Communications Teachers, Postsecondary salary

SOC 25-1122 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$78,580

per year, nationally

Middle half

$61,250–$102,450

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

29,420

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+2.1%

2,700 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.

$47,590$143,720

10th: $47,590
25th: $61,250
Median: $78,580
75th: $102,450
90th: $143,720

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 communications 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	$135,000	110.7	3,140	0.91×
2	Delaware	$100,260	99.8	60	0.67×
3	Oregon	$98,900	103.4	490	1.32×
4	Connecticut	$97,210	103.6	280	0.86×
5	Rhode Island	$95,910	102.3	110	1.12×
6	New Hampshire	$95,760	104.2	40	0.34×
7	Michigan	$87,670	96.2	630	0.75×
8	New York	$84,690	107.9	2,490	1.36×
9	District of Columbia	$83,910	109.9	180	1.33×
10	Maryland	$83,510	105.0	440	0.84×
11	Minnesota	$83,380	98.6	450	0.81×
12	Massachusetts	$82,610	105.8	1,110	1.62×
13	Nevada	$82,020	100.0	70	0.24×
14	South Carolina	$79,810	93.7	320	0.73×
15	Nebraska	$79,180	90.1	90	0.46×
16	Wisconsin	$78,780	94.1	640	1.15×
17	Illinois	$78,150	100.0	1,580	1.37×
18	North Dakota	$78,120	89.0	50	0.64×
19	Montana	$78,110	94.6	60	0.63×
20	Maine	$78,000	97.0	60	0.51×
21	Utah	$77,950	98.9	180	0.55×
22	West Virginia	$77,880	89.5	110	0.87×
23	Pennsylvania	$77,790	97.6	1,530	1.33×
24	New Jersey	$77,780	108.8	1,380	1.70×
25	Iowa	$77,700	87.8	320	1.10×
26	Ohio	$77,660	92.8	1,390	1.33×
27	Louisiana	$77,250	88.2	170	0.46×
28	Texas	$77,050	97.1	2,880	1.08×
29	Wyoming	$76,760	92.7	50	0.97×
30	Vermont	$76,120	98.0	60	1.13×
31	Washington	$75,330	107.0	420	0.63×
32	Virginia	$73,750	101.1	790	1.02×
33	Georgia	$73,430	96.3	460	0.50×
34	Missouri	$71,830	90.8	480	0.86×
35	South Dakota	$71,300	88.6	80	0.94×
36	Arizona	$71,230	100.7	630	1.03×
37	Colorado	$69,200	103.1	560	1.04×
38	Oklahoma	$66,650	87.8	230	0.72×
39	Tennessee	$66,630	91.9	440	0.71×
40	North Carolina	$65,850	94.3	950	1.01×
41	Florida	$65,740	103.4	1,260	0.67×
42	Indiana	$65,390	93.3	670	1.10×
43	Kansas	$64,180	90.1	300	1.11×
44	Alabama	$63,760	88.8	300	0.74×
45	Kentucky	$62,380	90.2	470	1.23×
46	Mississippi	$61,290	87.0	180	0.84×
47	Arkansas	$59,810	86.9	140	0.55×
48	New Mexico	$49,880	92.2	400	2.41×

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

Best paying metro areas for communications 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	$180,650	106.4	300	0.93×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$166,920	115.6	290	0.65×
3	Fresno, CA	$136,730	102.2	80	0.87×
4	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$134,110	111.9	310	1.07×
5	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$133,300	106.7	120	0.60×
6	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$130,160	113.6	1,360	1.15×
7	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$119,860	110.4	260	1.19×
8	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$110,330	108.8	40	1.17×
9	Lawrence, KS	$109,350	90.2	120	11.78×
10	Ann Arbor, MI	$105,440	100.9	100	2.29×
11	Lansing-East Lansing, MI	$105,210	95.0	110	2.57×
12	Madison, WI	$104,670	97.3	90	1.11×
13	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$103,920	105.4	310	1.36×
14	Knoxville, TN	$103,320	92.6	90	1.08×
15	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$101,970	102.7	80	0.67×
16	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$98,040	99.6	50	0.55×
17	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$97,960	106.9	—	—
18	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$97,760	112.6	2,430	1.36×
19	New Haven, CT	$97,210	104.6	80	1.46×
20	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$96,470	101.8	130	1.00×
21	Worcester, MA	$95,980	102.5	60	0.83×
22	Springfield, MA	$86,730	96.1	50	1.21×
23	Bangor, ME	$86,590	96.5	—	—
24	Bloomington, IL	$85,390	93.5	70	4.37×
25	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$84,950	100.3	120	0.33×
26	Wilmington, NC	$83,900	96.4	40	1.06×
27	Ithaca, NY	$83,890	103.3	110	12.00×
28	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$83,810	108.9	490	0.82×
29	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$83,780	95.8	160	1.61×
30	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$83,510	104.5	240	0.93×
31	St. Cloud, MN	$83,500	87.6	40	1.84×
32	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$83,170	100.9	40	1.96×
33	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$83,120	104.8	230	0.62×
34	San Juan-Bayamon-Caguas, PR	$82,880	—	40	0.30×
35	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$81,920	111.1	190	0.49×
36	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$81,810	100.1	210	0.38×
37	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$81,370	103.2	—	—
38	Columbus, OH	$81,160	95.5	320	1.52×
39	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$80,890	108.3	920	1.80×
40	Erie, PA	$80,750	91.0	30	1.42×

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 communications 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

Communications Teachers, Postsecondary salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where communications teachers, postsecondary earn the most

Best paying metro areas for communications teachers, postsecondary

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