Best Middle School Teacher programs in California, ranked by enrollment
Teach one or more subjects to students at the middle, intermediate, or junior high school.
52 schools in California run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,858 people a year. The job pays a median of $98,950 in California across about 37,300 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.
20 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 13.1206In California → | 1,010 | 54.4% | 16 | $41,127 | $25,500 |
| 2 | CIP 13.1401In California → | 271 | 14.6% | 18 | $36,305 | $26,250 |
| 3 | CIP 13.1315In California → | 142 | 7.6% | 6 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 4 | CIP 13.1314In California → | 82 | 4.4% | 4 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 5 | CIP 13.1311In California → | 68 | 3.7% | 8 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 6 | CIP 13.1309In California → | 55 | 3.0% | 3 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 7 | CIP 13.1312In California → | 55 | 3.0% | 8 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 8 | CIP 13.1305In California → | 41 | 2.2% | 3 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 9 | CIP 13.1213In California → | 34 | 1.8% | 1 | $41,127 | $25,500 |
| 10 | CIP 13.1316In California → | 25 | 1.3% | 5 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 11 | CIP 13.0201In California → | 23 | 1.2% | 3 | $56,738 | $19,664 |
| 12 | CIP 13.1302In California → | 12 | 0.6% | 4 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 13 | CIP 13.1327In California → | 9 | 0.5% | 1 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 14 | CIP 13.1306In California → | 7 | 0.4% | 3 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 15 | CIP 13.1322In California → | 7 | 0.4% | 1 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 16 | CIP 13.1211In California → | 6 | 0.3% | 1 | $41,127 | $25,500 |
| 17 | CIP 13.1324In California → | 4 | 0.2% | 1 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 18 | CIP 45.0199In California → | 4 | 0.2% | 1 | $35,590 | $24,095 |
| 19 | CIP 13.1323In California → | 2 | 0.1% | 1 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 20 | CIP 13.1321In California → | 1 | 0.1% | 1 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
Top 25 schools in California
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 7 of the 52 schools in this state.
All 52 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 - Irvine | Irvine | Public | 240 | 2 |
| University of the People | Pasadena | Private not-for-profit | 181 | 1 |
| Fresno Pacific University | Fresno | Private not-for-profit | 140 | 4 |
| Alliant International University - San Diego | San Diego | Private for-profit | 133 | 2 |
| Santa Clara University | Santa Clara | Private not-for-profit | 90 | 1 |
| University of Redlands | Redlands | Private not-for-profit | 80 | 2 |
| Reach University | Oakland | Private not-for-profit | 74 | 1 |
| Pacific Oaks College | Pasadena | Private not-for-profit | 73 | 1 |
| California State University - Long Beach | Long Beach | Public | 62 | 2 |
| United States University | Sandy Springs | Private for-profit | 60 | 1 |
| California State University - Fresno | Fresno | Public | 57 | 3 |
| California State University - San Bernardino | San Bernardino | Public | 56 | 2 |
| Fresno City College | Fresno | Public | 53 | 1 |
| Azusa Pacific University | Azusa | Private not-for-profit | 50 | 3 |
| Claremont Graduate University | Claremont | Private not-for-profit | 45 | 1 |
What middle school teachers earn in California
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $64,370. 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 Middle School Teachers page.
How to become a Middle School Teacher
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational 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 25 majors mapped to Middle School Teachers24 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 13.0201Bilingual and Multilingual Education
- 13.1203Junior High/Intermediate/Middle School Education and Teaching
- 13.1206Teacher Education, Multiple Levels
- 13.1207Montessori Teacher Education
- 13.1208Waldorf/Steiner Teacher Education(no graduates reported)
- 13.1211Online Educator/Online Teaching
- 13.1212International Teaching and Learning
- 13.1213Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Educational Methods
- 13.1302Art Teacher Education
- 13.1305English/Language Arts Teacher Education
- 13.1306Foreign Language Teacher Education
- 13.1307Health Teacher Education
- 13.1308Family and Consumer Sciences/Home Economics Teacher Education
- 13.1309Technology Teacher Education/Industrial Arts Teacher Education
- 13.1311Mathematics Teacher Education
- 13.1312Music Teacher Education
- 13.1314Physical Education Teaching and Coaching
- 13.1315Reading Teacher Education
- 13.1316Science Teacher Education/General Science Teacher Education
- 13.1317Social Science Teacher Education
- 13.1318Social Studies Teacher Education
- 13.1321Computer Teacher Education
- 13.1322Biology Teacher Education
- 13.1323Chemistry Teacher Education
- 13.1324Drama and Dance Teacher Education
Common questions
Answers for people weighing middle school teachers programs in California.
What degree do you need to become a Middle School Teacher?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Teacher Education, Multiple Levels, which awarded 1,010 degrees in California in 2024-25, 54.4% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Middle School Teacher?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 20 programs to this occupation. The largest are Teacher Education and Professional Development, Teacher Education and Professional Development, Teaching English or French as a Second or Foreign Language, Bilingual, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 1,858 people a year in California.
How much do middle school teachers earn in California?+
The median is $98,950 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 53.7% above the U.S. median of $64,370. 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 middle school teachers growing?+
BLS projects a -2.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 40,500 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in California?+
52 institutions in California reported graduates from at least one of the 20 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 middle school teachers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Teacher, Science Teacher, Language Arts Teacher (LA Teacher), Math Teacher (Mathematics Teacher) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-2022.
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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