Career Atlas USA

Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary

Median salary
$85,020
Average salary
$98,330
Employment
11,300
Projected growth
2.4% growth
Annual openings
1,100
Typical entry education
Doctoral or professional degree

What Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary Do

Teach courses pertaining to the culture and development of an area, an ethnic group, or any other group, such as Latin American studies, women's studies, or urban affairs. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

See full salary breakdown & percentiles →

Career Outlook

National employment outlook, 20242034.

Related work experience
None
On-the-job training
None
Self-employed
Not available

Source: BLS Employment Projections — 2024-2034.

How Much Preparation Does This Take?

Job Zone 5 of 5

Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

Experience
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience.
Education
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Job training
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Source: O*NET Job Zones.

Key Knowledge Areas

Subject-matter areas this occupation draws on most, per O*NET.

  • Education and Trainingimportance 4.6/5
  • English Languageimportance 4.6/5
  • Sociology and Anthropologyimportance 3.7/5
  • History and Archeologyimportance 3.6/5
  • Foreign Languageimportance 3.5/5
  • Communications and Mediaimportance 3.4/5
  • Computers and Electronicsimportance 3.3/5
  • Philosophy and Theologyimportance 3.1/5

Work Environment

What the day-to-day work setting is like, per O*NET.

  • E-Mail4.9/5
  • Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams4.7/5
  • Freedom to Make Decisions4.7/5
  • Determine Tasks, Priorities and Goals4.5/5
  • Indoors, Environmentally Controlled4.5/5
  • Public Speaking4.5/5

Careers With Similar Skills

Occupations whose Transferable Skills profile most closely matches this one — a mathematical comparison, not observed data about people actually moving between these careers.

Transferable Skills

Cross-functional skills this occupation draws on most, per O*NET — the kind that carry over to other careers.

  • Instructingimportance 4.1/5
  • Complex Problem Solvingimportance 3.9/5
  • Social Perceptivenessimportance 3.4/5
  • Judgment and Decision Makingimportance 3.3/5
  • Time Managementimportance 3.3/5
  • Persuasionimportance 3.1/5
  • Service Orientationimportance 3.1/5
  • Systems Analysisimportance 3.1/5

Software & Technologies

Tools and software used in this occupation, per O*NET.

In-Demand Technologies

Work Style

Personal work characteristics that matter most for this occupation, per O*NET.

  • Intellectual Curiosity
  • Dependability
  • Innovation
  • Social Orientation
  • Achievement Orientation
  • Empathy
  • Cooperation

Career Interests

This occupation’s RIASEC interest profile, per O*NET — how strongly it fits each of the six Holland interest types.

  • SocialHigh
  • InvestigativeHigh
  • ArtisticMedium
  • RealisticMedium
  • ConventionalMedium
  • EnterprisingMedium

This page includes information from the O*NET 30.3 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.

Where This Career Is Most Concentrated

Metro areas where area, ethnic, and cultural studies teachers, postsecondary make up the largest share of local employment, relative to the national average (BLS location quotient).

  1. 1Ann Arbor, MI14.97× national avg
  2. 2Syracuse, NY3.59× national avg
  3. 3Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, OR-WA2.50× national avg
  4. 4Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, TX2.42× national avg
  5. 5Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH2.22× national avg

Possible Career Moves

A computed starting point, not observed job-change data — see the full list for why each one might fit.

See the full career path from Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary

Related Education Programs

Schools that offer related fields of study, based on the NCES CIP-SOC crosswalk — not a guarantee that graduates enter this specific career.

Full salary data & percentiles →Best states for this career →Highest-paying states →