Best English Language programs in California, ranked by enrollment
Teach courses in English language and literature, including linguistics and comparative literature.
180 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 6,703 people a year. The job pays a median of $130,490 in California across about 5,460 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in California that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
14 programs in California that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in California (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 California page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 23.0101In California → | 5,532 | 82.5% | 176 | $29,622 | $24,546 |
| 2 | CIP 23.1302In California → | 471 | 7.0% | 39 | $28,725 | $25,250 |
| 3 | CIP 16.0104In California → | 297 | 4.4% | 14 | $27,449 | $20,824 |
| 4 | CIP 23.9999In California → | 228 | 3.4% | 9 | $24,239 | $25,500 |
| 5 | CIP 23.1301In California → | 45 | 0.7% | 6 | $28,725 | $25,250 |
| 6 | CIP 13.1305In California → | 41 | 0.6% | 3 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 7 | CIP 23.1304In California → | 37 | 0.6% | 3 | $28,725 | $25,250 |
| 8 | CIP 23.1402In California → | 12 | 0.2% | 1 | $23,868 | $26,552 |
| 9 | CIP 23.1303In California → | 11 | 0.2% | 5 | $28,725 | $25,250 |
| 10 | CIP 23.1399In California → | 11 | 0.2% | 3 | $28,725 | $25,250 |
| 11 | CIP 23.1401In California → | 6 | 0.1% | 1 | $23,868 | $26,552 |
| 12 | CIP 23.1405In California → | 5 | 0.1% | 1 | $23,868 | $26,552 |
| 13 | CIP 30.4701In California → | 4 | 0.1% | 1 | — | — |
| 14 | CIP 23.1499In California → | 3 | 0.0% | 1 | $23,868 | $26,552 |
Top 25 schools in California
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 35 of the 180 schools in this state.
All 180 schools in California
Every school in California 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 California - Berkeley | Berkeley | Public | 318 | 3 |
| University of California - Los Angeles | Los Angeles | Public | 307 | 3 |
| California State University - Long Beach | Long Beach | Public | 277 | 3 |
| University of California - Riverside | Riverside | Public | 206 | 3 |
| California State University - Northridge | Northridge | Public | 197 | 1 |
| University of California - Irvine | Irvine | Public | 187 | 4 |
| San Diego State University | San Diego | Public | 181 | 7 |
| University of California - Davis | Davis | Public | 172 | 3 |
| San Francisco State University | San Francisco | Public | 169 | 4 |
| University of California - Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara | Public | 158 | 2 |
| California State University - San Bernardino | San Bernardino | Public | 148 | 2 |
| California State University - Sacramento | Sacramento | Public | 137 | 1 |
| California State University - Fullerton | Fullerton | Public | 136 | 2 |
| University of California - San Diego | La Jolla | Public | 118 | 3 |
| San Jose State University | San Jose | Public | 117 | 2 |
What english language and literature teachers, postsecondary earn in California
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $78,760. California pays above the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in California
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 English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary page.
How to become a English Language
Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above- Typical entry education
- Doctoral or professional degree
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 California
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 21 majors mapped to English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary19 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 13.1305English/Language Arts Teacher Education
- 16.0104Comparative Literature
- 23.0101English Language and Literature, General
- 23.1301Writing, General
- 23.1302Creative Writing
- 23.1303Professional, Technical, Business, and Scientific Writing
- 23.1304Rhetoric and Composition
- 23.1399Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies, Other
- 23.1401General Literature
- 23.1402American Literature (United States)
- 23.1403American Literature (Canadian)(no graduates reported)
- 23.1404English Literature (British and Commonwealth)
- 23.1405Children's and Adolescent Literature
- 23.1499Literature, Other
- 23.9999English Language and Literature/Letters, Other
- 30.3601Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature
- 30.4701Linguistics and Anthropology
- 30.4801Linguistics and Computer Science
- 30.5201Digital Humanities and Textual Studies, General
- 30.5202Digital Humanities
- 30.5203Textual Studies(no graduates reported)
Common questions
Answers for people weighing english language and literature teachers, postsecondary programs in California.
What degree do you need to become an English Language?+
Doctoral or professional degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is English Language and Literature, General, which awarded 5,532 degrees in California in 2024-25, 82.5% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an English Language?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 14 programs to this occupation. The largest are English Language and Literature, Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies, Linguistic, English Language and Literature/Letters, plus 3 more. Together they graduate about 6,703 people a year in California.
How much do english language and literature teachers, postsecondary earn in California?+
The median is $130,490 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 65.7% above the U.S. median of $78,760. 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 english language and literature teachers, postsecondary growing?+
BLS projects a +0.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 5,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+
180 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 14 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 english language and literature teachers, postsecondary work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Professor, Instructor, English Professor, English Instructor among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-1123.
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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