Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a Teaching degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $35,711 two years after finishing, more than 46% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 1,223 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.

C

The verdict on the money

It pays around the middle. What you earn will depend more on where you study and what you do with it than on the subject label.

Median earnings $35,711 2 years after finishing · per graduate
Typical range $32,485–$38,721 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 51,441 1,223 programmes

Where a Teaching degree pays best US programmes ranked on their own graduates' median earnings two years out.

#University1 yr out2 yrs out3 yrs outGraduates/yr
1 Manhattan University $44,845 $53,358 not published 16
2 The College of New Jersey cost & debt at this university → $49,849 $50,689 $52,427 99
3 Centenary University $48,952 $50,375 $48,252 40
4 St. Thomas Aquinas College not published $50,270 not published 22
5 American University not published $49,136 not published 18
6 Rider University cost & debt at this university → $48,992 $48,864 $52,704 78
7 University of Maryland-College Park cost & debt at this university → $47,052 $47,478 $49,928 105
8 Turtle Mountain College not published $47,260 $48,227 10
9 Caldwell University not published $47,260 $48,271 12
10 Nevada State University $43,172 $46,673 $45,124 59
11 Our Lady of the Lake University cost & debt at this university → $33,016 $46,673 not published 13
12 Texas A & M International University $47,141 $46,087 $39,235 4

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $35,711 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $35,605 is what the typical programme reports, counting a class of twenty the same as a class of two thousand. The weighted figure is higher here, which means the larger programmes in this field are the better-paying ones.

It is the median of what real graduates of this exact major earned, taken from tax records two years after they completed. It is not a starting salary, not an average of job adverts, and not a projection. The median bachelor's major in this dataset reports $36,497, so Teaching sits below the middle by $786.

Two years is early in a career. Fields with long training pipelines — medicine, law, research — look weaker at this point than they will at ten, while trades and applied technical fields peak sooner. Read a low figure in a long-pipeline subject as "slow start", not "bad degree".

There is no debt figure here on purpose. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not borrowing, so nobody can honestly tell you the debt of a specific major. Debt is published per institution — that is where our university cost pages carry it.

Teaching at other levels

Scholarships for Teaching students

Whatever the subject pays, the money you do not borrow is the money you keep.

See all Teaching scholarships →

Need a student loan for Teaching students?

Tell us what you need and we will come back with the lenders that actually fund students from your country — including options with no US co-signer. No obligation, and we never charge you.

Free for students. We are not a lender and give no financial advice — we pass your request to partners and may be paid by them if you go ahead. One request per person per service; sending it again simply updates what we hold.

Teaching: the questions people ask

How much do Teaching graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $35,711 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 749 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $35,656.
Is a Teaching degree worth it?
It pays around the middle. What you earn will depend more on where you study and what you do with it than on the subject label.
What is the salary range for Teaching?
Half of US programmes report medians between $32,485 and $38,721. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Teaching each year?
About 51,441 students complete a bachelor's in this field each year across 1,223 US programmes.
Does this include student debt?
No — and deliberately. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not debt, so any "debt by major" figure you see elsewhere is an estimate. Debt is published per institution, which is why our university pages carry it and this page does not.

Classified by the Department of Education as Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods (CIP 1312). Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings (median earnings of graduates who received federal financial aid, measured 1–3 years after completion). Figures are per major and credential level, pooled across US programmes. Information only, not financial advice.