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Job outlook for physical chemistry teachers in the United States
Physical chemistry teacher job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected physical chemistry teacher job growth rate is 5% from 2018-2028.
About 48,700 new jobs for physical chemistry teachers are projected over the next decade.
Physical chemistry teacher salaries have increased 8% for physical chemistry teachers in the last 5 years.
There are over 116,243 physical chemistry teachers currently employed in the United States.
There are 105,520 active physical chemistry teacher job openings in the US.
The average physical chemistry teacher salary is $53,938.
Are physical chemistry teacher jobs in demand?
Physical chemistry teacher job and salary trends over time
Physical chemistry teacher jobs over time
Physical chemistry teacher job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 116,243 | 0.03% |
| 2020 | 112,912 | 0.03% |
| 2019 | 118,022 | 0.04% |
| 2018 | 119,813 | 0.04% |
| 2017 | 117,040 | 0.04% |
Average physical chemistry teacher salary over time
Physical chemistry teacher salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $53,938 | $25.93 | +2.0% |
| 2024 | $52,900 | $25.43 | +2.2% |
| 2023 | $51,750 | $24.88 | +1.9% |
| 2022 | $50,764 | $24.41 | +2.0% |
| 2021 | $49,786 | $23.94 | +1.5% |
Physical chemistry teacher jobs by state
Most common states for physical chemistry teachers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vermont | 623,657 | 156 | 25% |
| 2 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 163 | 23% |
| 3 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,483 | 22% |
| 4 | Delaware | 961,939 | 179 | 19% |
| 5 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 109 | 19% |
| 6 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 1,119 | 18% |
| 7 | New Mexico | 2,088,070 | 384 | 18% |
| 8 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 342 | 18% |
| 9 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 171 | 16% |
| 10 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 165 | 16% |
| 11 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 1,874 | 15% |
| 12 | New Jersey | 9,005,644 | 1,362 | 15% |
| 13 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 868 | 15% |
| 14 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 469 | 15% |
| 15 | Kansas | 2,913,123 | 436 | 15% |
| 16 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,160 | 14% |
| 17 | Indiana | 6,666,818 | 932 | 14% |
| 18 | South Carolina | 5,024,369 | 709 | 14% |
| 19 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 744 | 13% |
| 20 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 177 | 13% |
Physical Chemistry Teacher job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of physical chemistry teacher experts
Emory University
University of Rhode Island
Colby-Sawyer College
San Diego State University
Robert Morris University
University of Colorado Denver
Horacio Ferriz Ph.D.
Professor of Applied Geology and HydrogeologyWhat will help Physical Chemistry Teachers increase their earning potential?
Horacio Ferriz Ph.D.: Take some of your basic requirements for a Teaching Credential in your junior and senior years at college (Adolescent Psychology, Foundations of Secondary Education), and make sure to log some hours helping a local STEM teacher in the classroom.
What general advice would you give to a Physical Chemistry Teacher?
Horacio Ferriz Ph.D.: We have a critical lack of good teachers in the STEM disciplines, so pursuing this path will practically guarantee you a teaching position anywhere you care to live. We also need good journalism in the STEM disciplines, because there is so much misinformation out there.
What Physical Chemistry Teacher skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Horacio Ferriz Ph.D.: Hopefully you have it real clear in your mind that you want to pursue a career in Science Education, at the Elementary or Middle School level. If you have your sights on becoming a High School teacher you would be much better off pursuing a traditional major in Geology, Physics, Chemistry, or Biology. Physical Science would also be a good platform to pursue a career as a Science Journalist.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Physical Chemistry Teachers?
Anita Corbett Ph.D.: Yes--we all agree that there will be a back log of eligible applicants due to hiring freezes and lack of ability to gain relevant experience due to limited access to research experiences during the pandemic.
What's a day at work look like for a Physical Chemistry Teacher?
Anita Corbett Ph.D.: It depends on what job they have- also are we talking graduates from undergraduate education or from graduate training?
What will help Physical Chemistry Teachers increase their earning potential?
Anita Corbett Ph.D.: They should appropriately market their skills--and seek additional training to enhance their core skills--certificates that demonstrate this additional training has been obtained can be valuable.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Physical Chemistry Teachers?
Edward Bozzi: I think the pandemic has emphasized the value of Biotechnology. Right now, eight recent graduates of URI's Biotechnology Program are working on the vaccine at Moderna. Local companies like EpiVax, a vaccine design company, are collaborating with a number of vaccine producing companies. Our Biotechnology students routinely intern there, and some are hired permanently. I see even more opportunities for Biotechnology graduates post COVID-19.
What type of skills will young Physical Chemistry Teachers need?
Edward Bozzi: If graduates have very good wet lab skills, i.e., cell culturing, and that need will continue. Bioinformatics will be of increasing importance in the future. And graduates will have to be more knowledgeable in that area.
What experience really stands out on Physical Chemistry Teacher resumes?
Edward Bozzi: Having had one or more successful internships with a biotechnology company or organization is most important on a resume. I also think listing practiced lab skills is important.
What general advice would you give to a Physical Chemistry Teacher?
R. Todd Coy Ph.D.: Our world today is technologically driven, so it's essential to stay up with that. However, one shouldn't forget the importance of making personal connections with people. "Old fashioned" courtesies, like phone calls or thank you notes to follow up on interviews, etc., can go a long way in helping you stand out from the crowd of form-like emails.
