SOC 25-9044.00

    Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary

    Assist faculty or other instructional staff in postsecondary institutions by performing instructional support activities, such as developing teaching materials, leading discussion groups, preparing and giving examinations, and grading examinations or papers.

    Median pay
    $42,910
    Growth
    +2.7%
    As fast as average
    Openings a year
    25,700
    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
    $28,600
    Median
    $42,910
    Highest 10% earn more than
    $76,420
    National wages for all workers in this occupation. BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.

    164,090 people work in this occupation.

    What teaching assistants, postsecondary do

    Job Zone 5: Extensive preparation

    Assist faculty or other instructional staff in postsecondary institutions by performing instructional support activities, such as developing teaching materials, leading discussion groups, preparing and giving examinations, and grading examinations or papers.

    Most need a graduate degree, such as a master's, PhD, MD or JD.

    Interest profile

    Realistic (R)
    19 / 100
    Investigative (I)
    36 / 100
    Artistic (A)
    17 / 100
    Social (S) · strongest
    92 / 100
    Enterprising (E)
    30 / 100
    Conventional (C)
    67 / 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 SCI. Compare it with yours

    What you'd do

    Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
    90
    Training and Teaching Others
    81
    Working with Computers
    81
    Documenting/Recording Information
    71
    Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others
    71
    Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
    70
    Getting Information
    69
    Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work
    68
    Making Decisions and Solving Problems
    66
    Thinking Creatively
    65
    Work activities rated by importance for this occupation, O*NET (0–100).

    Skills and strengths

    Skills

    • Reading Comprehension
    • Active Listening
    • Instructing
    • Speaking
    • Learning Strategies
    • Writing
    • Complex Problem Solving
    • Coordination
    • Critical Thinking
    • Monitoring

    Knowledge

    • English Language
    • Education and Training
    • Computers and Electronics
    • Mathematics
    • Communications and Media
    • Psychology
    • Administrative
    • Sociology and Anthropology
    • Customer and Personal Service
    • Biology

    Abilities

    • Oral Comprehension
    • Oral Expression
    • Written Comprehension
    • Speech Clarity
    • Written Expression
    • Near Vision
    • Speech Recognition
    • Deductive Reasoning
    • Fluency of Ideas
    • Inductive Reasoning

    Work styles

    • Dependability
    • Optimism
    • Cooperation
    • Social Orientation
    • Empathy
    • Intellectual Curiosity
    • Integrity
    • Self-Control
    • Perseverance
    • Sincerity

    Also called

    Classroom Assistant · College Assistant · College Biology Teaching Assistant (College Biology TA) · Exam Proctor · Faculty Research Assistant · Graduate Assistant · Graduate Fellow · Graduate Research Assistant · Graduate Student · Graduate Student Instructor (GSI)

    Career pathway

    From your interests to teaching assistants, postsecondary

    Interests that fit the work, the career, majors that lead there and colleges whose graduates in those majors earn the most. Hover or focus a step to follow one path.

    1. Interests

    2. This career

      • Teaching Assistants, Postsecondary$42,910 median pay

    3. Majors

    4. Colleges

    College Scorecard program outcomes

    Colleges with strong outcomes

    Programs that lead to this career, ranked by what their graduates earn four years after finishing. Earnings are for graduates who received federal aid.

    1. 1
      CUNY Medgar Evers College

      Brooklyn, NY · Teaching Assistants/Aides · Associate

      1 yr after
      Not reported
      4 yrs after
      $64,000
      Median debt
      Not reported
    2. 2
      CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College

      New York, NY · Teaching Assistants/Aides · Associate

      1 yr after
      $33,963
      4 yrs after
      $41,043
      Median debt
      Not reported
    3. 3
      CUNY Kingsborough Community College

      Brooklyn, NY · Teaching Assistants/Aides · Associate

      1 yr after
      $21,645
      4 yrs after
      $38,313
      Median debt
      Not reported
    4. 4
      CUNY Hostos Community College

      Bronx, NY · Teaching Assistants/Aides · Associate

      1 yr after
      $32,178
      4 yrs after
      $37,783
      Median debt
      Not reported
    5. 5
      Jefferson Community and Technical College-Kentucky

      Louisville, KY · Teaching Assistants/Aides · Associate

      1 yr after
      $26,683
      4 yrs after
      $36,990
      Median debt
      $7,787
    6. 6Northland Community and Technical College logo
      Northland Community and Technical College

      Thief River Falls, MN · Teaching Assistants/Aides · Associate

      1 yr after
      $30,709
      4 yrs after
      $36,865
      Median debt
      Not reported
    7. 7Texas State Technical College logo
      Texas State Technical College

      Waco, TX · Teaching Assistants/Aides · Associate

      1 yr after
      Not reported
      4 yrs after
      $32,170
      Median debt
      Not reported
    8. 8
      St Cloud Technical and Community College

      Saint Cloud, MN · Teaching Assistants/Aides · Associate

      1 yr after
      Not reported
      4 yrs after
      $31,855
      Median debt
      Not reported

    Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data, 2025. Programs with few graduates are not listed.

    NCES CIP–SOC crosswalk

    Majors that lead here

    Related programs by four-digit CIP code. They are common routes in, not the only ones.

    CareerOneStop

    Certifications, licenses and pay by state

    What teaching assistants, postsecondary may need beyond a degree, where a license is required, and what the work pays in each state.

    Training

    Programs of study that prepare people for this work.

    • Teaching Assistants/Aides, Other

    Find training near you 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.