Career Atlas USA

Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary

Median salary
$105,870
Average salary
$116,100
Employment
328,330
Projected growth
1.5% decline
Annual openings
20,800
Typical entry education
Master's degree

What Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary Do

Plan, direct, or coordinate the academic, administrative, or auxiliary activities of kindergarten, elementary, or secondary schools.

See full salary breakdown & percentiles →

Career Outlook

National employment outlook, 20242034.

Related work experience
5 years or more
On-the-job training
None
Self-employed
1.2%

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
  • Administration and Managementimportance 4.3/5
  • English Languageimportance 4.0/5
  • Administrativeimportance 3.6/5
  • Mathematicsimportance 3.6/5
  • Customer and Personal Serviceimportance 3.5/5
  • Personnel and Human Resourcesimportance 3.4/5
  • Computers and Electronicsimportance 3.4/5

Work Environment

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

  • E-Mail5.0/5
  • Work With or Contribute to a Work Group or Team4.9/5
  • Contact With Others4.9/5
  • Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams4.8/5
  • Work Outcomes and Results of Other Workers4.7/5
  • Telephone Conversations4.5/5

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.

  • Judgment and Decision Makingimportance 4.6/5
  • Social Perceptivenessimportance 4.3/5
  • Complex Problem Solvingimportance 4.1/5
  • Systems Evaluationimportance 4.1/5
  • Management of Personnel Resourcesimportance 4.1/5
  • Coordinationimportance 4.0/5
  • Negotiationimportance 4.0/5
  • Instructingimportance 4.0/5

Software & Technologies

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

Other Software Used

Work Style

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

  • Leadership Orientation
  • Dependability
  • Integrity
  • Cooperation
  • Social Orientation
  • Self-Confidence
  • Stress Tolerance

Career Interests

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

  • SocialHigh
  • EnterprisingHigh
  • ConventionalMedium
  • InvestigativeMedium
  • ArtisticLow
  • RealisticLow

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 education administrators, kindergarten through secondary make up the largest share of local employment, relative to the national average (BLS location quotient).

  1. 1Brownsville-Harlingen, TX2.42× national avg
  2. 2McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX2.32× national avg
  3. 3Dover, DE2.00× national avg
  4. 4Pittsfield, MA1.99× national avg
  5. 5Farmington, NM1.88× national avg

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 →