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Pay · 25-1067

Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary earn $84,290 a year at the midpoint

Pay in this work stretches a long way: the lowest tenth earn about $49,930, the highest tenth about $160,140, and the middle sits at $84,290.

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$84,290median a year · United States
—an hour $96,980average 11,850people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$64,99025th $84,290median $110,65075th
$49,93010th percentile $160,14090th percentile
$64,990a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$127,680best-paying state · California
$61,260lowest-paying state · Kentucky
+51%top state against the national median
  • Read the spread, not the middle. The median is the midpoint across everyone in the occupation, most of them years into the work. A beginner starts nearer the 10th to 25th percentile, which is why the spread is published alongside it.
  • What the figure counts. The figure counts base pay plus tips, commissions and production bonuses. It leaves out the self-employed, unpaid family workers, private household workers, and the value of benefits or profit sharing.
  • Where you live moves it more than your resume does. National figures. A state or metro area can sit far from the national number, and that gap is usually larger than any difference a resume makes.
  • Not in these numbers. Growth and annual openings are not in this dataset. They come from the separate Employment Projections tables, where an opening is a modelled ten year average and not a posted vacancy.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2025. Retrieved through the BLS Public Data API on 2026-08-13. bls.gov/oes “BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.”

Paid by the yearThe survey publishes no hourly figure for this occupation — it is typically salaried, often on a school or contract year.
State matters a lotThe same job pays $127,680 in California and $61,260 in Kentucky — a gap of $66,420 a year.

Postsecondary sociology teacher earnings, from starting pay up to the top 10%

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Postsecondary sociology teacher pay rate, hourly and yearly

Starts at this job’s median. Change the rate or the hours; a full-time year is 40 hours for 52 weeks.

$84,282a year

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Ranked 175 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 78% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 173 Electrical and Electronics Installers and Repairers, Transportation Equipment $84,890
  2. 174 Biological Science Teachers, Postsecondary $84,620
  3. 175 Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary $84,290
  4. 176 Commercial and Industrial Designers $83,910
  5. 177 History Teachers, Postsecondary $83,820

Resumes for sociology teachers, postsecondary

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Learning management system LMSImage scanning softwareCourse management system softwareDOC CopiParadigms TurnitinSakai CLECollaborative editing softwareDesire2Learn LMS software
  • Evaluated and graded students' class work, assignments, and papers.
  • Initiated, facilitated, and moderated classroom discussions.
  • Compiled, administered, and graded examinations, or assigned this work to others.

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This page 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. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. The owner of tiersi.com has modified all or some of this information. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

Related work, and what it pays

Occupations in the same group of the federal classification — the usual next steps, or the ones beside this one.

Sociology Teachers, Postsecondary$84,290
Economics Teachers, Postsecondary$123,920+$39,630 Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary$99,650+$15,360 Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary$98,070+$13,780 Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary$85,020+$730 Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary$80,340−$3,950 Social Sciences Teachers, Postsecondary, All Other$72,990−$11,300

Postsecondary sociology teacher wages, state by state

The 38 states where the most people do this work, of 46 with a published figure: their medians range by 2.08 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
California $127,680 $71,710 $71,710 — $233,850 810
District of Columbia $103,160 $66,410 $66,410 — $224,340 70
Michigan $102,870 $54,660 $54,660 — $174,740 370
Oregon $101,960 $67,710 $67,710 — $147,770 150
Connecticut $101,490 $67,800 $67,800 — $201,880 320
Pennsylvania $99,660 $48,420 $48,420 — $132,230 440
Utah $99,350 $65,630 $65,630 — $131,770 70
New York $97,540 $61,360 $61,360 — $203,820 1,130
Massachusetts $96,790 $61,200 $61,200 — $195,940 580
Maryland $95,980 $54,180 $54,180 — $172,980 200
Nevada $87,480 $66,720 $66,720 — $103,870 100
Minnesota $87,340 $62,470 $62,470 — $131,700 240
Wisconsin $84,960 $62,220 $62,220 — $176,150 450
Georgia $84,330 $54,230 $54,230 — $162,850 230
Louisiana $83,700 $56,790 $56,790 — $124,130 80
Washington $83,140 $55,610 $55,610 — $119,310 200
Illinois $82,610 $52,260 $52,260 — $131,440 440
Iowa $81,910 $49,460 $49,460 — $150,230 140
Texas $81,220 $47,130 $47,130 — $133,610 1,040
Indiana $79,880 $52,680 $52,680 — $145,190 290
Ohio $79,690 $46,530 $46,530 — $123,980 550
Colorado $78,630 $41,400 $41,400 — $139,920 220
Kansas $78,630 $41,950 $41,950 — $171,420 110
Arizona $78,430 $54,080 $54,080 — $147,830 230
South Carolina $78,410 $41,440 $41,440 — $109,170 120
New Jersey $78,350 $32,220 $32,220 — $156,300 550
Virginia $78,120 $44,980 $44,980 — $127,460 400
Missouri $77,800 $45,530 $45,530 — $169,070 100
West Virginia $77,380 $52,890 $52,890 — $132,810 60
Tennessee $77,370 $50,030 $50,030 — $122,820 190
North Carolina $76,430 $45,470 $45,470 — $109,850 550
Nebraska $76,230 $57,690 $57,690 — $95,200 70
Maine $76,010 $61,700 $61,700 — $137,320 80
Alabama $73,670 $48,480 $48,480 — $104,780 210
Mississippi $70,860 $30,250 $30,250 — $100,600 90
Oklahoma $64,900 $30,710 $30,710 — $88,710 120
Florida $63,470 $52,950 $52,950 — $100,900 230
Kentucky $61,260 $35,590 $35,590 — $136,960 150

Questions people often ask

What is a postsecondary sociology teacher’s yearly income?

A postsecondary sociology teacher makes a median of $84,290 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $64,990 and $110,650.

What is the starting pay for a postsecondary sociology teacher?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $64,990 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $49,930.

Which state pays sociology teachers, postsecondary the most?

California, with a median of $127,680 a year.

How many people work as sociology teachers, postsecondary?

About 11,850 in the United States — number 175 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Work that pays about the same

Median pay within $730 of what sociology teachers, postsecondary earn — $84,290 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations