English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary salary

SOC 25-1123 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$78,760

per year, nationally

Middle half

$60,900–$103,130

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

57,720

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

0.0%

5,100 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.

$48,270$137,250

10th: $48,270
25th: $60,900
Median: $78,760
75th: $103,130
90th: $137,250

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 english language and literature 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	$130,490	110.7	5,460	0.81×
2	New Hampshire	$98,650	104.2	230	0.89×
3	Connecticut	$97,310	103.6	940	1.50×
4	Delaware	$97,100	99.8	—	—
5	Oregon	$91,870	103.4	960	1.32×
6	Michigan	$90,240	96.2	1,730	1.06×
7	Vermont	$86,870	98.0	170	1.48×
8	Nevada	$85,830	100.0	280	0.48×
9	New York	$84,850	107.9	6,110	1.70×
10	Maine	$84,290	97.0	230	0.99×
11	Minnesota	$84,200	98.6	920	0.84×
12	Massachusetts	$83,980	105.8	2,900	2.14×
13	Maryland	$83,760	105.0	830	0.81×
14	Alaska	$82,770	102.4	90	0.78×
15	District of Columbia	$82,300	109.9	410	1.56×
16	Wisconsin	$80,800	94.1	840	0.77×
17	Pennsylvania	$80,670	97.6	2,530	1.12×
18	Washington	$79,840	107.0	1,000	0.76×
19	Iowa	$79,720	87.8	510	0.89×
20	Rhode Island	$79,190	102.3	540	2.93×
21	Texas	$78,900	97.1	4,310	0.83×
22	New Jersey	$78,760	108.8	1,950	1.23×
23	Nebraska	$78,450	90.1	500	1.32×
24	Illinois	$77,570	100.0	2,570	1.13×
25	Arizona	$76,990	100.7	870	0.73×
26	Utah	$73,280	98.9	420	0.66×
27	Montana	$73,160	94.6	130	0.68×
28	Missouri	$73,070	90.8	1,040	0.95×
29	Colorado	$72,910	103.1	1,220	1.14×
30	Indiana	$69,180	93.3	1,000	0.84×
31	Virginia	$67,330	101.1	1,810	1.19×
32	New Mexico	$66,450	92.2	230	0.71×
33	Georgia	$65,530	96.3	1,140	0.63×
34	Ohio	$65,140	92.8	2,240	1.09×
35	Kentucky	$65,090	90.2	540	0.73×
36	South Carolina	$64,470	93.7	840	0.99×
37	Tennessee	$64,220	91.9	1,150	0.95×
38	North Dakota	$63,690	89.0	120	0.76×
39	North Carolina	$63,370	94.3	2,140	1.17×
40	West Virginia	$63,280	89.5	250	0.95×
41	South Dakota	$62,960	88.6	110	0.65×
42	Alabama	$62,910	88.8	1,040	1.32×
43	Kansas	$62,340	90.1	460	0.86×
44	Wyoming	$62,030	92.7	140	1.30×
45	Mississippi	$60,680	87.0	530	1.22×
46	Louisiana	$60,350	88.2	430	0.60×
47	Florida	$59,740	103.4	2,480	0.67×
48	Arkansas	$56,520	86.9	320	0.67×
49	Oklahoma	$53,200	87.8	500	0.79×

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 english language and literature teachers, postsecondary wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for english language and literature 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 Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$165,090	115.6	610	0.69×
2	Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA	$160,050	106.4	480	0.76×
3	Fresno, CA	$137,730	102.2	200	1.13×
4	Ann Arbor, MI	$137,400	100.9	350	4.34×
5	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$132,500	111.9	500	0.88×
6	Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$132,230	100.9	50	0.43×
7	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$128,810	113.6	2,150	0.92×
8	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$128,160	106.7	370	0.91×
9	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX	$114,010	85.9	70	0.59×
10	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$107,770	110.4	290	0.69×
11	Athens-Clarke County, GA	$105,970	93.3	60	1.75×
12	Madison, WI	$104,190	97.3	150	1.02×
13	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$104,070	100.3	420	0.59×
14	Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA	$103,540	98.7	90	0.71×
15	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$103,260	101.6	—	—
16	Manchester-Nashua, NH	$102,550	105.7	60	0.76×
17	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$102,500	98.6	940	0.77×
18	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$102,410	103.2	190	2.15×
19	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$101,520	106.9	—	—
20	Amherst Town-Northampton, MA	$101,500	100.2	200	8.15×
21	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA	$99,850	108.8	100	1.35×
22	Waterbury-Shelton, CT	$99,140	99.8	40	0.66×
23	New Haven, CT	$98,560	104.6	280	2.64×
24	Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA	$97,520	93.6	60	0.65×
25	Norwich-New London-Willimantic, CT	$97,310	100.4	50	1.13×
26	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$96,430	112.6	5,320	1.51×
27	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$91,870	105.4	640	1.42×
28	Salem, OR	$89,180	103.6	50	0.67×
29	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$87,020	108.3	2,110	2.10×
30	Springfield, MA	$86,410	96.1	130	1.74×
31	Las Vegas-Henderson-North Las Vegas, NV	$85,830	100.2	160	0.38×
32	Milwaukee-Waukesha, WI	$85,180	96.9	370	1.22×
33	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$85,050	102.7	390	1.77×
34	Lansing-East Lansing, MI	$84,790	95.0	270	3.37×
35	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$84,250	104.8	520	0.72×
36	St. Cloud, MN	$84,240	87.6	50	1.27×
37	Wilmington, NC	$83,910	96.4	110	1.52×
38	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$83,640	104.5	440	0.88×
39	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$83,500	102.6	1,220	1.13×
40	Lawrence, KS	$83,490	90.2	90	4.86×

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 english language and literature 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
Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary$84,620

English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where english language and literature teachers, postsecondary earn the most

Best paying metro areas for english language and literature teachers, postsecondary

Similar occupations

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