How to become a Principal: education, training and skills.
The typical entry path BLS lists for the occupation, what O*NET publishes about experience, the skills to build first, and the stepping-stone roles that lead in.
- Education
- Master's degree
- Related work experience
- 5 years or more
- On-the-job training
- None
O*NET publishes no worker survey of required education for this occupation; the education level shown is BLS's typical entry level.
BLS lists a master's degree as the typical entry-level education for principals in the United States (Employment Projections, 2025–35), with 5 years or more of work experience in a related occupation and no on-the-job training to become competent. O*NET places the job in Job Zone 5 of 5 (extensive preparation); O*NET publishes no worker survey of required education for this occupation. Among workers O*NET surveyed, the most common answer for related work experience was “over 2 years, up to and including 4 years” (36%).
Data Government data groups this job as Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary (O*NET-SOC 11-9032.00). Figures on this page are for that occupation.
Steps to becoming a Principal
Data Steps 1 to 3 are BLS Employment Projections data; skills and tools are O*NET; the last step is advice.
- EducationPlan for a master's degree
The typical entry-level education BLS lists for the occupation (Employment Projections, 2025–35). Typical, not a legal requirement.
- TrainingExpect no on-the-job training
BLS's typical on-the-job training to become competent in the occupation.
- ExperienceRelated experience
BLS: 5 years or more of work experience in a related occupation is typical. Most common answer among workers O*NET surveyed: over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (36%).
- SkillsBuild the core skills
Active Listening, Learning Strategies, Judgment and Decision Making are rated most important (O*NET).
- ToolsLearn the tools
Apache Cassandra, IBM SPSS Statistics, SAS.
- CredentialsCheck licensing where you live
Many occupations need a state license or certification. Requirements vary by state, so confirm with your state's licensing board.
What workers report
Data Share of workers giving each answer, O*NET.
O*NET Job Zone 5 (Extensive Preparation Needed): Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Related roles that need less preparation
Data O*NET related occupations in a lower Job Zone with a skill match of 65% or more.
Data Pay once you are in the job: the BLS median is $105,870; the lowest-paid quarter earn $86,040 or less. See the full Principal salary data.
How this page is built
Typical entry-level education, related work experience and on-the-job training are BLS Employment Projections 2025–35 categories for the occupation (BLS: Education administrators, kindergarten through secondary). Job Zone, the experience and training shares, skills and tools come from O*NET 31.0; O*NET publishes no education survey for this occupation. Stepping-stone roles use our skill-match score: 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.
- Licensing rules in your state.
- Requirements at a specific employer.
- How long the path will take you personally.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program, Occupational projections, 2025–35 (released Aug 27, 2026; occupation.xlsx, Tables 1.2 and 1.10; retrieved Oct 25, 2026). Definitions.
- 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.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 estimates (public domain).
Spotted an error in this data? Report a correction to TryHired.
More for Principals
What the job is, skills, tools, pay and related roles.
Open →SalaryPrincipal salaryPay by percentile, state and metro, with a negotiation script.
Open →ResumePrincipal resumeKeywords, bullet formulas and the skills to prove.
Open →Interview questionsPrincipal interview questionsQuestions with what they test, plus practice mode.
Open →Career changePrincipal career changeWhere these skills transfer, with skill match and pay change.
Open →Free toolCheck your resumeParsed text, evidence per bullet, fixes first.
Open →