Best Foreign Language programs in Massachusetts, ranked by enrollment
Teach languages and literature courses in languages other than English. Includes teachers of American Sign Language (ASL).
35 schools in Massachusetts run programs that feed this job, graduating 581 people a year. The job pays a median of $98,750 in Massachusetts across about 960 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Massachusetts that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
29 programs in Massachusetts that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Massachusetts (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 Massachusetts page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 16.0102In Massachusetts → | 109 | 18.8% | 9 | $27,449 | $20,824 |
| 2 | CIP 16.0905In Massachusetts → | 83 | 14.3% | 22 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 3 | CIP 16.1200In Massachusetts → | 72 | 12.4% | 13 | — | $22,560 |
| 4 | CIP 16.0901In Massachusetts → | 50 | 8.6% | 13 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 5 | CIP 16.0103In Massachusetts → | 28 | 4.8% | 3 | $27,449 | $20,824 |
| 6 | CIP 16.0105In Massachusetts → | 28 | 4.8% | 1 | $27,449 | $20,824 |
| 7 | CIP 16.0501In Massachusetts → | 27 | 4.6% | 9 | $44,390 | $23,202 |
| 8 | CIP 16.0301In Massachusetts → | 21 | 3.6% | 4 | $27,331 | $20,685 |
| 9 | CIP 16.0300In Massachusetts → | 20 | 3.4% | 3 | $27,331 | $20,685 |
| 10 | CIP 16.0900In Massachusetts → | 17 | 2.9% | 2 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 11 | CIP 16.0302In Massachusetts → | 15 | 2.6% | 3 | $27,331 | $20,685 |
| 12 | CIP 16.1601In Massachusetts → | 15 | 2.6% | 2 | $32,695 | $25,209 |
| 13 | CIP 16.0101In Massachusetts → | 12 | 2.1% | 4 | $27,449 | $20,824 |
| 14 | CIP 16.0904In Massachusetts → | 12 | 2.1% | 2 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 15 | CIP 16.0902In Massachusetts → | 11 | 1.9% | 5 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 16 | CIP 16.0908In Massachusetts → | 11 | 1.9% | 2 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 17 | CIP 13.1306In Massachusetts → | 9 | 1.5% | 2 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 18 | CIP 13.1330In Massachusetts → | 8 | 1.4% | 3 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 19 | CIP 16.0303In Massachusetts → | 8 | 1.4% | 2 | $27,331 | $20,685 |
| 20 | CIP 16.0400In Massachusetts → | 6 | 1.0% | 1 | $60,240 | $5,500 |
| 21 | CIP 16.1203In Massachusetts → | 5 | 0.9% | 4 | — | $22,560 |
| 22 | CIP 16.1299In Massachusetts → | 5 | 0.9% | 2 | — | $22,560 |
| 23 | CIP 16.1301In Massachusetts → | 2 | 0.3% | 1 | — | — |
| 24 | CIP 16.9999In Massachusetts → | 2 | 0.3% | 2 | $34,944 | $24,828 |
| 25 | CIP 16.0402In Massachusetts → | 1 | 0.2% | 1 | $60,240 | $5,500 |
| 26 | CIP 16.0601In Massachusetts → | 1 | 0.2% | 1 | — | — |
| 27 | CIP 16.0999In Massachusetts → | 1 | 0.2% | 1 | $34,541 | $22,748 |
| 28 | CIP 16.1199In Massachusetts → | 1 | 0.2% | 1 | $48,355 | $15,526 |
| 29 | CIP 16.1202In Massachusetts → | 1 | 0.2% | 1 | — | $22,560 |
Top 25 schools in Massachusetts
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 35 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Massachusetts - Amherst Amherst, MA Public · 13 feeder programs | 147 | Linguistics | $20,334 | 83% | — | 60% |
| 2 | Harvard University Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 8 feeder programs | 56 | Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General | — | 98% | $15,013 | 4% |
| 3 | Boston University Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 13 feeder programs | 53 | Linguistics | — | 89% | $21,956 | 11% |
| 4 | University of Massachusetts - Boston Boston, MA Public · 5 feeder programs | 37 | Applied Linguistics | — | 49% | — | 84% |
| 5 | College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 30 | Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General | — | 87% | $24,533 | 18% |
| 6 | Smith College Northampton, MA Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 29 | East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General | — | 89% | $17,183 | 21% |
| 7 | Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 25 | Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General | — | 91% | $21,126 | 16% |
| 8 | Amherst College Amherst, MA Private not-for-profit · 5 feeder programs | 20 | French Language and Literature | $49,322 | 94% | $16,081 | 9% |
| 9 | Northeastern University Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 20 | American Sign Language (ASL) | — | 91% | $18,925 | 5% |
| 10 | Mount Holyoke College South Hadley, MA Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 15 | French Language and Literature | $26,013 | 84% | $26,083 | 36% |
| 11 | Tufts University Medford, MA Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 14 | Classics and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General | — | 94% | $23,570 | 11% |
| 12 | Wellesley College Wellesley, MA Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 14 | Spanish Language and Literature | $36,776 | 92% | $19,292 | 14% |
| 13 | Brandeis University Waltham, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 13 | Linguistics | — | 86% | $25,074 | 40% |
| 14 | Salem State University Salem, MA Public · 4 feeder programs | 13 | Spanish Language and Literature | — | 50% | — | 96% |
| 15 | Williams College Williamstown, MA Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 13 | Chinese Language and Literature | — | 94% | $10,747 | 8% |
| 16 | Bridgewater State University Bridgewater, MA Public · 3 feeder programs | 10 | Foreign Languages and Literatures, General | — | 53% | — | 88% |
| 17 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 9 | Linguistics | — | 96% | $11,666 | 5% |
| 18 | University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth North Dartmouth, MA Public · 2 feeder programs | 9 | Portuguese Language and Literature | — | 52% | — | 91% |
