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Role hub · Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education

Preschool Teacher: what the job is, what it pays, and how to get hired.

The work, the skills that matter, the tools in demand and the pay range, from U.S. government data, plus every TryHired page for the role.

Maid DizdarevicCareer coach · 8x LinkedIn Top Voice
Updated Nov 2, 2026 · Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · O*NET 31.0
Pay ladder · select a percentile
Median percentile pay

Half of preschool teachers earn more than this and half earn less.

Annual
$38,140
Hourly
$18.34
Source
BLS May 2025
Quick answer

Preschool Teachers instruct preschool-aged students, following curricula or lesson plans, in activities designed to promote social, physical, and intellectual growth. The median pay is $38,140 a year ($18.34 an hour) (BLS, May 2025). The most commonly reported education requirement is a high school diploma or equivalent (29% of workers surveyed by O*NET).

Median pay
$38,140
BLS May 2025
Employed in the U.S.
478,780
BLS May 2025
Preparation
Job Zone 3 of 5
medium preparation
Most common education
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
29% of workers

Data Government data groups this job as Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education (O*NET-SOC 25-2011.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.

Key facts

Preschool Teachers at a glance

  • Workers in the BLS occupation “Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education” in the United States earned a median annual wage of $38,140 in May 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025

  • In its 2025–35 employment projections, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists an associate's degree as the typical entry-level education for workers in the BLS occupation “Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education” in the United States.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS projects employment of workers in the BLS occupation “Preschool Teachers, Except Special Education” in the United States to grow 4.5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 66,700 openings a year on average, including replacement openings.

    Source: BLS Employment Projections, 2025–35

  • BLS estimates that less than 0.5% of preschool teachers, except special education in the United States had the ability to telework in 2025, a preliminary estimate of whether the job allows it, not a count of remote jobs.

    Source: BLS Occupational Requirements Survey, 2025 preliminary

Explore the role

Every page for Preschool Teachers

SalaryPreschool Teacher salary

Pay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.

Open →How to becomePreschool Teacher how to become

Education, training and the skills to build first.

Open →ResumePreschool Teacher resume

Keywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.

Open →Interview questionsPreschool Teacher interview questions

Questions with what they test, plus practice mode.

Open →Free toolCheck your resume

Parsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.

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The work

What preschool teachers do day to day

Data Core tasks rated most important by workers in the role (O*NET).

  1. Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
  2. Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order.
  3. Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.
  4. Provide a variety of materials and resources for children to explore, manipulate, and use, both in learning activities and in imaginative play.
  5. Serve meals and snacks in accordance with nutritional guidelines.
  6. Attend to children's basic needs by feeding them, dressing them, and changing their diapers.
  7. Meet with parents and guardians to discuss their children's progress and needs, determine their priorities for their children, and suggest ways that they can promote learning and development.
  8. Organize and lead activities designed to promote physical, mental, and social development, such as games, arts and crafts, music, storytelling, and field trips.
Job requirements

What the job requires

Data BLS figures for preschool teachers, except special education (SOC 25-2011), 2025 preliminary BLS Occupational Requirements Survey.

Telework available
less than 0.5%
of workers had the ability to telework
Workday sitting
36.5%
mean share of the day required to sit
Most common strength level
Light
57.1% of workers
Can pause work
10.3%
of workers could take short, unscheduled breaks
Employer-changed schedules
37.4%
of workers had schedules changed by the employer week to week

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Requirements Survey. Estimates are preliminary; ranges are shown as published.

Where this career works

Industries that employ it

Data Share of all preschool teacher jobs in each industry, 2025 (BLS Employment Matrix).

  1. Social assistance67.4% of all jobs in this occupation · +6.1% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $39,340
  2. Educational services; state, local, and private16.1% of all jobs in this occupation · +0.6% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $56,780
  3. Religious, grantmaking, civic, professional, and similar organizations13.4% of all jobs in this occupation · +1.8% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $46,920
  4. Government, excluding state and local education and hospitals1.1% of all jobs in this occupation · +3.9% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $50,750
  5. Amusement, gambling, and recreation industries0.3% of all jobs in this occupation · +8.4% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $38,580
  6. Administrative and support services0.2% of all jobs in this occupation · -1.8% projected change here 2025–35 · mean wage $45,810

Sources: BLS 2025–35 National Employment Matrix (share of the occupation's jobs, projected change) and BLS OEWS May 2025 industry estimates (mean wage). Different industry estimates are not a pay forecast for any person.

Skills that matter

Ranked by importance to the job

Data O*NET importance ratings. The first three are core.

InstructingcoreSpeakingcoreActive ListeningcoreLearning StrategiesSocial PerceptivenessCoordinationReading ComprehensionCritical ThinkingMonitoring

Knowledge areas: Education and Training, English Language, Public Safety and Security, Customer and Personal Service, Psychology.

Tools and technology

Software preschool teachers use

Data Examples reported for the role; employer demand flags from O*NET.

  • AppletreeComputer based training software
  • BloomzDesktop communications software
  • Children's educational softwareComputer based training software
  • ClassDojoDesktop communications software
  • Common CurriculumComputer based training software
  • EasyCBMComputer based training software
  • EdmodoDesktop communications software
  • FlipgridVideo creation and editing software
  • Intrado SchoolMessengerMobile messaging service software
  • NearpodMulti-media educational software
  • PadletComputer based training software
  • SchoologyComputer based training software

Also called: Child Development Teacher, Early Childhood Teacher, Group Teacher, Infant Teacher, Montessori Preschool Teacher, Nursery Teacher.

Method

How this page is built

Tasks, skills, tools, education and related roles come from O*NET 31.0. Pay and employment come from the BLS OEWS May 2025 national estimates. The skill-match score is our calculation: Skill match is the cosine similarity of the two occupations' skill profiles: for each of 35 O*NET skills (10 essential, 25 transferable) we multiply importance by level and subtract the average across all occupations, then compare the direction of the two profiles. 100 means identical shape; 0 means unrelated or opposite (negative values are shown as 0). Only occupations that O*NET itself lists as related are compared.

What this page can't tell you
  • How a specific employer defines the job.
  • Pay for self-employed workers (OEWS covers employees).
  • Your own chances: data describes the occupation, not you.
Sources
  1. 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.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).

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