Best degree programs for Geography Teachers, Postsecondary, ranked by enrollment
7 college programs and 435 schools train Geography Teachers, Postsecondary. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $97,590 median wage, 3,330 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
7 college programs at 435 schools train geography teachers, postsecondary, graduating 8,433 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Geographic Information Science and Cartography. The job pays a median of $97,590 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About geography teachers, postsecondary
Teach courses in geography. 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.
7 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 45.0702 | 4,067 | 48.2% | 269 | $38,944 | $22,762 |
| 2 | CIP 45.0701 | 2,786 | 33.0% | 266 | $38,944 | $22,762 |
| 3 | CIP 30.4401 | 1,229 | 14.6% | 70 | — | — |
| 4 | CIP 45.0799 | 323 | 3.8% | 23 | $38,944 | $22,762 |
| 5 | CIP 43.0407 | 19 | 0.2% | 6 | $40,889 | $25,000 |
| 6 | Geography and Anthropology CIP 45.1501 | 7 | 0.1% | 1 | — | — |
| 7 | CIP 13.1332 | 2 | 0.0% | 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 geography 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 | $146,040 | 280 | 0.73× | 86 | 1,061 |
| Pennsylvania | $97,120 | 220 | 1.67× | 16 | 574 |
| Arizona | $82,510 | 110 | 1.53× | 10 | 452 |
| Texas | $99,510 | 180 | 0.59× | 20 | 447 |
| Oregon | $113,500 | 180 | 4.33× | 8 | 357 |
| Washington | $90,550 | 100 | 1.26× | 7 | 338 |
| Ohio | $81,290 | 150 | 1.28× | 16 | 304 |
| North Carolina | $84,630 | 160 | 1.53× | 10 | 285 |
| New York | $100,420 | 200 | 0.94× | 19 | 258 |
| Georgia | $85,420 | 60 | 0.61× | 10 | 240 |
| Wisconsin | $78,710 | 70 | 1.09× | 11 | 226 |
| Michigan | $81,380 | 80 | 0.90× | 15 | 208 |
| Missouri | $83,530 | 40 | 0.71× | 8 | 202 |
| Minnesota | $95,890 | 120 | 1.87× | 14 | 193 |
| Illinois | $100,790 | 140 | 1.09× | 16 | 192 |
| Maryland | $103,430 | 110 | 1.88× | 9 | 179 |
| Massachusetts | $101,870 | 60 | 0.75× | 9 | 141 |
| Kentucky | $86,790 | 50 | 1.07× | 5 | 118 |
| New Mexico | $89,060 | 30 | 1.78× | 6 | 86 |
| New Jersey | $78,540 | 50 | 0.51× | 5 | 80 |
| Indiana | $82,830 | 70 | 1.01× | 7 | 78 |
| Oklahomamoderate | $84,170 | 50 | 1.39× | 4 | 69 |
| Connecticutmoderate | $105,470 | 40 | 1.11× | 4 | 62 |
| Tennessee | $81,220 | 80 | 1.13× | 5 | 60 |
| South Carolinalimited | $85,810 | 80 | 1.53× | 2 | 42 |
| Nebraska | $72,300 | 40 | 1.95× | 5 | 40 |
| Mississippimoderate | $75,130 | 50 | 1.93× | 3 | 38 |
| Vermontlimited | $107,790 | 40 | 6.15× | 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 course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as urbanization, environmental systems, and cultural geography.
- Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
- Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
- Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
- Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
Skills
- Writing4.1
- Speaking4.1
- Reading Comprehension4.0
- Active Listening4.0
- Active Learning3.9
- Critical Thinking3.9
- Learning Strategies3.9
- Science3.1
Knowledge areas
- English Language4.8
- Geography4.8
- Education and Training4.3
- History and Archeology3.4
- Mathematics3.3
- Computers and Electronics3.1
Abilities
- Oral Expression4.3
- Written Expression4.1
- Oral Comprehension4.0
- Written Comprehension4.0
- Speech Clarity3.9
- Deductive Reasoning3.8
Core activities
- Working with Computers4.7
- Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others4.7
- Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge4.5
- Processing Information4.5
- Getting Information4.5
- Analyzing Data or Information4.5
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Geography 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 7 majors mapped to Geography Teachers, Postsecondary7 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 13.1332Geography Teacher Education
- 30.4401Geography and Environmental Studies
- 43.0407Geospatial Intelligence
- 45.0701Geography
- 45.0702Geographic Information Science and Cartography
- 45.0799Geography, Other
- 45.1501Geography and Anthropology
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 Geography 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 Geographic Information Science and Cartography, which awarded 4,067 degrees in 2024-25, 48.2% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Geography Teacher, Postsecondary?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 7 programs to this occupation. The largest are Geography and Cartography, Geography and Environmental Studies, Security Science and Technology, Geography and Anthropology, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 8,433 people a year.
How much do geography teachers, postsecondary earn?+
The median is $97,590 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $52,550 at the 10th percentile to $165,460 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 geography teachers, postsecondary growing?+
BLS projects a +3.3% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 300 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
435 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 7 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 geography teachers, postsecondary work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Professor, Associate Professor, Geography Professor, Geography Instructor among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-1064.
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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