Also, don't think that there is only one path to professional success. Be open to new experiences and flexible in exploring various ways to blend your individual interests and passions into what you want to do and then forge a path that allows you to do pursue those dreams.
What Physical Chemistry Teacher skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Kevin Hovel Ph.D.: This is pretty much the same answer to question 1. Look for opportunities to volunteer in research programs. Helping graduate students with their projects is very common. One thing that is sometimes overlooked when students are getting research experience is experience handling data. This involves organizing data, doing quality checks, and visually assessing the data (graphically) and statistically. Statistical analysis is another area in which students also tend to have less experience entering graduate school. A student will have a leg up on others if they have at least the basic understanding of standard analyses used in their field of study.
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Physical Chemistry Teachers in the next 3-5 years?
Kevin Hovel Ph.D.: This is a hard question because Biology is extremely broad as a discipline. I am an ecologist, and my research is mostly outdoors and underwater. My research is pretty "low tech." For cell and molecular biologists, or evolutionary biologists, the technology applied is vastly different. I think many of those folks would answer with things like genomics (in particular, CRISPR), metagenomics, and bioinformatics. But your best bet is to ask some of them. I suggest Ricardo Zayas (rzayas@sdsu.edu) and Lluvia Flores-Renteria (lfloresrenteria@sdsu.edu).
What experience really stands out on Physical Chemistry Teacher resumes?
Kevin Hovel Ph.D.: What stands out is research experience in which a student has completed an independent project. Being involved in an ongoing research program in a university lab is excellent and very valuable. Still, the extra value is placed on the completion of an independent research project by the student. This demonstrates self-motivation and follow-through. Typically an independent project culminates in a presentation or report, or both. These also are precious experiences to list on a resume. Limited ability to communicate the results of research projects is a common weakness for students, in written form or orally.
What experience really stands out on Physical Chemistry Teacher resumes?
Maria Kalevitch Ph.D.: Well-rounded experience, along with technical skills, soft skills should be included like customer service/sales, ability to present and communicate with the customer, innovative approach to tasks, thinking about systems not just a part of the project, teamwork but also ability to think independently, life-long learning and passion to the profession, to name a few.
How do you envision technology impacting Physical Chemistry Teachers in the next 5 years?
Maria Kalevitch Ph.D.: Technology will be disruptive in the best sense possible; as an example, it will combine the tools like AI with humans/human factor to strengthen the educational field, and as an ROI-better prepared college graduates with industry input and collaboration.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Physical Chemistry Teachers?
Maria Kalevitch Ph.D.: In each obstacle, we should see an opportunity; this opportunity can be used to better the future of higher education; it is an evolutionary process that helps to use what we learn and bring it to the next level. To add - being adaptive, flexible, and agile
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Physical Chemistry Teachers to find work opportunities?
Joshua French Ph.D.: With employers increasingly allowing their employees to work from him, particularly in knowledge-driven jobs such as statistics, the physical location of a job won't be as important in the future. However, you can expect that the majority of jobs will still be in larger cities with large tech and corporate presence. In the immediate future, states allowing companies more flexibility in operating normally will see a relative increase in the number of statistics jobs, as companies will be able to increase the amount of business performed in those areas.
How do you envision technology impacting Physical Chemistry Teachers in the next 5 years?
Joshua French Ph.D.: Technology will implement statistics in a multitude of ways.
One of the major impacts of technology on statistics is going to be the ability to effectively measure new things, measure them at a higher resolution or with more accuracy, and to obtain more measurements much more inexpensively. Statistical models can be no better than the data that are used to build them. While many focus on the overall volume of data, such as tech companies being able to rapidly compile petabytes of data, I don't anticipate that having a huge impact on statisticians with the exception that our methods must scale dramatically better. What I'm more interested in is using technological improvements to get better measurements of things that were previously difficult to measure. Statisticians will be needed much more frequently in the future as investigators from medicine, physics, and sports are able to produce much higher quality data for which statistical models can be reasonably built.
The ability to work in both Python and R will continue to become more important. Statisticians have still favor R as a programming language, but the more general popularity of Python will require statisticians to become fluent in both languages. And while R continues to hold strong advantages over Python in terms of visualization, data manipulation, and cutting edge statistical models, the need to collaborate with others fluent in Python will require statisticians to expand their abilities in Python. It will be quite interesting to see whether the Julia language can also gain some real momentum in statistics and data science. On a technical level, the language has advantages over both R and Python. However, as a relative newcomer, it simply doesn't have the diversity of methods the other two systems offer, and since it still has a much smaller user base, its more difficult to collaborate with others.
The COVID pandemic is going to usher a wave of new technology attempting to make virtual collaboration easier. Right now, the height of collaboration for many mathematicians and statisticians is working in front of a whiteboard with a web camera pointed at them. While this will work for the short term, this has highlighted the need for more accessible options for collaboration. Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Slack will continue to incorporate new features making collaboration and consultation more interactive and seamless. Yet unavailable (or at least not widely known) technology will need to be adopted in mass to make these experiences close to as effective as in-person meetings. Having seen the promise of virtual collaboration and meetings during the pandemic, businesses will push to make these changes permanent to save incredible amounts of their budget that was previously spent on flights, hotels, per diem, etc. Statisticians are going to need to educate themselves in these areas to keep up with the rapidly changing world of online collaboration. We've been quite comfortable in our patterns for many years, but that is going to change rapidly.