We all had that principal in school that had a lasting impression on us. Whether they helped us make a change in our lives that was for the better or they taught us valuable lessons, like the importance of showing up on time. Now, it's your turn to have a lasting impression on some kids' lives.
As principal, everyone is going to know who you are. You're the one that gets to enforce all of the rules, and make sure the teachers are following them, too! But you also get to go to fun conferences with your teachers and learn new ways to teach your kiddos.
The best part of being a principal is getting to watch your students go on to the next step. Whether that's middle school, high school, or college. Knowing that you had a hand in each students' education and future has to make you feel good at the end of the day.
Principal Overview
Principal Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a principal. For example, did you know that they make an average of $62.82 an hour? That's $130,657 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 11,200 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Principal Do
There are certain skills that many principals have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed decision-making skills, interpersonal skills and leadership skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a principal, we found that a lot of resumes listed 6.9% of principals included professional development, while 6.9% of resumes included crm, and 6.0% of resumes included project management. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the principal job title. But what industry to start with? Most principals actually find jobs in the education and professional industries.
How To Become a Principal
If you're interested in becoming a principal, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 35.6% of principals have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 37.5% of principals have master's degrees. Even though most principals have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a principal. When we researched the most common majors for a principal, we found that they most commonly earn master's degree degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on principal resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a principal. In fact, many principal jobs require experience in a role such as teacher. Meanwhile, many principals also have previous career experience in roles such as assistant principal or vice president.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
Principal Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a principal can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as vice president, progress to a title such as sales vice president and then eventually end up with the title senior vice president, sales.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Principal
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
State of Wyoming Fiau-00115-Principal Auditor Fiau-00115-Principal Auditor | State of Wyoming State of Wyoming | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $58,07801/30/2021 $58,078 |
City of Carlsbad Principal Planner (Current Planning and Development Services) Principal Planner (Current Planning and Development Services) | City of Carlsbad City of Carlsbad | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $99,44701/30/2021 $99,447 |
Tracy Unified School District Principal K-5 (Villalovoz Elementary School) Principal K-5 (Villalovoz Elementary School) | Tracy Unified School District Tracy Unified School District | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $109,25001/30/2021 $109,250 |
Stockton Unified School District Principal II (K-8)-Hong Principal II (K-8)-Hong | Stockton Unified School District Stockton Unified School District | 01/30/2021 01/30/2021 | $111,67301/30/2021 $111,673 |
Goleta Union School District Principal Principal | Goleta Union School District Goleta Union School District | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $132,75301/29/2021 $132,753 |
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Principal Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Principal. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Principal Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Principal resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Principals
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
2. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
3. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
4. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Public
5. Villanova University
Villanova, PA • Private
6. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Public
7. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
8. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Public
9. New York University
New York, NY • Private
10. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Public
Top Skills For a Principal
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 6.9% of principals listed professional development on their resume, but soft skills such as decision-making skills and interpersonal skills are important as well.
- Professional Development, 6.9%
- CRM, 6.9%
- Project Management, 6.0%
- Healthcare, 5.4%
- Financial Services, 5.3%
- Other Skills, 69.5% See All Principal Skills
Best States For a Principal
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a principal. The best states for people in this position are New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Delaware. Principals make the most in New York with an average salary of $159,670. Whereas in Rhode Island and Connecticut, they would average $157,978 and $157,665, respectively. While principals would only make an average of $151,994 in Delaware, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Rhode Island
$157,978
Avg. Salary
2. New York
$159,670
Avg. Salary
3. New Hampshire
$151,189
Avg. Salary
How Do Principal Rate Their Jobs?
Top Principal Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ principals and discovered their number of principal opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Infosys Public Services was the best, especially with an average salary of $158,636. Boston Consulting Group follows up with an average salary of $206,904, and then comes Residential Mortgage Services with an average of $90,697. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a principal. The employers include Dell, Red Hat, and Science Applications International ..
What are the best companies to work for?
Dr. Faye Deters
Associate Dean, Interim Chair, Educational Leadership & Counselor Education, Eastern Kentucky University
Graduates with degrees in Educational Leadership typically seek employment as leaders within public school districts and private or charter schools.Show more
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