What is a Social Studies Teacher?

Social studies teachers help pupils learn about history, geography, politics, economics, and culture. They are responsible for coming up with lesson plans by analyzing the needs, interests, strengths, and weaknesses of students and aligning lesson plans in accordance with these factors.

Social studies teachers are also typically responsible for monitoring student progress and discipline, establishing classroom rules and making sure they are followed, requesting textbooks and learning aids, organizing field trips, and chaperoning school events. They also attend staff meetings, training, conferences, and other ongoing learning programs.

Social studies teachers should have excellent interpersonal and communication skills and be creative and engaging so that they can make lessons fun and interactive for students. They should also have excellent organizational and time management skills, as well as strong cultural sensitivity.

Becoming a social studies teacher requires at least a bachelor's degree in education, history, geography, or other related field. Depending on what level they are teaching (middle school or high school), social studies teachers can earn anywhere between $55,860 and $57,200 a year.

What Does a Social Studies Teacher Do

When it comes to the most important skills required to be a social studies teacher, we found that a lot of resumes listed 15.5% of social studies teachers included classroom management, while 7.2% of resumes included world history, and 5.9% of resumes included curriculum development. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.

Learn more about what a Social Studies Teacher does

How To Become a Social Studies Teacher

If you're interested in becoming a social studies teacher, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 68.7% of social studies teachers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 24.4% of social studies teachers have master's degrees. Even though most social studies teachers have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Social Studies Teacher
Top Social Studies Teacher Jobs Near You

Social Studies Teacher 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 social studies teacher can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as special education teacher, progress to a title such as lead teacher and then eventually end up with the title education director.

Social Studies Teacher

Average Salary for a Social Studies Teacher

Social Studies Teachers in America make an average salary of $49,725 per year or $24 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $67,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $36,000 per year.
Average Social Studies Teacher Salary
$49,725 Yearly
$23.91 hourly
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What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Social Studies Teacher

There are several types of social studies teacher, including:

Teacher

Role:

A teacher isn't just someone you realize you look up to later in life. A teacher is someone who teaches important life lessons while making sure to include academic lessons along the way.

Typically, a teacher only works during school hours, which means they get to beat rush hour traffic. Although, it's not uncommon for teachers to spend their nights and weekends preparing lessons and grading papers. An added bonus of being a teacher is getting to enjoy summer vacation.

  • Average Salary: $47,989
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Substitute Teacher

Role:

Substitute teachers are there when regular teachers need backup. If the regular teacher can't make it into school on a given day, a substitute teacher is called.

Sometimes you won't know you're going into teach a class until that day, that's why you kind of have to be "on-call" as a substitute teacher. You never know when you're going to be needed. Some substitute teachers get to fill in if a regular teacher has to take an extended absence, which means you'll be there until they get back. Long-term substitute gigs can mean anything from two weeks to five months or more.

It's important as a substitute teacher to establish some ground rules when you first step into the classroom. Since you're not the regular teacher, some students may decide they don't have to follow any rules, which definitely makes "subbing" even harder. But don't worry - you've got this.

  • Average Salary: $32,904
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Student Teacher

Role:

Any teacher that has a student teacher is relieved they have them. As a student teacher, you get to go through school again, but this time you get to help others with the assignment rather than actually complete the assignment yourself.

Most student teachers are learning to become teachers themselves and generally shadow a classroom in an elementary or secondary school. But don't limit yourself. While much more rare, there are student teachers that work at universities or colleges. So it comes down to whether you'd rather assist dependent or independent students.

Generally, your student teaching experience will only last a semester or two. So make sure you're writing down good notes! At the end of being a student teacher, you'll have the opportunity to take over the class on your own. From preparing the lesson to correcting homework, you'll be doing it all by yourself in no time.

  • Average Salary: $59,035
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Social Studies Teacher Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active social studies teacher jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where social studies teachers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Social Studies Teacher Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California3,972$53,096
2Texas2,462$45,152
3Florida2,238$45,243
4Illinois2,156$53,077
5New York2,059$68,181
6New Jersey1,485$61,101
7Michigan1,429$48,009
8Massachusetts1,392$65,848
9Pennsylvania1,360$53,754
10Maryland1,286$64,852
11Georgia1,197$49,320
12Colorado1,110$39,121
13Virginia1,105$55,657
14Washington1,063$68,443
15North Carolina1,053$41,218
16Arizona1,043$38,791
17Ohio1,042$50,187
18Minnesota896$45,846
19Indiana738$41,909
20Connecticut720$57,263
21Missouri642$33,596
22Tennessee626$45,077
23Wisconsin567$50,295
24South Carolina552$40,612
25Oregon501$51,528
26Nevada497$48,240
27Iowa447$44,074
28Oklahoma441$36,954
29Louisiana427$38,093
30New Mexico389$45,908
31Kansas387$45,924
32Utah359$53,897
33Kentucky358$44,748
34New Hampshire357$44,700
35Alabama339$50,242
36Nebraska326$49,323
37Arkansas316$38,034
38Idaho277$44,823
39Mississippi253$37,546
40Delaware245$61,224
41Montana238$38,111
42Maine237$45,797
43Rhode Island166$65,213
44Vermont156$57,728
45West Virginia155$45,358
46South Dakota129$33,046
47Wyoming109$54,789
48North Dakota108$47,158
49Alaska106$55,041
50Hawaii106$55,483

Social Studies Teacher Education

Social Studies Teacher Majors

History
19.1 %
Elementary Education
14.5 %
Education
14.2 %

Social Studies Teacher Degrees

Bachelors

68.7 %

Masters

24.4 %

Associate

3.2 %

Top Colleges for Social Studies Teachers

1. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$50,420

Enrollment

7,582

2. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

3. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,987

Enrollment

18,946

5. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$59,430

Enrollment

8,216

6. University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$14,184

Enrollment

30,845

7. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI • Private

In-State Tuition

$15,262

Enrollment

30,079

8. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

9. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

10. University of California - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$13,226

Enrollment

31,568

Top Skills For a Social Studies Teacher

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, 15.5% of social studies teachers listed classroom management on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and physical stamina are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Social Studies Teacher Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Social Studies Teacher templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Social Studies Teacher resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Social Studies Teacher diversity

Social Studies Teacher Gender Distribution

Male
Male
52%
Female
Female
48%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among social studies teachers, 48.4% of them are women, while 51.6% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among social studies teachers is White, which makes up 72.6% of all social studies teachers.

