Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary
Teach courses in psychology, such as child, clinical, and developmental psychology, and psychological counseling. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Also called: Adjunct Instructor · Assistant Professor · Associate Professor · Clinical Psychology Professor · Faculty Member · Instructor
Median pay (national)
$80,330
$47,870–$158,900 (10th–90th)
Employed (US)
41,610
BLS OEWS, May 2024
Outlook 2024–34
+3.6%
~4,000 openings/yr
Typical entry
Doctoral or professional degree
What the numbers say
Refit analysis ·Pay for psychology teachers, postsecondary shows an unusually wide range: the top 10% earn $158,900 versus $47,870 at the bottom 10% — 3.3x. The median of $80,330 leaves roughly 98% of headroom to the 90th percentile, which is where seniority, specialization, and the skills below tend to pay off.
Refit analysis ·Employment is projected to change +3.6% from 2024 to 2034 — about as fast as the 3% all-occupation average. Even so, BLS projects about 4,000 openings a year, mostly to replace workers who retire or change careers.
Refit analysis ·Where you work moves the number a lot. Across the 52 states with released data, California pays the most for this role (median $106,470, +33% vs the national median), while Hawaii sits lowest at $49,850 — a 114% spread for the same job title.
Refit analysis ·O*NET rates Learning Strategies, Reading Comprehension, Speaking as the highest-importance skills here — so a resume aimed at this role should lead with evidence of those, not a generic skills list. On the tools side, O*NET flags Learning management system LMS as in-demand technologies for this role.
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Top skills employers ask for
Ranked by O*NET importance for this occupation.
- Learning Strategies
- Reading Comprehension
- Speaking
- Active Listening
- Writing
- Critical Thinking
- Active Learning
- Monitoring
- Science
- Mathematics
What they actually do
Core O*NET tasks for this role.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as abnormal psychology, cognitive processes, and work motivation.
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory work, assignments, and papers.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
- Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
- Recruit and hire new faculty.
- Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
- Develop and use multimedia course materials and other current technology, such as online courses.
Tools & technology
- Learning management system LMS
- IBM SPSS Statistics
- R
- SAS
- The MathWorks MATLAB
- Biomedical Imaging Resource Analyze
- Blackboard Learn
- Blackboard software
- Cedrus SuperLab Pro
- Cengage Learning Sniffy the Virtual Rat
- Collaborative editing software
- Course management system software
- Desire2Learn LMS software
- DOC Cop
- Empirisoft DirectRT
- Empirisoft MediaLab
Knowledge areas
- Psychology
- English Language
- Education and Training
- Sociology and Anthropology
- Mathematics
- Therapy and Counseling
- Computers and Electronics
- Communications and Media