Career Explorer Education
Changing shape
Geography teachers, postsecondary
Teach courses in geography. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 21% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is high (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it high), and US jobs are projected to change by +2.7% 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)
- $97,590
- Job growth to 2035
- +2.7%
- Openings a year
- 300
- People doing it (2025)
- 4,100
- Usual route in
- Doctorate or professional degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise
- Teach academic or vocational subjects
- Advise others on educational or vocational matters
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Assess student capabilities, needs, or performance
- Supervise personnel activities
- Maintain operational records
What the work looks like
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as urbanization, environmental systems, and cultural geography.
- Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
- Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Area, ethnic, and cultural studies teachers, postsecondaryChanging shape, Index 26, +2.7%
- Architecture teachers, postsecondaryChanging shape, Index 34, +2.6%
- Anthropologists and archeologistsGrows with AI, Index 44, +6.0%
- Computer science teachers, postsecondaryGrows with AI, Index 22, +4.9%
Also known as: Associate Professor, Geography Instructor, Geography Professor, Professor, Assistant Professor, Human Geography Instructor, Human Geography Professor, 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.