Best degree programs for Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary, ranked by enrollment
16 college programs and 1,226 schools train Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $93,250 median wage, 19,980 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
16 college programs at 1,226 schools train chemistry teachers, postsecondary, graduating 20,639 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Chemistry, General. The job pays a median of $93,250 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About chemistry teachers, postsecondary
Teach courses pertaining to the chemical and physical properties and compositional changes of substances. Work may include providing instruction in the methods of qualitative and quantitative chemical analysis. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching, and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
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.
16 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 40.0501 | 18,075 | 87.6% | 1,168 | $42,620 | $23,900 |
| 2 | CIP 13.1316 | 1,021 | 4.9% | 160 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 3 | CIP 40.0599 | 551 | 2.7% | 58 | $42,620 | $23,900 |
| 4 | CIP 40.0510 | 353 | 1.7% | 30 | $42,620 | $23,900 |
| 5 | CIP 13.1323 | 209 | 1.0% | 63 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 6 | CIP 51.2004 | 188 | 0.9% | 29 | $48,728 | $23,761 |
| 7 | CIP 40.0507 | 72 | 0.3% | 7 | $42,620 | $23,900 |
| 8 | CIP 40.0508 | 42 | 0.2% | 13 | $42,620 | $23,900 |
| 9 | CIP 40.0502 | 38 | 0.2% | 8 | $42,620 | $23,900 |
| 10 | CIP 40.0602 | 24 | 0.1% | 8 | $39,678 | $24,864 |
| 11 | CIP 40.0509 | 19 | 0.1% | 10 | $42,620 | $23,900 |
| 12 | CIP 40.1002 | 16 | 0.1% | 6 | $72,216 | $24,750 |
| 13 | CIP 40.0504 | 9 | 0.0% | 2 | $42,620 | $23,900 |
| 14 | CIP 40.0506 | 9 | 0.0% | 4 | $42,620 | $23,900 |
| 15 | CIP 40.0511 | 9 | 0.0% | 3 | $42,620 | $23,900 |
| 16 | CIP 40.0503 | 4 | 0.0% | 1 | $42,620 | $23,900 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Western Governors University Salt Lake City, UT Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 313 | Science Teacher Education/General Science Teacher Education | 46% | $11,580 | — |
| 2 | Ohio State University - Main Campus Columbus, OH Public · 2 feeder programs | 251 | Chemistry, General | 88% | — | 61% |
| 3 | University of California - Berkeley Berkeley, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 234 | Chemistry, General | 93% | — | 11% |
| 4 | University of California - San Diego La Jolla, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 229 | Chemistry, General | 86% | — | 27% |
| 5 | University of Florida Gainesville, FL Public · 2 feeder programs | 226 | Chemistry, General | 91% | — | 24% |
| 6 | Purdue University - Main Campus West Lafayette, IN Public · 2 feeder programs | 193 | Chemistry, General | 83% | — | 50% |
| 7 | University of California - Irvine Irvine, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 192 | Chemistry, General | 87% | — | 29% |
| 8 | University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI Public · 2 feeder programs | 191 | Chemistry, General | 90% | — | 45% |
| 9 | University of Virginia - Main Campus Charlottesville, VA Public · 1 feeder programs | 172 | Chemistry, General | 96% | — | 17% |
| 10 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI Public · 3 feeder programs | 171 | Chemistry, General | 93% | — | 16% |
| 11 | University of California - Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA Public · 3 feeder programs | 170 | Chemistry, General | 93% | — | 9% |
| 12 | University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign Champaign, IL Public · 1 feeder programs | 163 | Chemistry, General | 85% | — | 42% |
| 13 | Texas A&M University - College Station College Station, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 156 | Chemistry, General | 84% | — | 57% |
| 14 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC Public · 1 feeder programs | 155 | Chemistry, General | 91% | — | 15% |
| 15 | The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX Public · 1 feeder programs | 153 | Chemistry, General | 89% | — | 27% |
| 16 | University of Chicago Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 153 | Chemistry, General | 96% | $13,333 | 4% |
| 17 | University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN Public · 2 feeder programs | 145 | Chemistry, General | 85% | — | 80% |
| 18 | Emory University Atlanta, GA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 139 | Chemistry, General | 91% | $20,586 | 11% |
| 19 | Ohio University - Main Campus Athens, OH Public · 1 feeder programs | 138 | Chemistry, General | 65% | — | 85% |
| 20 | University of Washington - Seattle Campus Seattle, WA Public · 3 feeder programs | 130 | Chemistry, General | 85% | — | 39% |
