Best Nursing Instructor programs in Alabama, ranked by enrollment
Demonstrate and teach patient care in classroom and clinical units to nursing students.
40 schools in Alabama run programs that feed this job, graduating 7,026 people a year. The job pays a median of $79,690 in Alabama across about 1,460 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Alabama that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
11 programs in Alabama that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Alabama (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Alabama page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 51.3801In Alabama → | 6,235 | 88.7% | 40 | $71,623 | $25,750 |
| 2 | CIP 51.3818In Alabama → | 626 | 8.9% | 10 | $71,623 | $25,750 |
| 3 | CIP 51.3805In Alabama → | 47 | 0.7% | 3 | $71,623 | $25,750 |
| 4 | CIP 51.3804In Alabama → | 43 | 0.6% | 2 | $71,623 | $25,750 |
| 5 | CIP 51.3811In Alabama → | 22 | 0.3% | 1 | $71,623 | $25,750 |
| 6 | CIP 51.3899In Alabama → | 15 | 0.2% | 1 | $71,623 | $25,750 |
| 7 | CIP 51.3203In Alabama → | 13 | 0.2% | 1 | $99,851 | $21,475 |
| 8 | CIP 51.3808In Alabama → | 11 | 0.2% | 3 | $71,623 | $25,750 |
| 9 | CIP 51.3810In Alabama → | 8 | 0.1% | 1 | $71,623 | $25,750 |
| 10 | CIP 51.3816In Alabama → | 3 | 0.0% | 1 | $71,623 | $25,750 |
| 11 | CIP 51.3820In Alabama → | 3 | 0.0% | 1 | $71,623 | $25,750 |
Top 25 schools in Alabama
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 33 of the 40 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of South Alabama Mobile, AL Public · 4 feeder programs | 1,387 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $69,447 | 53% | — | 71% |
| 2 | University of Alabama at Birmingham Birmingham, AL Public · 3 feeder programs | 1,045 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $65,173 | 64% | — | 88% |
| 3 | The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL Public · 3 feeder programs | 601 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $73,000 | 73% | — | 77% |
| 4 | University of North Alabama Florence, AL Public · 2 feeder programs | 360 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $61,137 | 55% | — | 87% |
| 5 | Troy University Troy, AL Public · 2 feeder programs | 282 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $66,344 | 50% | — | 96% |
| 6 | Auburn University Auburn, AL Public · 2 feeder programs | 264 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $67,120 | 82% | — | 46% |
| 7 | Jacksonville State University Jacksonville, AL Public · 3 feeder programs | 248 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $68,896 | 55% | — | 78% |
| 8 | University of Alabama in Huntsville Huntsville, AL Public · 4 feeder programs | 244 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $63,036 | 64% | — | 69% |
| 9 | John C Calhoun State Community College Tanner, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 216 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $56,995 | 41% | — | — |
| 10 | Coastal Alabama Community College Bay Minette, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 207 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $67,900 | 31% | — | — |
| 11 | Bevill State Community College Jasper, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 201 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $63,532 | 38% | — | — |
| 12 | George C Wallace State Community College - Hanceville Hanceville, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 194 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $59,770 | 51% | — | — |
| 13 | Samford University Birmingham, AL Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 192 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $64,226 | 77% | $28,160 | 82% |
| 14 | Jefferson State Community College Birmingham, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 184 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $63,811 | 26% | — | — |
| 15 | George C Wallace Community College - Dothan Dothan, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 154 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $59,653 | 35% | — | — |
| 16 | Southern Union State Community College Wadley, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 116 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $69,147 | 36% | — | — |
| 17 | Shelton State Community College Tuscaloosa, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 108 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $60,540 | 30% | — | — |
| 18 | Gadsden State Community College Gadsden, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 103 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $61,443 | 38% | — | — |
| 19 | Auburn University at Montgomery Montgomery, AL Public · 2 feeder programs | 97 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $69,625 | 33% | — | 92% |
| 20 | Northwest Shoals Community College Muscle Shoals, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 77 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $56,177 | 39% | — | — |
| 21 | Chattahoochee Valley Community College Phenix City, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 71 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $67,491 | 36% | — | — |
