Best degree programs for Elementary School Teachers, ranked by enrollment
13 college programs and 1,720 schools train Elementary School Teachers. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $63,970 median wage, 1,388,390 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
13 college programs at 1,720 schools train elementary school teachers, graduating 92,020 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Elementary Education and Teaching. The job pays a median of $63,970 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About elementary school teachers
Teach academic and social skills to students at the elementary 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.
13 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 13.1202 | 42,176 | 45.8% | 1,131 | $41,127 | $25,500 |
| 2 | CIP 13.1210 | 33,622 | 36.5% | 910 | $41,127 | $25,500 |
| 3 | CIP 13.1206 | 9,066 | 9.9% | 279 | $41,127 | $25,500 |
| 4 | CIP 13.1401 | 5,419 | 5.9% | 325 | $36,305 | $26,250 |
| 5 | CIP 13.0201 | 797 | 0.9% | 83 | $56,738 | $19,664 |
| 6 | CIP 13.1213 | 398 | 0.4% | 21 | $41,127 | $25,500 |
| 7 | CIP 13.1207 | 282 | 0.3% | 16 | $41,127 | $25,500 |
| 8 | Environmental Educationmain feeder CIP 13.1338 | 105 | 0.1% | 16 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 9 | CIP 13.1211 | 59 | 0.1% | 17 | $41,127 | $25,500 |
| 10 | CIP 13.1499 | 39 | 0.0% | 8 | $36,305 | $26,250 |
| 11 | CIP 13.1212 | 34 | 0.0% | 1 | $41,127 | $25,500 |
| 12 | CIP 13.1339 | 14 | 0.0% | 5 | $43,033 | $26,044 |
| 13 | CIP 45.0199 | 9 | 0.0% | 2 | $35,590 | $24,095 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
What elementary school teachers 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 | $99,650 | 155,160 | 0.95× | 63 | 5,952 |
| Arizona | $56,590 | 24,240 | 0.84× | 35 | 5,512 |
| New York | $85,760 | 101,410 | 1.17× | 80 | 5,470 |
| Washington | $102,350 | 28,980 | 0.91× | 47 | 4,883 |
| Utah | $74,810 | 14,820 | 0.96× | 11 | 4,520 |
| Georgia | $72,290 | 43,820 | 1.00× | 62 | 4,461 |
| Texas | $62,760 | 116,260 | 0.93× | 102 | 4,285 |
| North Carolina | $54,930 | 42,410 | 0.96× | 102 | 3,862 |
| Illinois | $75,320 | 61,520 | 1.13× | 54 | 3,267 |
| Minnesota | $76,350 | 26,640 | 1.01× | 51 | 3,250 |
| Pennsylvania | $77,060 | 48,370 | 0.89× | 84 | 3,111 |
| Indiana | $59,700 | 27,720 | 0.97× | 42 | 2,979 |
| Florida | $58,930 | 79,090 | 0.89× | 63 | 2,555 |
| Colorado | $63,410 | 24,860 | 0.97× | 30 | 2,042 |
| Wisconsin | $61,210 | 24,920 | 0.95× | 45 | 1,980 |
| Missouri | $50,910 | 33,180 | 1.27× | 40 | 1,818 |
| Virginia | $65,550 | 37,880 | 1.03× | 31 | 1,813 |
| Ohio | $77,370 | 47,870 | 0.97× | 65 | 1,774 |
| Massachusetts | $94,000 | 29,930 | 0.92× | 46 | 1,768 |
| Michigan | $65,110 | 40,910 | 1.04× | 41 | 1,717 |
| Alabama | $61,380 | 22,030 | 1.17× | 25 | 1,712 |
| Iowa | $60,580 | 17,300 | 1.24× | 43 | 1,583 |
| Arkansas | $52,700 | 12,590 | 1.08× | 38 | 1,578 |
| Kentucky | $60,610 | 19,080 | 1.07× | 26 | 1,576 |
| New Jersey | $78,200 | 40,300 | 1.05× | 25 | 1,421 |
| Oregon | $77,130 | 12,600 | 0.72× | 27 | 1,258 |
| Tennessee | $59,980 | 28,240 | 0.96× | 32 | 1,186 |
| Kansas | $56,450 | 14,350 | 1.12× | 32 | 1,157 |
| Mississippi | $49,790 | 11,060 | 1.07× | 22 | 1,155 |
| Nevada | $65,040 | 9,550 | 0.69× | 7 | 1,043 |
| South Carolina | $60,820 | 25,030 | 1.22× | 28 | 966 |
| Oklahoma | $48,200 | 18,500 | 1.21× | 43 | 936 |
| New Mexico | $74,550 | 6,210 | 0.80× | 22 | 905 |
