Law Teachers, Postsecondary salary

SOC 25-1112 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$128,500

per year, nationally

Middle half

$88,700–$176,490

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

20,060

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+2.2%

2,200 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.

$64,250$287,900

10th: $64,250
25th: $88,700
Median: $128,500
75th: $176,490
90th: $287,900

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 law 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	Minnesota	$171,790	98.6	80	0.21×
2	Oregon	$167,010	103.4	250	0.97×
3	South Carolina	$162,400	93.7	110	0.36×
4	Iowa	$160,700	87.8	90	0.47×
5	New Hampshire	$157,800	104.2	90	1.04×
6	Michigan	$141,680	96.2	330	0.58×
7	Wisconsin	$140,940	94.1	150	0.40×
8	Kentucky	$140,820	90.2	120	0.45×
9	Maryland	$139,980	105.0	180	0.50×
10	Indiana	$139,400	93.3	180	0.44×
11	Kansas	$138,670	90.1	50	0.25×
12	Texas	$138,160	97.1	880	0.48×
13	Maine	$136,400	97.0	50	0.55×
14	Virginia	$136,270	101.1	400	0.75×
15	New Jersey	$135,760	108.8	470	0.84×
16	Alabama	$135,340	88.8	40	0.16×
17	District of Columbia	$134,090	109.9	670	7.39×
18	New York	$132,180	107.9	2,190	1.75×
19	Massachusetts	$132,010	105.8	840	1.80×
20	Arizona	$131,950	100.7	60	0.13×
21	Rhode Island	$128,490	102.3	—	—
22	Nebraska	$127,690	90.1	100	0.78×
23	Washington	$125,210	107.0	150	0.33×
24	Pennsylvania	$121,310	97.6	710	0.90×
25	California	$119,540	110.7	7,800	3.32×
26	Illinois	$107,700	100.0	470	0.59×
27	Idaho	$106,810	95.5	40	0.34×
28	Florida	$102,720	103.4	720	0.56×
29	North Carolina	$97,090	94.3	450	0.71×
30	Arkansas	$95,630	86.9	30	0.18×
31	Ohio	$75,930	92.8	250	0.35×
32	Mississippi	$74,440	87.0	40	0.27×
33	Utah	$68,270	98.9	120	0.52×

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

Best paying metro areas for law teachers, postsecondary

The 31 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	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$218,970	104.8	60	0.24×
2	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$170,310	108.3	710	2.04×
3	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$144,130	112.6	2,180	1.78×
4	Oklahoma City, OK	$142,720	90.4	30	0.38×
5	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$141,220	100.3	60	0.25×
6	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$139,980	104.5	150	0.85×
7	Lansing-East Lansing, MI	$139,710	95.0	—	—
8	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$139,160	101.6	80	4.07×
9	Portland-South Portland, ME	$138,870	101.9	30	0.85×
10	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$136,570	98.1	230	1.39×
11	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$134,090	108.9	740	1.84×
12	Richmond, VA	$131,340	97.9	—	—
13	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$131,190	95.8	120	1.69×
14	Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL	$130,330	114.2	—	—
15	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$130,010	115.6	760	2.48×
16	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$129,180	103.3	40	0.13×
17	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$128,560	102.6	510	1.36×
18	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$128,460	101.8	—	—
19	Kansas City, MO-KS	$127,980	92.5	60	0.43×
20	Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX	$125,440	103.1	430	0.82×
21	Springfield, MA	$125,310	96.1	30	1.28×
22	Pittsburgh, PA	$121,310	94.7	240	1.68×
23	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$114,330	113.6	2,940	3.63×
24	Fresno, CA	$107,840	102.2	320	5.16×
25	Memphis, TN-MS-AR	$103,790	92.2	30	0.42×
26	Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN	$101,810	103.6	320	0.55×
27	Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN	$101,680	95.4	130	0.92×
28	Salt Lake City-Murray, UT	$97,550	100.9	90	0.80×
29	Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL	$82,390	100.9	30	0.17×
30	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$80,950	109.4	40	1.29×
31	Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, FL	$80,360	101.4	30	0.18×

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 law 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