Educational instruction and library occupations · SOC 25-1021

Computer science teachers, postsecondary

Computer science teachers, postsecondary earned a median of $96,690 per year in the U.S. in 2024, employment is projected to grow +5.3% from 2024–2034, with about 3,500 openings projected each year. Typical entry-level education: Doctoral or professional degree.

Data snapshot: June 14, 2026

Median annual pay

$96,690

Above the $49,500 median for all U.S. occupations

Projected growth (2024–2034)

+5.3%

Faster than the +3.1% projected for all occupations

Annual openings (avg)

3,500

Projected 2024–2034

Employed (2024)

44,800

Typical entry education

Doctoral or professional degree

How to become one

What the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports as typical for entry, nationally. Typical is a measurement of the people already doing the work, not a rule: some enter with less and some with more.

  1. 1

    Education most entrants hold

    Doctoral or professional degree

    This is what people entering the occupation usually hold, measured nationally. Individual employers set their own bar, in both directions.

Beyond that credential, BLS reports no typical requirement for prior experience in a related occupation and no typical on-the-job training period for this occupation.

Licensing is not in these figures.

Many occupations, including most of health care, teaching, law, accountancy and the skilled trades, require a state licence, certification or registration before you can work. Requirements are set by each state and are not part of the federal dataset above, so CampusPin cannot tell you whether this occupation is licensed where you live. Check your state's licensing board before committing to a route, because for a licensed occupation that requirement, not the typical credential, is the real gate.

The fields people actually study to get here are listed below, ordered by how many credentials U.S. colleges conferred in each.

What computer science teachers, postsecondary earn state by state

Median annual pay in each of the 48 jurisdictions where the federal survey released an estimate, highest first — from $128,210 in California to $56,180 in Arkansas, a spread of $72,030. Not adjusted for cost of living, which is usually highest where pay is highest. The national median for this occupation in the same survey is $96,980.

Median annual and hourly pay for computer science teachers, postsecondary in each U.S. state and the District of Columbia, May 2025, highest annual median first.
StateMedian annual payMedian hourly pay
California$128,210
Massachusetts$128,030
Utah$124,460
Michigan$107,690
Oregon$107,310
Virginia$106,780
Nevada$106,640
Connecticut$106,290
Indiana$102,660
Delaware$102,080
District of Columbia$101,380
Rhode Island$100,790
Maine$99,730
Maryland$98,850
Illinois$98,750
Georgia$98,030
Wisconsin$97,730
Pennsylvania$97,500
Texas$97,480
New York$96,450
Vermont$94,930
Nebraska$94,360
Alabama$92,640
Ohio$91,230
Washington$90,950
Missouri$90,770
Iowa$89,510
Minnesota$85,710
Arizona$84,050
New Hampshire$83,630
Kentucky$83,470
Tennessee$81,600
Montana$81,560
New Jersey$81,500
North Dakota$81,400
Colorado$80,530
North Carolina$80,080
New Mexico$79,440
South Carolina$78,240
Louisiana$77,530
Florida$76,950
Oklahoma$76,570
South Dakota$75,540
Mississippi$75,520
West Virginia$73,880
Kansas$67,400
Wyoming$63,900
Arkansas$56,180

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025. Wages are May 2025 estimates from the federal Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, which asks employers what they pay everyone currently working in the occupation — experienced and new alike. They are not starting salaries, not the earnings of recent graduates, and not adjusted for cost of living, which matters when comparing one state against another. Self-employed workers are not surveyed.

Explore your next step

Use CampusPin to search and compare U.S. colleges by cost, admissions, and location, and to browse college majors. CampusPin doesn't link this occupation to specific programs at specific institutions, always confirm what a college offers with the institution.

College majors that lead here

Fields associated with computer science teachers, postsecondary, with how many credentials U.S. colleges conferred in each and the level most of them were. Ordered by credentials conferred, which measures how many people take a route rather than how good it is. Studying any of these does not lead only here, and this occupation is entered from other fields too.

Credentials conferred in 2023-24, U.S. Department of Education IPEDS completions. A certificate is a different credential from a degree, not a lesser one, and a count here is not evidence that a program is currently admitting students.

More occupations in this field

Occupations in the same federal BLS group (Educational instruction and library occupations), grouped by the standard occupational classification, not a curated related-occupation mapping.

Put these numbers in context

The pay figure above is an occupation-wide median, and the outlook is a national projection for the whole occupation, neither a personal nor a starting figure. These CampusPin guides explain how to read them and how a career connects to college choices.

Source & methodology

Figures are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program (Employment Projections). Wages are 2024; employment projections cover 2024–2034. Public domain (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Credit BLS.

  • U.S. national figures only, wages and outlook vary by state, metro, employer, and experience.
  • Median wage is the 2024 BLS estimate; projections are BLS model estimates for 2024–2034, not guarantees.
  • Occupational data is national and is NOT an institution-specific or graduate outcome.
  • Very high wages are capped by BLS and stored as null rather than a fabricated number.

Suggested citation

CampusPin. (2026). Computer science teachers, postsecondary, occupation profile. Retrieved from https://campuspin.com/careers/computer-science-teachers-postsecondary

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