| 19 | Worcester State University Worcester, MA Public · 2 feeder programs | 8 | Spanish Language and Literature | — | 61% | — | 88% |
| 20 | Framingham State University Framingham, MA Public · 1 feeder programs | 7 | American Sign Language (ASL) | — | 48% | — | 84% |
| 21 | Clark University Worcester, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 6 | Spanish Language and Literature | — | 77% | $23,332 | 40% |
| 22 | Gordon College Wenham, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 6 | Linguistics | — | 69% | $23,077 | 69% |
| 23 | Bristol Community College Fall River, MA Public · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Language Interpretation and Translation | — | 22% | — | — |
| 24 | Hampshire College Amherst, MA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Linguistics | — | 54% | $22,968 | 75% |
| 25 | University of Massachusetts - Lowell Lowell, MA Public · 1 feeder programs | 3 | Foreign Languages and Literatures, General | — | 65% | — | 83% |
All 35 schools in Massachusetts
Every school in Massachusetts 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 Massachusetts - Amherst | Amherst | Public | 147 | 13 |
| Harvard University | Cambridge | Private not-for-profit | 56 | 8 |
| Boston University | Boston | Private not-for-profit | 53 | 13 |
| University of Massachusetts - Boston | Boston | Public | 37 | 5 |
| College of the Holy Cross | Worcester | Private not-for-profit | 30 | 6 |
| Smith College | Northampton | Private not-for-profit | 29 | 6 |
| Boston College | Chestnut Hill | Private not-for-profit | 25 | 6 |
| Amherst College | Amherst | Private not-for-profit | 20 | 5 |
| Northeastern University | Boston | Private not-for-profit | 20 | 3 |
| Mount Holyoke College | South Hadley | Private not-for-profit | 15 | 4 |
| Tufts University | Medford | Private not-for-profit | 14 | 6 |
| Wellesley College | Wellesley | Private not-for-profit | 14 | 4 |
| Brandeis University | Waltham | Private not-for-profit | 13 | 3 |
| Salem State University | Salem | Public | 13 | 4 |
| Williams College | Williamstown | Private not-for-profit | 13 | 4 |
What foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary earn in Massachusetts
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $79,350. Massachusetts pays above the national figure.
Concentrated here: Massachusetts employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.
Metro areas in Massachusetts
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 Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary page.
How to become a Foreign 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 Massachusetts
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 25 majors mapped to Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary18 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 13.1306Foreign Language Teacher Education
- 13.1325French Language Teacher Education
- 13.1326German Language Teacher Education
- 13.1330Spanish Language Teacher Education
- 13.1333Latin Teacher Education
- 16.0101Foreign Languages and Literatures, General
- 16.0102Linguistics
- 16.0103Language Interpretation and Translation
- 16.0105Applied Linguistics
- 16.0201African Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
- 16.0300East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General
- 16.0301Chinese Language and Literature
- 16.0302Japanese Language and Literature
- 16.0303Korean Language and Literature
- 16.0304Tibetan Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
- 16.0399East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Other
- 16.0400Slavic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General
- 16.0401Baltic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics(no graduates reported)
- 16.0402Russian Language and Literature
- 16.0404Albanian Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
- 16.0405Bulgarian Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
- 16.0406Czech Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
- 16.0407Polish Language and Literature
- 16.0408Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian Languages and Literatures(no graduates reported)
- 16.0409Slovak Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
Common questions
Answers for people weighing foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary programs in Massachusetts.
What degree do you need to become a Foreign 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 Linguistics, which awarded 109 degrees in Massachusetts in 2024-25, 18.8% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Foreign Language?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 29 programs to this occupation. The largest are Romance Languages, Linguistic, Classics and Classical Languages, East Asian Languages, plus 8 more. Together they graduate about 581 people a year in Massachusetts.
How much do foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary earn in Massachusetts?+
The median is $98,750 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 24.4% above the U.S. median of $79,350. 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 foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary growing?+
BLS projects a -0.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 1,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Massachusetts?+
35 institutions in Massachusetts reported graduates from at least one of the 29 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 foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Professor, French Professor, Spanish Professor, Spanish Instructor among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-1124.
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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