How hard is it to become a math professor?

It is fairly hard to become a math professor, as there are specific requirements that must be completed first. You will likely need to hold a doctorate degree in mathematics for the majority of positions as a math professor, although you may be able to find some positions with just a master's degree.

How To Become A Math Professor: What It Is and Career Path

What is a math professor and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Coskun Cetin

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a math professor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $36.11 an hour? That's $75,117 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 12% and produce 159,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a math professor?

Coskun Cetin

Professor, California State University

It is essential for graduating students to explore the job market and get some connections/experience before graduation. Unfortunately, internship and hands-on training opportunities have been impacted significantly due to the pandemic, but online training and certification opportunities are still there.

Getting in touch with a faculty member in a particular area of interest (with connections in industry and state/government agencies), working on a research project, and seeking advice on professional opportunities (e.g., online forums/workshops/conferences) would give an advantage in establishing contacts and experience.

Many of our math majors who had actively participated in summer research projects and presented their results in conferences (or published them in academic journals) were either hired by leading tech companies or accepted to top graduate programs in mathematics, statistics, computer science, or related areas.

ScoreMath ProfessorUS Average

Salary

5.9

Avg. Salary $75,117

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.8

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.28%

Asian 11.31%

Black or African American 7.08%

Hispanic or Latino 10.09%

Unknown 4.92%

White 66.33%

Gender

female 41.35%

male 58.65%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

5.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.9

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a math professor

Explore math professor education requirements

Most common math professor degrees

Bachelor's

60.6 %

Master's

32.4 %

Doctorate

3.7 %

Start to develop specific math professor skills

Skills	Percentages
Math	42.59%
Pre-Calculus	8.70%
Curriculum Development	7.66%
Trigonometry	6.69%
Geometry	6.28%

Research math professor duties and responsibilities

Use MyMathLab and ALEKS to manage the learning environment as well as organize and create online course material.
Develop lesson plans with course objectives, drafting of course syllabus, organize and teach classes as assigned.
Introduce students to use of graphing calculator.
Used Powerpoint slides, checkpoint exercises and videos to increase student performance.

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