Pay · 25-9044

Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary earn $42,910 a year at the midpoint

The middle of the pay scale for teaching assistants, postsecondary is $42,910. A typical start is nearer $35,270; the top tenth earn about $76,420.

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$42,910median a year · United States
—an hour $47,670average 164,090people
Nine in ten people in this work earn between the two ends. The shaded part is the middle half — where most people are.
$35,27025th $42,910median $60,51075th
$28,60010th percentile $76,42090th percentile
$35,270a year at the 25th percentile, nearer a first job
$58,330best-paying state · Maryland
$22,600lowest-paying state · Alabama
+36%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.
  • The annual figure is arithmetic. For hourly occupations the annual figure is the hourly rate times 2080 hours. It is a calculation, not observed earnings: part time is the norm in retail and food service.
  • 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 $58,330 in Maryland and $22,600 in Alabama — a gap of $35,730 a year.

Postsecondary teaching assistant earnings, from starting pay up to the top 10%

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No. 658 of 788 by median pay

Better paid than 16% of the occupations in the survey.

  1. 656 Packaging and Filling Machine Operators and Tenders $43,220
  2. 657 Tellers $43,030
  3. 658 Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary $42,910
  4. 659 Bicycle Repairers $42,780
  5. 660 Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood $42,770

Examples

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  • Taught undergraduate-level courses.
  • Evaluated and graded examinations, assignments, or papers, and record grades.
  • Led discussion sections, tutorials, or laboratory sections.

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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.

Postsecondary teaching assistant wages, state by state

The 37 states where the most people do this work, of 45 with a published figure: their medians range by 2.52 times. Figures are the 2025 survey.

State Median a year Where most start 10th to 90th Employed
Maryland $58,330 $40,460 $40,460 — $75,980 5,030
Massachusetts $56,370 $32,890 $32,890 — $77,920 3,040
Texas $55,670 $23,660 $23,660 — $64,160 13,540
New Jersey $54,260 $35,940 $35,940 — $81,120 3,390
Minnesota $53,380 $24,450 $24,450 — $61,780 600
Utah $52,300 $26,730 $26,730 — $76,910 2,020
Washington $50,460 $34,650 $34,650 — $64,740 1,480
North Carolina $50,050 $33,130 $33,130 — $73,980 2,900
Oklahoma $49,920 $29,120 $29,120 — $60,230 1,680
Virginia $49,890 $31,670 $31,670 — $80,310 1,660
Arizona $49,810 $30,900 $30,900 — $74,830 7,200
Kentucky $49,680 $31,270 $31,270 — $80,200 990
Oregon $49,550 $38,970 $38,970 — $80,570 880
California $49,140 $35,460 $35,460 — $77,440 19,120
Georgia $48,800 $21,900 $21,900 — $73,190 2,470
Ohio $48,710 $23,600 $23,600 — $92,200 2,210
New Mexico $48,270 $34,400 $34,400 — $65,100 370
Wisconsin $47,990 $30,670 $30,670 — $58,740 4,210
South Carolina $46,760 $19,630 $19,630 — $60,510 2,730
New York $43,610 $34,680 $34,680 — $75,190 17,390
Kansas $41,580 $16,640 $16,640 — $57,270 640
South Dakota $39,840 $27,620 $27,620 — $65,130 460
Michigan $39,830 $33,240 $33,240 — $76,420 18,440
Nebraska $39,650 $28,080 $28,080 — $69,680 730
Iowa $38,960 $22,790 $22,790 — $66,080 560
Pennsylvania $38,020 $21,060 $21,060 — $60,130 2,480
Louisiana $37,950 $21,380 $21,380 — $59,880 440
Florida $37,770 $35,080 $35,080 — $44,270 9,130
Colorado $37,450 $32,430 $32,430 — $81,240 530
Idaho $37,310 $27,430 $27,430 — $71,400 220
Tennessee $36,950 $22,580 $22,580 — $45,270 300
Illinois $36,040 $31,850 $31,850 — $96,230 12,340
Indiana $34,910 $20,850 $20,850 — $62,290 1,940
Montana $30,070 $21,940 $21,940 — $61,620 380
New Hampshire $26,810 $22,860 $22,860 — $48,190 480
Nevada $24,960 $24,960 $24,960 — $24,960 540
Arkansas $23,140 $22,880 $22,880 — $35,530 2,600

No estimate is published for 2 states: the survey withholds a figure when too few employers report it. Nothing has been filled in for them.

Postsecondary teaching assistant pay rate, hourly to yearly

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

$42,910a year

What people often ask

What is a postsecondary teaching assistant’s yearly income?

A postsecondary teaching assistant makes a median of $42,910 a year (2025 survey). The middle half earn between $35,270 and $60,510.

What is the starting pay for a postsecondary teaching assistant?

Starting pay is usually near the 25th percentile, $35,270 a year, and sometimes as low as the 10th, $28,600.

Which state pays teaching assistants, postsecondary the most?

Maryland, with a median of $58,330 a year.

How many people work as teaching assistants, postsecondary?

About 164,090 in the United States — number 658 of 788 occupations by median pay.

Jobs that pay about the same

Median pay within $310 of what teaching assistants, postsecondary earn — $42,910 a year — but not always the same spread.

See all 788 occupations