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Salary · History Teacher · United States

History Teacher salary: $83,820 median, and how to negotiate yours.

The full pay range by percentile, every state, the top-paying metro areas and similar roles, from the latest BLS survey. Place your own offer on the range.

Updated Nov 2, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025
Annual wage range · U.S. · BLS May 2025
$83,820median · annual pay only

BLS publishes annual wages only for this occupation, so no hourly figure is shown.

Quick answer

The median annual wage for history teachers, postsecondary in the United States was $83,820 in May 2025 (BLS). The lowest-paid 10% earned less than $48,410 and the top 10% earned more than $162,160. That median is 1.6 times the $50,980 median for all occupations. The highest-paying state was California ($127,170).

Data Government data groups this job as History Teachers, Postsecondary (O*NET-SOC 25-1125.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.

10th percentile
$48,410
lowest-paid 10% earn less
25th percentile
$63,920
a quarter earn less
75th percentile
$112,090
a quarter earn more
90th percentile
$162,160
top 10% earn more
Key facts

More on history teacher pay

  • Median hourly wage: Not available. BLS publishes only annual wages for this occupation.

    Source checked: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • The middle half of workers in the BLS occupation “History Teachers, Postsecondary” in the United States earned between $63,920 and $112,090 a year in May 2025 (25th to 75th percentile, BLS).

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • The lowest-paid 10% of workers in the BLS occupation “History Teachers, Postsecondary” in the United States earned less than $48,410 a year in May 2025, and the top 10% more than $162,160 (BLS).

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • The mean annual wage for workers in the BLS occupation “History Teachers, Postsecondary” in the United States was $96,580 in May 2025, according to BLS; the mean is a different measure from the median.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • BLS estimated that 18,790 people were employed in the BLS occupation “History Teachers, Postsecondary” in the United States in May 2025, not counting the self-employed.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

Pay by state

History Teacher salary in every state

Data BLS state estimates, May 2025. 45 states and DC published a median for this occupation. Sort by pay or by number employed.

Highest median pay
  1. California$127,170
  2. New Hampshire$106,880
  3. Massachusetts$104,900
  4. Oregon$104,330
  5. Connecticut$101,950
Most people employed
  1. Texas2,030
  2. New York1,660
  3. California1,450
  4. Pennsylvania960
  5. Massachusetts780
Median annual wage by state
State10th–90th percentile
California$127,170$62,690–$217,7001,450
New Hampshire$106,880$53,670–$165,270100
Massachusetts$104,900$63,940–$173,230780
Oregon$104,330$57,000–$144,740260
Connecticut$101,950$61,290–$213,940300
New York$100,400$60,840–$183,7801,660
New Jersey$99,900$32,220–$207,540780
Maine$99,610$59,480–$131,75080
Michigan$99,440$50,950–$140,430370
Pennsylvania$98,850$60,720–$127,720960
Maryland$97,830$54,360–$149,630310
Arizona$97,430$71,230–$342,950150
Minnesota$92,970$63,240–$162,620280
Virginia$85,910$49,110–$160,860760
District of Columbia$85,550$64,950–$132,350180
Illinois$83,940$46,950–$132,360700
Vermont$83,750$51,140–$134,75080
New Mexico$83,700$63,550–$169,340120
Washington$83,250$54,340–$127,530290
Nevada$81,930$46,830–$134,96080
Utah$81,750$63,530–$106,070140
Texas$81,530$43,300–$159,3902,030
Wisconsin$81,380$59,900–$136,450370
Ohio$81,080$41,110–$132,720650
Missouri$80,680$47,320–$138,230360
Indiana$79,450$54,930–$133,440380
Georgia$79,010$50,850–$108,030630
Louisiana$78,990$47,820–$122,340120
Colorado$78,410$30,800–$154,440380
Iowa$77,040$49,400–$128,300150
Montana$75,770$61,220–$135,46040
Wyoming$75,400$47,230–$80,65030
North Carolina$75,070$45,460–$127,450720
Kansas$74,920$30,360–$147,860150
South Carolina$73,670$49,650–$106,760280
Tennessee$72,940$49,760–$102,420450
Florida$70,880$50,990–$122,430320
West Virginia$69,560$49,290–$96,38090
South Dakota$69,220$54,190–$100,35030
Oklahoma$66,910$34,640–$94,010180
Alabama$66,550$49,990–$98,360340
Kentucky$64,600$39,880–$109,180280
Mississippi$63,450$48,410–$91,710210
Nebraska$57,150$37,300–$99,580190
Arkansas$47,860$22,880–$82,470290
Top-paying metro areas

Where the median is highest

Data Metropolitan areas with at least 100 people employed in the occupation, BLS May 2025.

  1. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA$192,320
  2. San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$162,160
  3. San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA$135,420
  4. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA$129,120
  5. New Haven, CT$128,760
  6. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA$127,780
  7. Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA$127,180
  8. Providence-Warwick, RI-MA$106,990
  9. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH$105,420
  10. Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX$102,840
Similar roles

How the pay compares

Data National medians for related occupations (O*NET related roles, BLS pay).

  1. History Teacher$83,820
  2. Historian$76,750
  3. High School Teacher$72,040
  4. Middle School Teacher$64,370
  5. Elementary School Teacher$63,970
  6. ESL Teacher$61,540
Negotiation script builder

Ask for more, calmly and in writing

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Our view If you cite market data, cite this page's source: the BLS median for your state and the percentile your offer sits at. A specific, sourced number is easier to agree to than a feeling.

Method

How this page is built

Wages are BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics estimates for May 2025 (national, state and metropolitan area), for the occupation shown. OEWS wages are straight-time gross pay: they include base pay, commissions, production bonuses and tips, and exclude overtime, shift differentials, non-production bonuses and benefits. Percentiles describe all workers in the occupation, not entry or senior levels.

What this page can't tell you
  • Pay at a specific employer, or for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Experience level: percentiles are not seniority bands.
  • Equity, bonuses outside OEWS's definition, and benefits.
Sources
  1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
  2. O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. TryHired selected, ranked and combined the data; O*NET is not responsible for these pages.

How TryHired builds this data: sources, methods and downloads. Spotted an error? Report a correction.

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