SOC 25-3031.00

    Substitute Teachers, Short-Term

    Teach students on a short-term basis as a temporary replacement for a regular classroom teacher, typically using the regular teacher's lesson plan.

    Median pay
    $41,670
    Growth
    +2.0%
    As fast as average
    Openings a year
    65,000
    Typical education
    Bachelor's degree

    Data verified Nov 2026 · CollegesRef 2026–27 edition

    Source: BLS 2025 wages · 2025–35 projections

    See the pathway

    Annual pay range

    Lowest 10% earn less than
    $28,560
    Median
    $41,670
    Highest 10% earn more than
    $65,790
    National wages for all workers in this occupation. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.

    524,770 people work in this occupation.

    What substitute teachers, short-term do

    Job Zone 4: Considerable preparation

    Teach students on a short-term basis as a temporary replacement for a regular classroom teacher, typically using the regular teacher's lesson plan.

    Most need a bachelor's degree and several years of related experience.

    Interest profile

    Realistic (R)
    20 / 100
    Investigative (I)
    25 / 100
    Artistic (A)
    41 / 100
    Social (S) · strongest
    96 / 100
    Enterprising (E)
    24 / 100
    Conventional (C)
    44 / 100
    How strongly each interest area describes the work, from O*NET (scores rescaled to 0–100). The interest code lists the strongest areas in order.

    Interest code SCA. Compare it with yours

    What you'd do

    Getting Information
    75
    Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
    73
    Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
    71
    Assisting and Caring for Others
    68
    Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
    64
    Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
    62
    Documenting/Recording Information
    62
    Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others
    61
    Making Decisions and Solving Problems
    59
    Working with Computers
    56
    Work activities rated by importance for this occupation, O*NET (0–100).

    Skills and strengths

    Skills

    • Active Listening
    • Reading Comprehension
    • Speaking
    • Social Perceptiveness
    • Critical Thinking
    • Instructing
    • Monitoring
    • Learning Strategies
    • Time Management
    • Writing

    Knowledge

    • English Language
    • Education and Training
    • Public Safety and Security
    • Customer and Personal Service
    • Computers and Electronics
    • Mathematics
    • Psychology
    • Communications and Media
    • History and Archeology
    • Geography

    Abilities

    • Oral Comprehension
    • Oral Expression
    • Near Vision
    • Speech Clarity
    • Written Comprehension
    • Written Expression
    • Deductive Reasoning
    • Inductive Reasoning
    • Speech Recognition
    • Problem Sensitivity

    Work styles

    • Dependability
    • Cooperation
    • Social Orientation
    • Empathy
    • Optimism
    • Adaptability
    • Self-Control
    • Stress Tolerance
    • Integrity
    • Sincerity

    Also called

    Building Sub (Building Substitute) · Building Sub Teacher (Building Substitute Teacher) · Certified Sub Teacher (Certified Substitute Teacher) · Child Development Sub Teacher (Child Development Substitute Teacher) · Classroom Sub Teacher (Classroom Substitute Teacher) · Elementary Sub Teacher (Elementary Substitute Teacher) · English Sub Teacher (English Substitute Teacher) · ESL Sub (English as a Second Language Substitute) · HS Sub Teacher (High School Substitute Teacher) · K-12 Sub Teacher (Kindergarten to 12th Grade Substitute Teacher)

    CareerOneStop

    Certifications, licenses and pay by state

    What substitute teachers, short-term may need beyond a degree, where a license is required, and what the work pays in each state.

    Licenses by state

    5 states list a license for this work. Open your state for the license and the agency that issues it.

    Check license requirements on CareerOneStop

    Data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration, with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development). Retrieved November 9, 2026.

    Your plan

    Build my pathway plan

    Courses, majors, colleges, scholarships and a timeline for this career, built from your profile.

    Related careers

    Careers with similar work, interests or skills.

    All careers

    Sources and attribution

    Every figure on this page comes from these public datasets. Missing values are shown as not reported, never estimated.

    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. CollegesRef has modified all or some of this information.

    Data from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration, with the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development). Retrieved November 9, 2026.

    Page data updated November 5, 2026.