| 22 | University of Mobile Mobile, AL Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 65 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $66,307 | 57% | $19,817 | 78% |
| 23 | University of West Alabama Livingston, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 65 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $66,312 | 35% | — | 43% |
| 24 | Herzing University - Birmingham Birmingham, AL Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 63 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $73,342 | 13% | $20,803 | 93% |
| 25 | Central Alabama Community College Alexander City, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 59 | Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse | $59,634 | 33% | — | — |
All 40 schools in Alabama
Every school in Alabama with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of South Alabama | Mobile | Public | 1,387 | 4 |
| University of Alabama at Birmingham | Birmingham | Public | 1,045 | 3 |
| The University of Alabama | Tuscaloosa | Public | 601 | 3 |
| University of North Alabama | Florence | Public | 360 | 2 |
| Troy University | Troy | Public | 282 | 2 |
| Auburn University | Auburn | Public | 264 | 2 |
| Jacksonville State University | Jacksonville | Public | 248 | 3 |
| University of Alabama in Huntsville | Huntsville | Public | 244 | 4 |
| John C Calhoun State Community College | Tanner | Public | 216 | 1 |
| Coastal Alabama Community College | Bay Minette | Public | 207 | 1 |
| Bevill State Community College | Jasper | Public | 201 | 1 |
| George C Wallace State Community College - Hanceville | Hanceville | Public | 194 | 1 |
| Samford University | Birmingham | Private not-for-profit | 192 | 6 |
| Jefferson State Community College | Birmingham | Public | 184 | 1 |
| George C Wallace Community College - Dothan | Dothan | Public | 154 | 1 |
What nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary earn in Alabama
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $80,250. Alabama pays below the national figure.
Concentrated here: Alabama employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
Metro areas in Alabama
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary page.
How to become a Nursing Instructor
Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above- Typical entry education
- Doctoral or professional degree
- Work experience needed
- Less than 5 years
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).
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.
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.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Alabama
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 23 majors mapped to Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary23 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 51.3203Nursing Education
- 51.3801Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse
- 51.3803Adult Health Nurse/Nursing
- 51.3804Nurse Anesthetist
- 51.3805Family Practice Nurse/Nursing
- 51.3806Maternal/Child Health and Neonatal Nurse/Nursing
- 51.3807Nurse Midwife/Nursing Midwifery
- 51.3808Nursing Science
- 51.3809Pediatric Nurse/Nursing
- 51.3810Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing
- 51.3811Public Health/Community Nurse/Nursing
- 51.3812Perioperative/Operating Room and Surgical Nurse/Nursing
- 51.3813Clinical Nurse Specialist
- 51.3814Critical Care Nursing
- 51.3815Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing
- 51.3816Emergency Room/Trauma Nursing
- 51.3818Nursing Practice
- 51.3819Palliative Care Nursing
- 51.3820Clinical Nurse Leader
- 51.3821Geriatric Nurse/Nursing
- 51.3822Women's Health Nurse/Nursing
- 51.3824Forensic Nursing
- 51.3899Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing, Other
Common questions
Answers for people weighing nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary programs in Alabama.
What degree do you need to become a Nursing Instructor?+
Doctoral or professional degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse, which awarded 6,235 degrees in Alabama in 2024-25, 88.7% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Nursing Instructor?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 11 programs to this occupation. The largest are Registered Nursing, Health Professions Education. Together they graduate about 7,026 people a year in Alabama.
How much do nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary earn in Alabama?+
The median is $79,690 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 0.7% below the U.S. median of $80,250. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary growing?+
BLS projects a +16.8% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, much faster than average, with roughly 8,600 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Alabama?+
40 institutions in Alabama reported graduates from at least one of the 11 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do nursing instructors and teachers, postsecondary work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Professor, Nursing Professor, Nursing Instructor, Assistant Professor among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-1072.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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