---
title: "High School Teacher"
description: "Teach one or more subjects to students at the secondary school level."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/high-school-teacher"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T15:56:39.581Z"
---

# High School Teacher

**Category:** Educational Instruction and Library · **SOC code:** 25-2031 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 25-2031.00

Teach one or more subjects to students at the secondary school level.

Also advertised as: Art Teacher; English Teacher; Math Teacher (Mathematics Teacher); Music Teacher; PE Teacher (Physical Education Teacher); Science Teacher; Secondary Teacher; Social Studies Teacher.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $72,040 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** Not published by BLS
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $48,780 to $107,600, with the middle half between $59,980 and $92,570
- **Total US employment:** 1,065,210
- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's
- **Preparation required:** Medium preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** -1.6% over 2024–2034 (BLS EP, 2024–2034)
- **Annual job openings:** 66,200 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 49/100 — 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 1,065,210 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $48,780 |
| 25th | $59,980 |
| 50th (median) | $72,040 |
| 75th | $92,570 |
| 90th | $107,600 |
| Mean (average) | $76,320 |

### 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 |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WA | $102,670 | $95,942 | 14,880 |
| CA | $101,370 | $91,555 | 99,230 |
| NY | $97,070 | $89,945 | 70,660 |
| MA | $95,260 | $90,074 | 28,460 |
| RI | $92,610 | $90,546 | 4,910 |
| DC | $82,750 | $75,295 | 2,800 |
| NJ | $82,200 | $75,548 | 38,140 |
| CT | $80,970 | $78,149 | 14,800 |
| IL | $79,990 | $80,024 | 44,670 |
| AK | $79,650 | $77,814 | 2,790 |
| OR | $79,570 | $76,983 | 11,730 |
| OH | $78,800 | $84,938 | 49,540 |
| PA | $78,800 | $80,761 | 52,240 |
| MD | $78,670 | $74,953 | 16,640 |
| DE | $77,960 | $78,110 | 5,360 |

39 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 54 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/high-school-teacher/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/high-school-teacher.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 1,094,500 in the 2024–2034 base year to 1,076,700 by the end of the cycle — a loss of 17,800 jobs, or -1.6%. Declining: -1.6% against 3.1% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 66,200 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2024–2034.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** Bachelor's degree (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Medium preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Four: Considerable 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 |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 77.0% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 7.8% |
| Post-Master's Certificate | 7.8% |
| Associate's Degree (or other 2-year degree) | 4.0% |
| Master's Degree | 3.5% |

## What the work involves

- Prepare students for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students.
- Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
- Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.
- Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students.
- Enforce all administration policies and rules governing students.
- Confer with parents or guardians, other teachers, counselors, and administrators to resolve students' behavioral and academic problems.
- Confer with other staff members to plan and schedule lessons promoting learning, following approved curricula.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Reading Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — 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 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Time Management — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Education and Training — importance 4.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Customer and Personal Service — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Computers and Electronics — importance 3.6 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Psychology — importance 3.4 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Sociology and Anthropology — importance 3.2 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Expression — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Expression — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Recognition — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speech Clarity — importance 4.0 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), Artistic (A), Conventional (C).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| S — Social | 7.00 |
| A — Artistic | 3.77 |
| C — Conventional | 3.61 |
| I — Investigative | 3.19 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.90 |
| R — Realistic | 2.73 |

### 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) |
| --- | --- |
| ESFP | 73.3 |
| ENFJ | 71.5 |
| ENFP | 68.9 |
| ESFJ | 67.7 |
| INFJ | 60.9 |

Best-fitting types: ESFP, ENFJ, ENFP.

## Related occupations

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

- [Middle School Teacher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/middle-school-teacher) — median $64,370
- [Elementary School Teacher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/elementary-school-teacher) — median $63,970
- [Tutor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/tutor) — median $43,350
- [Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructor](https://nuecareer.com/careers/adult-basic-education-adult-secondary-education-and-english-as-a-second-language-instructor) — median $61,540
- [Special Education Teacher, Secondary School](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-education-teacher-secondary-school) — median $74,260
- [Special Education Teacher, Elementary School](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-education-teacher-elementary-school) — median $67,170
- [Special Education Teacher, Middle School](https://nuecareer.com/careers/special-education-teacher-middle-school) — median $66,810
- [Career/Technical Education Teacher, Middle School](https://nuecareer.com/careers/career-technical-education-teacher-middle-school) — median $65,030
- [Teaching Assistant, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School, Except Special Education](https://nuecareer.com/careers/teaching-assistant-preschool-elementary-middle-and-secondary-school) — median $37,010
- [Career/Technical Education Teacher, Secondary School](https://nuecareer.com/careers/career-technical-education-teacher-secondary-school) — median $66,270

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 30.3 Database, May 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, 2024–2034. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2024–2034 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 30.3 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/high-school-teacher