Best degree programs for Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School, ranked by enrollment
8 college programs and 183 schools train Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $65,030 median wage, 16,870 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
8 college programs at 183 schools train career/technical education teachers, middle school, graduating 3,014 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Agricultural Teacher Education. The job pays a median of $65,030 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About career/technical education teachers, middle school
Teach occupational, vocational, career, or technical subjects to students at the middle, intermediate, or junior high school level.
Fields of study that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.
8 degree programs that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 13.1301 | 1,051 | 34.9% | 68 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 2 | CIP 13.1320 | 695 | 23.1% | 31 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 3 | CIP 13.1309 | 389 | 12.9% | 33 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 4 | CIP 13.1319 | 356 | 11.8% | 27 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 5 | CIP 13.1308 | 261 | 8.7% | 38 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 6 | CIP 13.1303 | 165 | 5.5% | 38 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 7 | CIP 13.1327 | 89 | 3.0% | 10 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 8 | CIP 13.1310 | 8 | 0.3% | 2 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
What career/technical education teachers, middle school earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | $86,450 | 1,930 | 1.83× | 10 | 197 |
| Alabamamoderate | $58,410 | 640 | 2.80× | 3 | 148 |
| Wisconsin | $76,860 | 570 | 1.80× | 8 | 142 |
| Georgia | $73,020 | 560 | 1.05× | 5 | 121 |
| Floridamoderate | $58,760 | 610 | 0.57× | 4 | 107 |
| North Carolina | $52,270 | 760 | 1.41× | 5 | 94 |
| Ohio | $86,560 | 590 | 0.98× | 7 | 91 |
| Illinois | $80,700 | 240 | 0.36× | 5 | 90 |
| Missouri | $52,630 | 240 | 0.75× | 6 | 88 |
| Kansasmoderate | $58,560 | 30 | 0.22× | 4 | 81 |
| Michigan | $60,650 | — | — | 5 | 80 |
| Texasmoderate | $63,330 | 5,230 | 3.42× | 4 | 80 |
| Oklahomamoderate | $54,090 | 110 | 0.60× | 4 | 72 |
| Minnesota | $81,460 | 160 | 0.50× | 6 | 68 |
| Nebraska | $62,580 | 370 | 3.31× | 7 | 66 |
| Utah | $86,890 | — | — | 5 | 63 |
| Pennsylvania | $77,980 | 690 | 1.04× | 8 | 56 |
| Massachusettsmoderate | $93,260 | — | — | 3 | 52 |
| Indianamoderate | $54,960 | 70 | 0.21× | 3 | 46 |
| North Dakotalimited | $46,530 | 220 | 4.81× | 2 | 44 |
| Iowa | $63,360 | — | — | 5 | 43 |
| Arkansas | $60,760 | 90 | 0.62× | 5 | 35 |
| Mississippimoderate | $55,210 | 270 | 2.16× | 4 | 31 |
| Virginia | $67,460 | 640 | 1.43× | 5 | 30 |
| Marylandmoderate | $84,160 | 210 | 0.71× | 3 | 20 |
| Coloradolimited | $66,310 | 470 | 1.52× | 2 | 15 |
| Wyominglimited | $62,710 | 100 | 3.42× | 2 | 15 |
| South Carolinalimited | $62,160 | 170 | 0.67× | 1 | 11 |
| Washingtonmoderate | $103,290 | 720 | 1.87× | 4 | 11 |
| Connecticutlimited | $95,680 | 120 | 0.63× | 1 | 10 |
| Rhode Islandlimited | $97,240 | 50 | 0.84× | 1 | 7 |
| Tennesseemoderate | $61,950 | 110 | 0.31× | 3 | 5 |
| Louisianalimited | $56,440 | 120 | 0.60× | 1 | 3 |
| New Jerseylimited | $68,280 | — | — | 1 | 3 |
Skills and tools
From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.
What they do day to day
- Instruct students individually and in groups, using various teaching methods, such as lectures, discussions, and demonstrations.
- Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
- Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among students.
- Establish clear objectives for all lessons, units, and projects, and communicate those objectives to students.
- Prepare students for later educational experiences by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
- Maintain accurate and complete student records as required by laws, district policies, and administrative regulations.
- Instruct and monitor students in the use and care of equipment and materials to prevent injuries and damage.
Skills
- Speaking4.1
- Reading Comprehension4.0
- Active Listening4.0
- Learning Strategies4.0
- Critical Thinking3.9
- Monitoring3.9
- Writing3.6
- Active Learning3.5
Knowledge areas
- English Language4.5
- Education and Training4.2
- Psychology3.7
- Computers and Electronics3.6
- Administrative3.5
- Administration and Management3.4
Abilities
- Oral Expression4.1
- Speech Clarity4.0
- Oral Comprehension4.0
- Written Comprehension4.0
- Deductive Reasoning3.9
- Near Vision3.9
Core activities
- Training and Teaching Others4.4
- Getting Information4.3
- Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge4.3
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates4.2
- Thinking Creatively4.2
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships4.2
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Career/Technical Education Teacher, Middle School
Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0- Typical entry education
- Bachelor's degree
- Work experience needed
- Less than 5 years
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.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 8 majors mapped to Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School8 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 13.1301Agricultural Teacher Education
- 13.1303Business and Innovation/Entrepreneurship Teacher Education
- 13.1308Family and Consumer Sciences/Home Economics Teacher Education
- 13.1309Technology Teacher Education/Industrial Arts Teacher Education
- 13.1310Sales and Marketing Operations/Marketing and Distribution Teacher Education
- 13.1319Technical Teacher Education
- 13.1320Trade and Industrial Teacher Education
- 13.1327Health Occupations Teacher Education
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become a Career/Technical Education Teacher, Middle School?+
Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Agricultural Teacher Education, which awarded 1,051 degrees in 2024-25, 34.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Career/Technical Education Teacher, Middle School?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 8 programs to this occupation. The largest are Teacher Education and Professional Development. Together they graduate about 3,014 people a year.
How much do career/technical education teachers, middle school earn?+
The median is $65,030 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $49,200 at the 10th percentile to $101,890 at the 90th. 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 career/technical education teachers, middle school growing?+
BLS projects a -2.0% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
183 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 8 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 career/technical education teachers, middle school work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Teacher, Technology Teacher, Technology Education Teacher (Tech Ed Teacher), Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher (FACS Teacher) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-2023.
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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