| 21 | Harvard University Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 126 | Chemistry, General | 98% | $15,013 | 4% |
| 22 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ Public · 3 feeder programs | 122 | Forensic Chemistry | 68% | — | 90% |
| 23 | Georgia State University Atlanta, GA Public · 2 feeder programs | 121 | Chemistry, General | 53% | — | 55% |
| 24 | Montana State University Bozeman, MT Public · 3 feeder programs | 116 | Chemistry, General | 57% | — | 82% |
| 25 | Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY Public · 4 feeder programs | 116 | Chemistry, General | 76% | — | 49% |
| 26 | New York University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 108 | Chemistry, General | 88% | $29,023 | 9% |
| 27 | University of California - Davis Davis, CA Public · 4 feeder programs | 107 | Chemistry, General | 86% | — | 42% |
| 28 | Wayne State University Detroit, MI Public · 2 feeder programs | 102 | Chemistry, General | 58% | — | 81% |
| 29 | University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 99 | Chemistry, General | 97% | $22,055 | 5% |
| 30 | Indiana University - Bloomington Bloomington, IN Public · 1 feeder programs | 97 | Chemistry, General | 80% | — | 78% |
| 31 | Princeton University Princeton, NJ Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 97 | Chemistry, General | 98% | $13,729 | 5% |
| 32 | University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, PA Public · 2 feeder programs | 97 | Chemistry, General | 85% | — | 58% |
| 33 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 96 | Chemistry, General | 95% | $17,613 | 9% |
| 34 | University of South Florida Tampa, FL Public · 2 feeder programs | 96 | Chemistry, General | 77% | — | 43% |
| 35 | University of Oregon Eugene, OR Public · 1 feeder programs | 94 | Chemistry, General | 72% | — | 88% |
| 36 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA Public · 1 feeder programs | 94 | Chemistry, General | 86% | — | 55% |
| 37 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC Public · 2 feeder programs | 93 | Chemistry, General | 85% | — | 42% |
| 38 | University of California - Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA Public · 2 feeder programs | 92 | Chemistry, General | 83% | — | 33% |
| 39 | Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 90 | Chemistry, General | 96% | $15,315 | 4% |
| 40 | The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL Public · 1 feeder programs | 90 | Chemistry, General | 73% | — | 77% |
| 41 | University of Iowa Iowa City, IA Public · 3 feeder programs | 88 | Chemistry, General | 75% | — | 84% |
| 42 | CUNY Hunter College New York, NY Public · 3 feeder programs | 87 | Chemistry, General | 57% | — | 54% |
| 43 | University of Oklahoma - Norman Campus Norman, OK Public · 2 feeder programs | 83 | Chemistry, General | 75% | — | 77% |
| 44 | Western Carolina University Cullowhee, NC Public · 3 feeder programs | 83 | Forensic Chemistry | 60% | — | 82% |
| 45 | Florida State University Tallahassee, FL Public · 2 feeder programs | 82 | Chemistry, General | 86% | — | 24% |
| 46 | Rutgers University - New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ Public · 3 feeder programs | 82 | Chemistry, General | 84% | — | 58% |
| 47 | University of California - Riverside Riverside, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 82 | Chemistry, General | 76% | — | 76% |
| 48 | Yale University New Haven, CT Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 82 | Chemistry, General | 96% | $27,025 | 4% |
| 49 | University of Missouri - Kansas City Kansas City, MO Public · 1 feeder programs | 80 | Chemistry, General | 55% | — | 72% |
| 50 | Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA Public · 1 feeder programs | 80 | Chemistry, General | 63% | — | 93% |
What chemistry teachers, postsecondary 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $132,960 | 1,650 | 0.71× | 132 | 2,856 |
| New York | $99,880 | 1,840 | 1.47× | 79 | 1,277 |
| Texas | $81,810 | 1,470 | 0.82× | 74 | 1,207 |
| Ohio | $77,910 | 700 | 0.98× | 51 | 974 |
| Pennsylvania | $95,070 | 1,270 | 1.63× | 81 | 910 |
| Massachusetts | $108,270 | 820 | 1.74× | 43 | 889 |
| Illinois | $97,860 | 880 | 1.12× | 41 | 790 |
| North Carolina | $78,620 | 900 | 1.42× | 35 | 738 |
| Florida | $77,630 | 340 | 0.27× | 28 | 735 |
| Georgia | $85,300 | 500 | 0.79× | 29 | 658 |
| Indiana | $81,530 | 530 | 1.28× | 34 | 636 |
| Virginia | $80,330 | 760 | 1.44× | 31 | 630 |
| Michigan | $101,030 | 560 | 0.99× | 33 | 621 |
| Utah | $102,110 | 200 | 0.88× | 11 | 499 |
| Minnesota | $104,380 | 430 | 1.14× | 33 | 451 |
| New Jersey | $81,600 | 750 | 1.36× | 28 | 443 |
| Wisconsin | $83,480 | 450 | 1.20× | 24 | 430 |
| Missouri | $83,000 | 460 | 1.22× | 29 | 424 |
| Tennessee | $79,150 | 370 | 0.89× | 29 | 364 |
| Maryland | $101,530 | 310 | 0.87× | 19 | 326 |
| Colorado | $96,600 | 330 | 0.90× | 21 | 325 |
| Arizona | $103,790 | 210 | 0.52× | 13 | 297 |
