Career Explorer Education
Changing shape
Chemistry teachers, postsecondary
Teach courses pertaining to the chemical and physical properties and compositional changes of substances. Work may include providing instruction in the methods of qualitative and quantitative chemical analysis. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching, and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Among the careers AI is changing fastest: more resilient than 14% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it very high), and US jobs are projected to change by +2.3% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on creative vision and emotional intelligence.
AI can do many of the tasks, and hiring is expected to grow slower than average or to shrink. The job is likely to change, so build the human parts of it.
- Median pay (2025)
- $93,250
- Job growth to 2035
- +2.3%
- Openings a year
- 1,700
- People doing it (2025)
- 24,900
- Usual route in
- Doctorate or professional degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Advise others on educational or vocational matters
- Teach academic or vocational subjects
- Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Assess student capabilities, needs, or performance
- Supervise personnel activities
- Train others to use equipment or products
What the work looks like
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, and chemical separation.
- Establish, teach, and monitor students' compliance with safety rules for handling chemicals, equipment, and other hazardous materials.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory performance, assignments, and papers.
- Supervise students' laboratory work.
- Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Forestry and conservation science teachers, postsecondaryChanging shape, Index 16, +2.8%
- Criminal justice and law enforcement teachers, postsecondaryChanging shape, Index 15, +1.5%
- Biological science teachers, postsecondaryGrows with AI, Index 34, +7.3%
- Computer science teachers, postsecondaryGrows with AI, Index 22, +4.9%
Also known as: Assistant Professor, Chemistry Instructor, Chemistry Professor, Professor, Associate Professor, Biochemistry Professor, Chemistry Faculty Member, Instructor.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.