Educational Instruction and Library: pay for 64 occupations, May 2025

The field Educational Instruction and Library had 9,100,570 jobs in the United States in May 2025, with a median pay of $60,570 a year ($29.12 an hour) across all its occupations.

Filter the occupations

Occupation	Median a year	Median an hour	Jobs
Law Teachers, Postsecondary	$128,500	not published	20,060
Economics Teachers, Postsecondary	$123,920	not published	11,560
Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary	$109,270	not published	40,270
Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary	$107,310	not published	221,270
Atmospheric, Earth, Marine, and Space Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary	$103,170	not published	9,900
Forestry and Conservation Science Teachers, Postsecondary	$101,420	not published	1,520
Physics Teachers, Postsecondary	$100,310	not published	13,090
Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary	$99,650	not published	5,240
Business Teachers, Postsecondary	$99,080	not published	82,150
Agricultural Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary	$98,700	not published	8,920
Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary	$98,070	not published	16,970
Geography Teachers, Postsecondary	$97,590	not published	3,330
Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary	$96,980	not published	35,480
Architecture Teachers, Postsecondary	$96,870	not published	7,700
Environmental Science Teachers, Postsecondary	$94,980	not published	6,690
Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary	$93,250	not published	19,980
Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary	$85,020	not published	11,300
Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary	$84,620	not published	50,190
Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary	$84,290	not published	11,850
History Teachers, Postsecondary	$83,820	not published	18,790
Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary	$80,340	not published	41,530
Library Science Teachers, Postsecondary	$80,340	not published	3,630
Philosophy and Religion Teachers, Postsecondary	$80,260	not published	20,460
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary	$80,250	not published	77,960
Mathematical Science Teachers, Postsecondary	$79,940	not published	47,670
Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary	$79,350	not published	19,830
English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary	$78,760	not published	57,720
Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary	$78,620	not published	93,560
Communications Teachers, Postsecondary	$78,580	not published	29,420
Postsecondary Teachers, All Other	$77,640	not published	149,840
Social Work Teachers, Postsecondary	$77,570	not published	12,610
Instructional Coordinators	$77,440	$37.23	227,760
Recreation and Fitness Studies Teachers, Postsecondary	$77,270	not published	12,630
Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement Teachers, Postsecondary	$76,590	not published	13,150
Special Education Teachers, All Other	$76,580	not published	33,930
Family and Consumer Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary	$75,870	not published	2,770
Education Teachers, Postsecondary	$75,350	not published	60,830
Special Education Teachers, Secondary School	$74,260	not published	163,930
Social Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary, All Other	$72,990	not published	16,580
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	$72,040	not published	1,065,210
Librarians and Media Collections Specialists	$68,270	$32.82	133,790
Special Education Teachers, Middle School	$66,810	not published	95,200
Career/Technical Education Teachers, Secondary School	$66,270	not published	111,420
Teachers and Instructors, All Other	$66,140	not published	113,790
Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten and Elementary School	$65,120	not published	260,870
Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School	$65,030	not published	16,870
Special Education Teachers, Preschool	$64,830	not published	29,510
Archivists	$64,550	$31.03	7,970
Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	$64,370	not published	620,090
Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education	$63,970	not published	1,388,390
Career/Technical Education Teachers, Postsecondary	$63,820	$30.68	114,110
Curators	$63,420	$30.49	12,150
Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education	$62,680	not published	108,870
Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors	$61,540	$29.59	37,310
Farm and Home Management Educators	$60,220	$28.95	8,220
Museum Technicians and Conservators	$51,440	$24.73	12,310
Educational Instruction and Library Workers, All Other	$50,890	$24.47	118,590
Self-Enrichment Teachers	$46,800	$22.50	332,110
Library Technicians	$44,580	$21.43	68,690
Tutors	$43,350	$20.84	175,070
Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary	$42,910	not published	164,090
Substitute Teachers, Short-Term	$41,670	$20.03	524,770
Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education	$38,140	$18.34	478,780
Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary	$36,780	not published	1,420,350

In short

Highest median pay in this field: Law Teachers, Postsecondary, $128,500 a year.
Lowest: Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary, $36,780 a year.
Most jobs: Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary (1,420,350), Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education (1,388,390) and Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education (1,065,210).
For comparison, the median for all occupations in the country was $50,980 a year.

Sorted by median pay, highest first. "Not published" in the yearly or hourly column means BLS releases only the other one for that occupation.

The field as a whole

Educational Instruction and Library holds 9,100,570 of the 155,495,730 jobs in the national figures, about 6 in every 100. Its median pay of $60,570 a year is 19% above the median for all occupations ($50,980), which places it number 9 of the 22 fields. Across the whole field, the lowest-paid tenth earned less than $32,990 and the highest-paid tenth more than $105,240; the middle half earned between $43,900 and $79,470. The average was $67,540, 12% above the median.

Inside the field

Inside the field, the best-paid occupation with a published yearly median earns 3.5 times the lowest ($128,500 against $36,780). 56 of the 64 occupations with a yearly median are above the national median of $50,980, and 8 are below it. The occupation in the middle of the field's list is Recreation and Fitness Studies Teachers, Postsecondary, at $77,270. Jobs are unevenly spread: the three largest occupations hold 43% of the field's jobs, while the smallest, Forestry and Conservation Science Teachers, Postsecondary, has 1,520. Pay stretches furthest within Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary, where the highest-paid tenth earn over $322,020 and the lowest-paid tenth under $59,270.

Reading the field

Pay also moves with place. For the field's largest occupation, Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary, the state medians run from $21,250 in Guam to $49,120 in Washington; its own page has every state. The Bureau of Labor Statistics sorts every occupation into one field by the work done, not by the industry of the employer, so an accountant at a hospital is counted under business and financial operations, not health care.

Questions about this field

What is the highest-paying job in educational instruction and library?

By published median pay in May 2025: Law Teachers, Postsecondary, at $128,500 a year.

Which educational instruction and library occupation has the most jobs?

Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary, with 1,420,350 jobs in the United States.

What is the median pay for educational instruction and library occupations?

$60,570 a year across the whole field, against $50,980 for all occupations.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. Checked in November 2026. Figures are for employees, before tax, and leave out overtime pay and benefits. They are official statistics, not advice or a pay offer; see bls.gov/oes for the original tables.

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