| Connecticut | $78,820 | 350 | 1.61× | 15 | 297 |
| Washington | $85,970 | 390 | 0.85× | 15 | 288 |
| Alabama | $76,430 | 310 | 1.14× | 18 | 254 |
| Oregon | $101,350 | 460 | 1.82× | 14 | 253 |
| Kentucky | $82,550 | 250 | 0.97× | 19 | 252 |
| South Carolina | $81,200 | 270 | 0.91× | 22 | 245 |
| Iowa | $82,050 | 230 | 1.12× | 24 | 232 |
| Louisiana | $83,680 | 140 | 0.56× | 16 | 218 |
| Oklahoma | $64,450 | 220 | 1.01× | 18 | 212 |
| Kansas | $93,830 | 170 | 0.91× | 15 | 167 |
| Mississippi | $66,420 | 130 | 0.88× | 17 | 160 |
| Arkansas | $64,720 | 110 | 0.64× | 14 | 152 |
| Montana | $84,680 | 80 | 1.18× | 7 | 137 |
| Nebraska | $85,050 | 150 | 1.13× | 14 | 132 |
| New Mexico | $85,240 | 80 | 0.69× | 8 | 99 |
| District of Columbia | $103,370 | 100 | 1.12× | 7 | 97 |
| West Virginia | $81,830 | 90 | 0.94× | 10 | 97 |
| Rhode Island | $100,920 | 110 | 1.70× | 6 | 86 |
| Idaho | — | 60 | 0.52× | 10 | 83 |
| New Hampshire | $102,220 | 70 | 0.78× | 6 | 67 |
| Delawaremoderate | $104,610 | 80 | 1.34× | 3 | 63 |
| South Dakota | $75,810 | 70 | 1.15× | 7 | 62 |
| Maine | $85,250 | 70 | 0.83× | 6 | 57 |
| Vermontmoderate | $78,560 | 90 | 2.26× | 4 | 53 |
| Nevadamoderate | $101,640 | 60 | 0.32× | 3 | 52 |
| North Dakota | $111,020 | 60 | 1.03× | 6 | 51 |
| Wyominglimited | $82,830 | 30 | 0.87× | 2 | 27 |
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
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, and chemical separation.
- Establish, teach, and monitor students' compliance with safety rules for handling chemicals, equipment, and other hazardous materials.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory performance, assignments, and papers.
- Supervise students' laboratory work.
- Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
- Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
- Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
Skills
- Reading Comprehension4.1
- Writing4.1
- Speaking4.1
- Learning Strategies4.0
- Active Learning4.0
- Science4.0
- Monitoring4.0
- Active Listening4.0
Knowledge areas
- Chemistry4.8
- English Language4.5
- Mathematics4.5
- Education and Training4.5
- Biology3.6
- Physics3.4
Abilities
- Oral Expression4.1
- Written Expression4.1
- Oral Comprehension4.0
- Deductive Reasoning4.0
- Written Comprehension4.0
- Speech Clarity3.9
Core activities
- Training and Teaching Others4.7
- Working with Computers4.3
- Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others4.1
- Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge4.0
- Analyzing Data or Information4.0
- Getting Information4.0
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Chemistry Teacher, Postsecondary
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.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 17 majors mapped to Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary16 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 13.1316Science Teacher Education/General Science Teacher Education
- 13.1323Chemistry Teacher Education
- 40.0501Chemistry, General
- 40.0502Analytical Chemistry
- 40.0503Inorganic Chemistry
- 40.0504Organic Chemistry
- 40.0506Physical Chemistry
- 40.0507Polymer Chemistry
- 40.0508Chemical Physics
- 40.0509Environmental Chemistry
- 40.0510Forensic Chemistry
- 40.0511Theoretical Chemistry
- 40.0512Cheminformatics/Chemistry Informatics(no graduates reported)
- 40.0599Chemistry, Other
- 40.0602Geochemistry
- 40.1002Materials Chemistry
- 51.2004Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
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 Chemistry Teacher, Postsecondary?+
Doctoral or professional degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Chemistry, General, which awarded 18,075 degrees in 2024-25, 87.6% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Chemistry Teacher, Postsecondary?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 16 programs to this occupation. The largest are Chemistry, Teacher Education and Professional Development, Pharmacy, Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 20,639 people a year.
How much do chemistry teachers, postsecondary earn?+
The median is $93,250 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $57,870 at the 10th percentile to $172,110 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 chemistry teachers, postsecondary growing?+
BLS projects a +2.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 1,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
1,226 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 16 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 chemistry teachers, postsecondary work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Professor, Assistant Professor, Chemistry Professor, Chemistry Instructor among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-1052.
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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