| Idaho | $61,600 | 6,850 | 0.90× | 10 | 901 |
| Maryland | $77,680 | 29,610 | 1.20× | 27 | 892 |
| Nebraska | $62,380 | 8,710 | 0.95× | 18 | 842 |
| Connecticut | $80,600 | 16,330 | 1.08× | 14 | 765 |
| Delawaremoderate | $75,920 | 2,900 | 0.67× | 4 | 503 |
| Louisiana | $58,770 | 22,060 | 1.28× | 19 | 469 |
| New Hampshire | $72,410 | 5,190 | 0.85× | 19 | 444 |
| Maine | $62,390 | 7,490 | 1.31× | 15 | 426 |
| North Dakota | $60,030 | 4,430 | 1.15× | 14 | 364 |
| South Dakota | $50,130 | 4,290 | 1.05× | 11 | 336 |
| Montana | $57,530 | 4,960 | 1.09× | 16 | 324 |
| West Virginia | $55,630 | 5,420 | 0.87× | 15 | 318 |
| Hawaii | $71,410 | 6,040 | 1.08× | 8 | 285 |
| District of Columbia | $96,580 | 3,750 | 0.60× | 7 | 263 |
| Rhode Island | $90,930 | 3,830 | 0.86× | 6 | 256 |
| Vermont | $63,070 | 3,610 | 1.33× | 7 | 222 |
| Wyoming | $61,150 | 2,600 | 1.04× | 8 | 183 |
| Alaska | $79,260 | 3,500 | 1.20× | 5 | 66 |
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 teaching methods such as lectures, discussions, and demonstrations.
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and procedures for maintaining order among the students.
- Guide and counsel students with adjustment or academic problems or with special academic interests.
- Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.
- Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.
- Prepare materials and classrooms for class activities.
- Read books to entire classes or small groups.
- Observe and evaluate students' performance, behavior, social development, and physical health.
Skills
- Learning Strategies4.3
- Speaking4.1
- Monitoring4.0
- Active Listening4.0
- Critical Thinking4.0
- Writing3.9
- Reading Comprehension3.9
- Active Learning3.8
Knowledge areas
- English Language4.9
- Education and Training4.8
- Mathematics3.9
- Customer and Personal Service3.9
- Psychology3.7
- Therapy and Counseling3.3
Abilities
- Oral Expression4.6
- Speech Clarity4.0
- Inductive Reasoning4.0
- Problem Sensitivity4.0
- Oral Comprehension4.0
- Speech Recognition4.0
Core activities
- Training and Teaching Others4.5
- Assisting and Caring for Others4.1
- Working with Computers4.1
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships4.1
- Coaching and Developing Others4.1
- Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge4.0
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
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.
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
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 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 42,176 degrees in 2024-25, 45.8% 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 13 programs to this occupation. The largest are Teacher Education and Professional Development, Teaching English or French as a Second or Foreign Language, Bilingual, Teacher Education and Professional Development, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 92,020 people a year.
How much do elementary school teachers earn?+
The median is $63,970 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $47,960 at the 10th percentile to $104,340 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 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?+
1,720 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 13 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 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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