Nebraska·Educational Instruction and Library Occupations·SOC 25-2021

Best Elementary School Teacher programs in Nebraska, ranked by enrollment

Teach academic and social skills to students at the elementary school.

18 schools in Nebraska run programs that feed this job, graduating 842 people a year. The job pays a median of $62,380 in Nebraska across about 8,710 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledTeacherClassroom TeacherElementary TeacherElementary School TeacherEducatorArt TeacherGym TeacherArt Educator
Graduates / yr
842
in Nebraska
Median pay · Nebraska
$62,380
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
8,710
people employed
Schools
18
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
54%
across those schools
Median net price
$22,390
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Nebraska that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

4 programs in Nebraska that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Nebraska (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 Nebraska page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 13.1202In Nebraska
563
66.9%
16$41,127$25,500
2
CIP 13.1210In Nebraska
146
17.3%
6$41,127$25,500
3
CIP 13.1401In Nebraska
86
10.2%
5$36,305$26,250
4
CIP 13.1206In Nebraska
47
5.6%
4$41,127$25,500

Top 18 schools in Nebraska

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 10 of the 18 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Concordia University - Nebraska
Seward, NE Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs
130Early Childhood Education and Teaching$43,06765%$22,39086%
2University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE Public · 2 feeder programs
126Elementary Education and Teaching$41,32647%87%
3University of Nebraska at Kearney
Kearney, NE Public · 1 feeder programs
123Elementary Education and Teaching$38,85358%89%
4University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE Public · 3 feeder programs
109Elementary Education and Teaching$44,01167%87%
5Wayne State College
Wayne, NE Public · 2 feeder programs
82Elementary Education and Teaching$41,32252%
6Northeast Community College
Norfolk, NE Public · 2 feeder programs
56Early Childhood Education and Teaching$24,71056%
7Midland University
Fremont, NE Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
54Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language/ESL Language Instructor42%$23,16266%
8Chadron State College
Chadron, NE Public · 1 feeder programs
48Elementary Education and Teaching$40,32050%
9Peru State College
Peru, NE Public · 2 feeder programs
25Elementary Education and Teaching$37,07238%
10Creighton University
Omaha, NE Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
21Elementary Education and Teaching83%$27,35380%
11College of Saint Mary
Omaha, NE Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs
15Teacher Education, Multiple Levels61%$14,62945%
12Nebraska Wesleyan University
Lincoln, NE Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
15Elementary Education and Teaching$42,98866%$22,22580%
13Bellevue University
Bellevue, NE Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
12Teacher Education, Multiple Levels33%$29,230
14Western Nebraska Community College
Scottsbluff, NE Public · 2 feeder programs
8Elementary Education and Teaching37%
15Doane University
Crete, NE Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
6Elementary Education and Teaching57%$25,10398%
16Hastings College
Hastings, NE Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
6Elementary Education and Teaching$40,40649%$20,42472%
17York University
York, NE Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
4Elementary Education and Teaching52%$19,34652%
18Union Adventist University
Lincoln, NE Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
2Elementary Education and Teaching52%$20,543100%

All 18 schools in Nebraska

Every school in Nebraska 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.

All schools in Nebraska that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Concordia University - NebraskaSewardPrivate not-for-profit1304
University of Nebraska at OmahaOmahaPublic1262
University of Nebraska at KearneyKearneyPublic1231
University of Nebraska - LincolnLincolnPublic1093
Wayne State CollegeWaynePublic822
Northeast Community CollegeNorfolkPublic562
Midland UniversityFremontPrivate not-for-profit541
Chadron State CollegeChadronPublic481
Peru State CollegePeruPublic252
Creighton UniversityOmahaPrivate not-for-profit212
College of Saint MaryOmahaPrivate not-for-profit153
Nebraska Wesleyan UniversityLincolnPrivate not-for-profit151
Bellevue UniversityBellevuePrivate not-for-profit121
Western Nebraska Community CollegeScottsbluffPublic82
Doane UniversityCretePrivate not-for-profit61

What elementary school teachers earn in Nebraska

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Nebraska
$62,380
Mean annual
$63,730
Jobs in state
8,710
What the range looks like
10th pct$46,700Median$62,38090th pct$78,130
Versus the national median
-2.5%

U.S. median $63,970. Nebraska pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.95×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Nebraska

Lincoln, NE
$61,940median
1,240 jobs
Omaha, NE-IA
$62,670median
4,030 jobs
Grand Island, NE
$64,530median
360 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-2.0%
Decline
Openings per year
91,000
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-27,900
1,422,700 → 1,394,800
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

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 Elementary School Teachers page.

How to become a Elementary 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

Learning StrategiesSpeakingMonitoringActive ListeningCritical ThinkingWriting

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Nebraska

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 15 majors mapped to Elementary School Teachers13 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 13.0201Bilingual and Multilingual Education
  • 13.1202Elementary Education and Teaching
  • 13.1206Teacher Education, Multiple Levels
  • 13.1207Montessori Teacher Education
  • 13.1208Waldorf/Steiner Teacher Education(no graduates reported)
  • 13.1210Early Childhood Education and Teaching
  • 13.1211Online Educator/Online Teaching
  • 13.1212International Teaching and Learning
  • 13.1213Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Educational Methods
  • 13.1338Environmental Education
  • 13.1339Communication Arts and Literature Teacher Education
  • 13.1401Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language/ESL Language Instructor
  • 13.1402Teaching French as a Second or Foreign Language(no graduates reported)
  • 13.1499Teaching English or French as a Second or Foreign Language, Other
  • 45.0199Social Sciences, Other

Common questions

Answers for people weighing elementary school teachers programs in Nebraska.

What degree do you need to become an Elementary 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 Elementary Education and Teaching, which awarded 563 degrees in Nebraska in 2024-25, 66.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Elementary School Teacher?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 4 programs to this occupation. The largest are Teacher Education and Professional Development, Teaching English or French as a Second or Foreign Language. Together they graduate about 842 people a year in Nebraska.

How much do elementary school teachers earn in Nebraska?+

The median is $62,380 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 2.5% below the U.S. median of $63,970. 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 elementary school teachers growing?+

BLS projects a -2.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 91,000 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Nebraska?+

18 institutions in Nebraska reported graduates from at least one of the 4 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 elementary school teachers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Teacher, Classroom Teacher, Elementary Teacher, Elementary School Teacher among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-2021.

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 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected 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 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, 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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