---
title: "English Language and Literature Teacher, Postsecondary"
description: "Teach courses in English language and literature, including linguistics and comparative literature. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/english-language-and-literature-teacher-postsecondary"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# English Language and Literature Teacher, Postsecondary

**Category:** Educational Instruction and Library · **SOC code:** 25-1123 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 25-1123.00

Teach courses in English language and literature, including linguistics and comparative literature. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

Also advertised as: Assistant Professor; Associate Professor; Creative Writing Professor; English Instructor; English Professor; Humanities Professor; Instructor; Lecturer.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $78,760 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** Not published by BLS
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $48,270 to $137,250, with the middle half between $60,900 and $103,130
- **Total US employment:** 57,720
- **Typical entry education:** Doctorate
- **Preparation required:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** 0.0% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 4,500 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 35/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 57,720 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $48,270 |
| 25th | $60,900 |
| 50th (median) | $78,760 |
| 75th | $103,130 |
| 90th | $137,250 |
| Mean (average) | $89,580 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| CA | $130,490 | $117,856 | 5,460 |
| NH | $98,650 | $94,706 | 230 |
| CT | $97,310 | $93,920 | 940 |
| DE | $97,100 | $97,287 | Not published by BLS |
| OR | $91,870 | $88,883 | 960 |
| MI | $90,240 | $93,788 | 1,730 |
| VT | $86,870 | $88,681 | 170 |
| NV | $85,830 | $85,848 | 280 |
| NY | $84,850 | $78,622 | 6,110 |
| ME | $84,290 | $86,852 | 230 |
| MN | $84,200 | $85,377 | 920 |
| MA | $83,980 | $79,408 | 2,900 |
| MD | $83,760 | $79,803 | 830 |
| AK | $82,770 | $80,862 | 90 |
| DC | $82,300 | $74,886 | 410 |

35 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 50 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/english-language-and-literature-teacher-postsecondary/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/english-language-and-literature-teacher-postsecondary.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 69,300 in the 2025–2035 base year to 69,300 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 0 jobs, or 0.0%. Slower than average: 0.0% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 4,500 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Doctoral or professional degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Considerable preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** None.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Doctoral Degree | 58.4% |
| Master's Degree | 30.4% |
| Less than a High School Diploma | 9.6% |
| Post-Master's Certificate | 1.3% |
| Post-Doctoral Training | 0.3% |

## What the work involves

- Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
- Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
- Write letters of recommendation for students.
- Assist students who need extra help with their coursework outside of class.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Instructing — importance 4.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Service Orientation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- English Language — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Education and Training — importance 4.5 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Communications and Media — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- History and Archeology — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Philosophy and Theology — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Sociology and Anthropology — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Written Comprehension — importance 4.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 4.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Social (S), Investigative (I), Artistic (A).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 7.00 |
| I — Investigative | 4.78 |
| A — Artistic | 4.19 |
| C — Conventional | 3.49 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.43 |
| R — Realistic | 2.28 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| INFJ | 70.7 |
| ENFP | 69.9 |
| ENFJ | 69.8 |
| INFP | 67.3 |
| ESFP | 60.0 |

Best-fitting types: INFJ, ENFP, ENFJ, INFP.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/area-ethnic-and-cultural-studies-teacher-postsecondary) — median $85,020
- [Foreign Language and Literature Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/foreign-language-and-literature-teacher-postsecondary) — median $79,350
- [Philosophy and Religion Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/philosophy-and-religion-teacher-postsecondary) — median $80,260
- [Sociology Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sociology-teacher-postsecondary) — median $84,290
- [History Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/history-teacher-postsecondary) — median $83,820
- [Art, Drama, and Music Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/art-drama-and-music-teacher-postsecondary) — median $78,620
- [Anthropology and Archeology Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/anthropology-and-archeology-teacher-postsecondary) — median $99,650
- [Communications Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/communications-teacher-postsecondary) — median $78,580
- [Education Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/education-teacher-postsecondary) — median $75,350
- [Library Science Teacher, Postsecondary](https://nuecareer.com/careers/library-science-teacher-postsecondary) — median $80,340

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/english-language-and-literature-teacher-postsecondary