  • The most common foreign language among social studies teachers is Spanish at 54.3%.

Online Courses For Social Studies Teacher That You May Like

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1. The Teacher's Social and Emotional Learning

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Social and emotional learning, or SEL, programs have flourished in schools during the last decade. While this growth has been impressive, inadequate attention has been paid to teachers’ social and emotional learning. In this course Dan Liston and Randy Testa introduce you to various rationales for why teacher SEL is needed as well as examine and reflect on various emotions in teaching and learning. This course is a part of the 5-course Specialization “The Teacher and Social Emotional Learning...

2. The Teacher and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)

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Social and emotional learning, or SEL, programs have flourished in schools during the last decade. These programs vary widely but most share a concern for five individual, student competencies: self awareness; self-management; social awareness; relationship skills; and finally responsible decision making. It is important for teachers and parents to know about and understand these programs. While lots of SEL programs emphasize K-12 student social and emotional learning, only a very few programs...

3. Core Subjects Test Review for Social Studies

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An All-in-One Resource for Effective Social Studies Test Preparation...

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Best States For a Social Studies Teacher

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a social studies teacher. The best states for people in this position are Washington, New York, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Social studies teachers make the most in Washington with an average salary of $68,443. Whereas in New York and Massachusetts, they would average $68,181 and $65,848, respectively. While social studies teachers would only make an average of $65,213 in Rhode Island, 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. New York

Total Social Studies Teacher Jobs: 2,059
Highest 10% Earn:
$98,000
Location Quotient:
1.15

$68,181

Avg. Salary

View 2,059 Social Studies Teacher Jobs In NY

2. Maryland

Total Social Studies Teacher Jobs: 1,286
Highest 10% Earn:
$94,000
Location Quotient:
1.45

$64,852

Avg. Salary

View 1,286 Social Studies Teacher Jobs In MD

3. Washington

Total Social Studies Teacher Jobs: 1,063
Highest 10% Earn:
$98,000
Location Quotient:
1.04

$68,443

Avg. Salary

View 1,063 Social Studies Teacher Jobs In WA
Full List Of Best States For Social Studies Teachers

How Do Social Studies Teachers Rate Their Jobs?

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Top Social Studies Teacher 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 social studies teachers and discovered their number of social studies teacher opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools was the best, especially with an average salary of $45,357. Elevate K-12 follows up with an average salary of $42,818, and then comes City of New York with an average of $47,686. 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 social studies teacher. The employers include Atmosphere Academy Public Charter Schools - 6th Grade Campus, Back to Basics Learning Dynamics, and Nevada Connections Academy

Most Common Employers For Social Studies Teacher

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Baltimore City Public Schools$76,302$36.6833
2Houston ISD Foundation$57,277$27.5417
3Duval County Public Schools$56,371$27.1020
4Chicago Public Schools$54,755$26.3223
5Wake County Public School System$53,091$25.5217
6Newark Public Schools$51,888$24.9517
7Baltimore County Public Schools$51,533$24.7822
8Guilford County Schools$49,617$23.8530
9Montgomery County Public Schools$49,185$23.6517
10Detroit Public Schools Community District$49,036$23.5719
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Social Studies Teacher Videos

High School Social Studies Teacher, Career Video from drkit.org
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER

Becoming a Social Studies Teacher FAQs

What Are Careers In Social Studies?

Anthropology Professors, Market Research Analysts, and Political scientists are all careers in social studies. Social studies focus on human society, and there are many jobs that use aspects of social studies. Finding the right one for you depends on your specific interests and desires for your career trajectory.

  • Anthropology Professor

An anthropology professor will both teach and conduct research in the field of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans including both past and present societies. People who are interested in both human behavior, as well as teaching, may find becoming an anthropology professor a great fit.

Anthropology professors will hold doctorate degrees in anthropology or a related field. This will take time and commitment to complete, but if you are especially interested in anthropology, this would be an interesting degree to complete. You will also need to publish academic research in the field of anthropology which could include on-site digs with archaeologists.

  • Market Research Analyst

A Market Research Analyst will research and analyze current trends to discover what a company's client base is looking for in products and services. They often design surveys and focus groups. Then, they analyze the data collected and make decisions based on the information gathered. This position requires creativity and the ability to adapt and change.

This job is a practical application of what is often taught in social studies. Knowing how humans act and think is extremely beneficial in working to make solid surveys and focus groups that will lead to real noteworthy data to be used to make predictions on how well a product will perform.

  • Politician

Politicians need to understand human behavior so they can successfully appeal to the masses when they are running for positions or looking for support on laws and regulations that they endorse.

Many politicians will study political science or a related field in their undergraduate studies. Along with understanding how humans function, an understanding of political science will be crucial in understanding politics. Those interested in how human ideas relate to political ideals could find a career as a politician extremely interesting.

Have more questions? See all answers to common education, training, and library questions.

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Updated April 6, 2023