6	170	2.36×
33	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$79,220	104.8	470	0.62×
34	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$78,970	97.9	260	0.86×
35	Columbia, SC	$78,880	93.7	200	1.31×
36	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$78,820	108.9	880	0.72×
37	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$78,520	103.3	1,180	1.27×
38	Oshkosh-Neenah, WI	$78,520	92.9	70	1.87×
39	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$78,510	98.6	1,120	0.87×
40	Mankato, MN	$78,500	91.0	—	—

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 education 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
English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary$78,760
Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary$84,620

Education Teachers, Postsecondary salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where education teachers, postsecondary earn the most

Best paying metro areas for education teachers, postsecondary

Similar occupations

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