Occupation salary profile

Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary

SOC 25-1121 BLS OEWS May 2025 H-1B LCAs, last 12 months

Teach courses in drama, music, and the arts including fine and applied art, such as painting and sculpture, or design and crafts. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

National median · BLS
$78,620
▼ -1.96% YoY
H-1B sponsor median
$72,000
▲ +3.81% YoY · 313 LCAs
Average salary · BLS
$94,700
Mean annual wage
U.S. employment
93,560
Jobs (BLS)
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Enter your pay and a location to see where you stand against BLS and H-1B pay, your estimated take-home pay, and your purchasing power.

Pay range for Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary

Annual base pay at each percentile. BLS covers all U.S. workers in this occupation; H-1B covers 313 certified Labor Condition Applications filed by sponsoring employers in the last 12 months.

Percentile All U.S. workers (BLS) H-1B sponsored
10th — entry pay$47,570$53,008
25th$61,620$61,500
Median (50th)$78,620$72,000
75th$103,850$86,000
90th — top pay$163,350$100,000
H-1B sponsors pay a median of $72,000 for Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary — 8.4% below the BLS national median of $78,620.

Hourly ⇄ annual pay

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Based on hrs/week × weeks/year = 2,080 hrs
Projections 2025–2035

Job outlook for Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary

BLS projects employment of art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary to grow 2.2% from 2025 to 2035, slower than the 3.5% average for all occupations. About 8,000 openings are projected each year, on average, from new jobs and from replacing workers who retire or move to other occupations.

Jobs 2025 → 2035
116,900 → 119,500
+2,600 jobs
Projected change
+2.2%
All occupations: +3.5%
Openings per year
8,000
Average, 2025–2035
Typical entry education
Master's degree
No related experience required
Self-employed
0.3% of workers (2025)
Preparation needed (O*NET Job Zone 5)
Extensive Preparation Needed. 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).
Fastest-growing jobs → Best-paying jobs that need a master's degree →

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025–2035 · BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook →

H-1B sponsored pay

Pay by H-1B wage level

Employers assign every H-1B filing a Department of Labor prevailing-wage level, from Level I (entry) to Level IV (fully competent). Pay rises steeply with level.

H-1B median $72,000
Change vs prior year +3.81%
After inflation (CPI-U) +0.66%
Wage level LCAs Share P25 Median P75
Level I 198 63.3% $58,878 $67,058 $79,988
Level II 62 19.8% $70,858 $78,558 $90,926
H-1B job titles

Salaries by job title in Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary

The 5 most-filed job titles inside SOC 25-1121, from 313 H-1B filings. Seniority words and level numbers are grouped (“Senior Data Engineer II” counts as Data Engineer). Tap a title for its full range, wage levels and the exact titles employers used.

Job title LCAs Share P25 Median P75 YoY
Assistant Professor 111 35.46% $70,000 $79,021 $91,000 +4.25%
Lecturer 13 4.15% $58,000 $72,090 $79,040 +24.26%
Assistant Professor of Music 12 3.83% $49,625 $60,000 $65,670 -7.69%
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design 10 3.19% $60,500 $63,472 $69,375 -0.83%
Associate Professor 10 3.19% $75,662 $88,551 $111,172 -1.92%

Titles are cleaned from the employer's own LCA text (codes and typos removed, nothing invented). Rows need 10+ filings in this SOC.

Skills & tools

Skills needed for Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary

How important each skill and knowledge area is for this job, rated by O*NET on a 1–5 scale from surveys of workers and occupational analysts.

Top skills
  • Speaking4.6
  • Instructing4.4
  • Learning Strategies4.1
  • Active Learning4.0
  • Active Listening4.0
  • Reading Comprehension4.0
  • Writing3.9
  • Monitoring3.8
  • Critical Thinking3.6
  • Social Perceptiveness3.6
Top knowledge areas
  • Fine Arts4.9
  • Education and Training4.7
  • English Language4.3
  • Communications and Media3.6
  • History and Archeology3.4
  • Psychology3.4
  • Philosophy and Theology3.2
  • Computers and Electronics3.2
Software and technology used
Learning management system LMSAdobe AcrobatAdobe After EffectsAdobe Creative Cloud softwareAdobe IllustratorAdobe InDesignAdobe PhotoshopCascading style sheets CSSGoogle DocsHypertext markup language HTMLJavaScriptLinuxMicrosoft ExcelMicrosoft Office softwareMicrosoft OutlookMicrosoft PowerPointMicrosoft Visual StudioMicrosoft Word

Highlighted = in demand: frequently listed in employer job postings for this occupation (O*NET).

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.

About the job

What art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary do

  • Explain and demonstrate artistic techniques.
  • Evaluate and grade students' class work, performances, projects, assignments, and papers.
  • Prepare students for performances, exams, or assessments.
  • Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
  • Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as acting techniques, fundamentals of music, and art history.
  • Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
  • Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
  • Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.
Also called
Art ProfessorMusic ProfessorProfessorTheater ProfessorArt History ProfessorArt InstructorAssistant ProfessorAssociate ProfessorInstructorMusic Instructor
More job titles for this occupation (64)
Adjunct Art InstructorAdjunct College InstructorAdjunct Graphic Design InstructorAdjunct InstructorAdjunct LecturerAdjunct Music InstructorAdjunct Music ProfessorAdjunct ProfessorArt EducatorArtist InstructorArts and Crafts InstructorArts TeacherBallet ProfessorBallet TeacherBand TeacherBaton TeacherCeramics TeacherChoir TeacherChoral TeacherCollege Faculty MemberCollege ProfessorDance InstructorDance ProfessorDancing TeacherDigital Arts InstructorDrama ProfessorDrama TeacherDramatic Art TeacherDramatic CoachElementary Art InstructorFine Arts ProfessorFine Arts TeacherGraphic Design ProfessorGuitar TeacherLighting Design LecturerMakeup Artistry InstructorMedia Arts ProfessorMusic EducatorMusic LecturerMusic Theory ProfessorMusic Theory TeacherOpen Rank ProfessorOrchestra TeacherOrgan TeacherPerforming Arts InstructorPhotography ProfessorPhotography TeacherPiano Pedagogy ProfessorPiano Performance ProfessorPiano ProfessorPiano TeacherScene Design LecturerSinging TeacherStagecraft ProfessorStagecraft TeacherStudio InstructorTheater TeacherUniversity Faculty MemberViolin TeacherVisual Arts InstructorVocal TeacherVoice ProfessorVoice TeacherWoodshop Instructor

Source: O*NET 31.0 (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0). These are general job titles, not H-1B filings; for titles employers actually filed, see “Job titles” above.