English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
SOC 25-1123BLS OEWS May 2025H-1B LCAs, last 12 months
Teach courses in English language and literature, including linguistics and comparative literature. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
National median · BLS
$78,760
▲ +0.63%YoY
H-1B sponsor median
$70,085
▼ -1.64%YoY · 181 LCAs
Average salary · BLS
$89,580
Mean annual wage
U.S. employment
57,720
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 English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
Annual base pay at each percentile. BLS covers all U.S. workers in this occupation; H-1B covers 181 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
$48,270
$56,000
25th
$60,900
$61,545
Median (50th)
$78,760
$70,085
75th
$103,130
$85,313
90th — top pay
$137,250
$102,000
H-1B sponsors pay a median of $70,085 for English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary —
11% below
the BLS national median of $78,760.
Hourly ⇄ annual pay
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⇄
Monthly—
Every 2 weeks—
Weekly—
Daily—
Based on
hrs/week ×
weeks/year
= 2,080 hrs
Projections 2025–2035
Job outlook for English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
BLS projects employment of english language and literature teachers, postsecondary to grow 0% from 2025 to 2035, slower than the 3.5% average for all occupations.
About 4,500 openings are projected each year, on average, from new jobs and from replacing workers who retire or move to other occupations.
Jobs 2025 → 2035
69,300 → 69,300
+0 jobs
Projected change
+0%
All occupations: +3.5%
Openings per year
4,500
Average, 2025–2035
Typical entry education
Doctoral or professional degree
No related experience required
Self-employed
0.2% 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).
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$70,085
Change vs prior year-1.64%
After inflation (CPI-U)-4.63%
Wage level
LCAs
Share
P25
Median
P75
Level I
109
60.2%
$60,000
$69,621
$79,000
Level II
34
18.8%
$64,404
$70,600
$89,912
H-1B job titles
Salaries by job title in English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary
The 3 most-filed job titles inside SOC 25-1123, from 181 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.
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 english language and literature teachers, postsecondary do
Teach writing or communication classes.
Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as poetry, novel structure, and translation and adaptation.
Assist students who need extra help with their coursework outside of class.
Also called
English InstructorEnglish ProfessorInstructorProfessorAssistant ProfessorAssociate ProfessorCreative Writing ProfessorHumanities ProfessorLecturerLiterature Professor
More job titles for this occupation (38)
Adjunct English InstructorAdjunct InstructorAdjunct LecturerAdjunct ProfessorAdjunct Writing InstructorChildren's Literature ProfessorClassics TeacherCollege Faculty MemberCollege ProfessorComposition InstructorComposition ProfessorComposition TeacherContemporary English Literature ProfessorCreative Writing English ProfessorCreative Writing TeacherDevelopmental English InstructorDevelopmental Reading InstructorEnglish AdjunctEnglish Adjunct InstructorEnglish Composition InstructorEnglish Faculty MemberEnglish Language InstructorEnglish LecturerEnglish TeacherEtymology ProfessorEtymology TeacherFaculty MemberLanguage Arts TeacherLanguages InstructorLiterature InstructorMedieval English Literature ProfessorOnline English InstructorReading InstructorReading ProfessorSeventeenth-Century English Literature ProfessorTeacherUniversity Faculty MemberVictorian Literature Professor
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.
Similar jobs and how they pay
Occupations O*NET lists as closely related to English Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary, with BLS national medians compared with this occupation's $78,760.
