History Teachers, Postsecondary salary

SOC 25-1125 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$83,820

per year, nationally

Middle half

$63,920–$112,090

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

18,790

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

-0.2%

1,700 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.

$48,410$162,160

10th: $48,410
25th: $63,920
Median: $83,820
75th: $112,090
90th: $162,160

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 history 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	$127,170	110.7	1,450	0.66×
2	New Hampshire	$106,880	104.2	100	1.24×
3	Massachusetts	$104,900	105.8	780	1.77×
4	Oregon	$104,330	103.4	260	1.09×
5	Connecticut	$101,950	103.6	300	1.47×
6	New York	$100,400	107.9	1,660	1.42×
7	New Jersey	$99,900	108.8	780	1.51×
8	Maine	$99,610	97.0	80	1.01×
9	Michigan	$99,440	96.2	370	0.70×
10	Pennsylvania	$98,850	97.6	960	1.31×
11	Maryland	$97,830	105.0	310	0.94×
12	Arizona	$97,430	100.7	150	0.39×
13	Minnesota	$92,970	98.6	280	0.79×
14	Virginia	$85,910	101.1	760	1.53×
15	District of Columbia	$85,550	109.9	180	2.07×
16	Illinois	$83,940	100.0	700	0.95×
17	Vermont	$83,750	98.0	80	2.16×
18	New Mexico	$83,700	92.2	120	1.10×
19	Washington	$83,250	107.0	290	0.67×
20	Nevada	$81,930	100.0	80	0.42×
21	Utah	$81,750	98.9	140	0.69×
22	Texas	$81,530	97.1	2,030	1.19×
23	Wisconsin	$81,380	94.1	370	1.04×
24	Ohio	$81,080	92.8	650	0.97×
25	Missouri	$80,680	90.8	360	1.01×
26	Indiana	$79,450	93.3	380	0.99×
27	Georgia	$79,010	96.3	630	1.06×
28	Louisiana	$78,990	88.2	120	0.52×
29	Colorado	$78,410	103.1	380	1.09×
30	Iowa	$77,040	87.8	150	0.82×
31	Montana	$75,770	94.6	40	0.70×
32	Wyoming	$75,400	92.7	30	0.95×
33	North Carolina	$75,070	94.3	720	1.21×
34	Kansas	$74,920	90.1	150	0.84×
35	South Carolina	$73,670	93.7	280	1.02×
36	Tennessee	$72,940	91.9	450	1.12×
37	Florida	$70,880	103.4	320	0.27×
38	West Virginia	$69,560	89.5	90	1.05×
39	South Dakota	$69,220	88.6	30	0.59×
40	Oklahoma	$66,910	87.8	180	0.88×
41	Alabama	$66,550	88.8	340	1.33×
42	Kentucky	$64,600	90.2	280	1.14×
43	Mississippi	$63,450	87.0	210	1.48×
44	Nebraska	$57,150	90.1	190	1.54×
45	Arkansas	$47,860	86.9	290	1.84×

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

Best paying metro areas for history 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	$192,320	106.4	110	0.52×
2	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$162,160	115.6	100	0.34×
3	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$135,420	111.9	160	0.84×
4	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$129,120	113.6	480	0.63×
5	New Haven, CT	$128,760	104.6	110	3.24×
6	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$127,780	110.4	100	0.72×
7	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$127,180	106.7	110	0.88×
8	Fresno, CA	$121,820	102.2	60	0.98×
9	McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX	$120,300	85.9	50	1.33×
10	Madison, WI	$112,530	97.3	90	1.83×
11	Lansing-East Lansing, MI	$109,820	95.0	40	1.57×
12	Harrisburg-Carlisle, PA	$107,730	98.7	50	1.13×
13	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$106,990	101.8	160	1.83×
14	Amherst Town-Northampton, MA	$106,840	100.2	90	11.11×
15	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$105,420	108.3	540	1.65×
16	Portland-South Portland, ME	$104,420	101.9	30	0.93×
17	Columbia, SC	$104,100	93.7	50	0.97×
18	Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX	$102,840	98.6	430	1.09×
19	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$101,950	102.7	120	1.65×
20	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$101,790	105.4	200	1.34×
21	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$101,380	99.6	80	1.44×
22	Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ	$101,330	100.0	80	1.74×
23	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$101,170	112.6	1,470	1.28×
24	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$100,350	98.1	210	1.32×
25	Ithaca, NY	$99,940	103.3	40	6.98×
26	Reading, PA	$99,700	97.1	30	1.44×
27	Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD	$99,580	102.6	340	0.96×
28	Pittsburgh, PA	$98,850	94.7	190	1.43×
29	Syracuse, NY	$98,720	95.7	100	2.65×
30	College Station-Bryan, TX	$98,560	91.0	80	5.01×
31	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$97,430	103.3	80	0.29×
32	Springfield, MA	$97,220	96.1	40	1.59×
33	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$96,840	108.9	420	1.11×
34	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$95,880	100.3	70	0.30×
35	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$95,350	104.8	160	0.68×
36	Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA	$95,120	93.6	40	1.35×
37	Buffalo-Cheektowaga, NY	$93,430	95.8	110	1.72×
38	St. Louis, MO-IL	$92,140	95.1	150	0.93×
39	Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$91,310	104.5	160	0.98×
40	Kiryas Joel-Poughkeepsie-Newburgh, NY	$90,950	109.4	—	—

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 history 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