Philosophy and Religion Teachers, Postsecondary salary

SOC 25-1126 · BLS OEWS May 2025

Median

$80,260

per year, nationally

Middle half

$62,600–$104,770

25th to 75th percentile

Employed

20,460

in the U.S.

Growth 2024–34

+0.7%

2,000 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.

$49,140$139,580

10th: $49,140
25th: $62,600
Median: $80,260
75th: $104,770
90th: $139,580

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 philosophy and religion 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	$105,820	110.7	1,850	0.77×
2	Maine	$102,760	97.0	60	0.73×
3	Vermont	$102,600	98.0	80	1.89×
4	Hawaii	$101,010	110.0	220	2.66×
5	Connecticut	$100,360	103.6	350	1.55×
6	New Jersey	$99,450	108.8	900	1.59×
7	Massachusetts	$98,360	105.8	890	1.86×
8	Utah	$95,410	98.9	60	0.24×
9	New York	$92,050	107.9	1,700	1.34×
10	Michigan	$89,610	96.2	620	1.07×
11	Virginia	$85,310	101.1	620	1.15×
12	Oregon	$85,300	103.4	480	1.86×
13	New Hampshire	$82,820	104.2	130	1.42×
14	Rhode Island	$82,510	102.3	150	2.32×
15	Washington	$81,240	107.0	330	0.70×
16	Indiana	$79,740	93.3	480	1.15×
17	Minnesota	$79,720	98.6	410	1.06×
18	District of Columbia	$79,310	109.9	290	3.19×
19	Wisconsin	$79,140	94.1	420	1.08×
20	Arizona	$78,940	100.7	350	0.83×
21	Maryland	$78,360	105.0	480	1.33×
22	Colorado	$78,060	103.1	390	1.04×
23	Illinois	$77,720	100.0	1,080	1.34×
24	Georgia	$77,570	96.3	280	0.43×
25	South Carolina	$77,230	93.7	250	0.82×
26	Iowa	$77,180	87.8	260	1.28×
27	Ohio	$77,010	92.8	780	1.06×
28	Texas	$76,700	97.1	1,760	0.95×
29	Pennsylvania	$76,600	97.6	1,280	1.61×
30	North Carolina	$76,340	94.3	680	1.05×
31	Louisiana	$76,310	88.2	70	0.28×
32	Missouri	$75,280	90.8	320	0.83×
33	Nebraska	$75,280	90.1	80	0.56×
34	Arkansas	$74,100	86.9	60	0.37×
35	Tennessee	$74,090	91.9	490	1.13×
36	North Dakota	$71,360	89.0	—	—
37	Kentucky	$65,580	90.2	320	1.22×
38	Kansas	$65,410	90.1	190	0.99×
39	Oklahoma	$64,840	87.8	150	0.65×
40	Mississippi	$63,560	87.0	90	0.62×
41	Florida	$63,330	103.4	460	0.36×
42	Alabama	$62,210	88.8	280	1.02×
43	South Dakota	$58,000	88.6	40	0.69×

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 philosophy and religion teachers, postsecondary wages are suppressed by BLS for confidentiality are omitted.

Best paying metro areas for philosophy and religion 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	$123,650	106.4	120	0.53×
2	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA	$122,700	110.5	90	2.01×
3	San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	$119,530	115.6	130	0.42×
4	Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA	$116,720	106.7	80	0.55×
5	Lawrence, KS	$105,820	90.2	30	4.57×
6	Ann Arbor, MI	$105,520	100.9	70	2.46×
7	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT	$103,440	102.7	70	0.95×
8	Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA	$103,320	113.6	670	0.82×
9	San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA	$103,140	111.9	130	0.66×
10	Ithaca, NY	$101,260	103.3	50	8.16×
11	New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ	$101,210	112.6	1,400	1.12×
12	Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	$100,770	108.3	690	1.93×
13	Urban Honolulu, HI	$100,190	111.0	160	2.67×
14	San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA	$100,140	110.4	370	2.51×
15	Amherst Town-Northampton, MA	$98,920	100.2	60	6.51×
16	Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA	$97,680	93.6	70	1.99×
17	Lansing-East Lansing, MI	$94,510	95.0	70	2.30×
18	Providence-Warwick, RI-MA	$93,930	101.8	180	1.91×
19	Wilmington, NC	$90,750	96.4	30	1.25×
20	Eugene-Springfield, OR	$90,430	101.6	50	2.27×
21	Harrisonburg, VA	$90,430	94.9	40	4.47×
22	Rochester, NY	$86,590	97.0	90	1.45×
23	Burlington-South Burlington, VT	$86,580	100.9	40	2.60×
24	Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	$85,550	111.1	190	0.70×
25	Richmond, VA	$85,310	97.9	70	0.78×
26	Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA	$85,300	105.4	340	2.12×
27	Grand Rapids-Wyoming-Kentwood, MI	$85,180	95.5	160	2.01×
28	Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI	$83,620	100.3	90	0.35×
29	Worcester, MA	$83,000	102.5	70	1.42×
30	Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA	$82,960	100.1	170	0.46×
31	Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX	$82,850	98.1	200	1.18×
32	Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY	$82,730	99.6	80	1.44×
33	St. Louis, MO-IL	$81,580	95.1	140	0.81×
34	Trenton-Princeton, NJ	$81,540	103.2	—	—
35	Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI	$80,560	104.8	250	0.96×
36	Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk, VA-NC	$79,910	97.9	130	1.31×
37	South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI	$79,740	92.9	100	5.68×
38	Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT	$79,520	106.9	—	—
39	Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$79,310	108.9	510	1.23×
40	Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	$79,250	103.3	300	0.96×

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 philosophy and religion 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

Philosophy and Religion Teachers, Postsecondary salary

What the range looks like

Getting in

Where philosophy and religion teachers, postsecondary earn the most

Best paying metro areas for philosophy and religion teachers, postsecondary

Similar occupations

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