Career Explorer Education
Changing shape
Physics teachers, postsecondary
Teach courses pertaining to the laws of matter and energy. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Changing faster than most: more resilient than 27% 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 +2.4% 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)
- $100,310
- Job growth to 2035
- +2.4%
- Openings a year
- 1,100
- People doing it (2025)
- 16,400
- Usual route in
- Doctorate or professional degree
Where people already use AI for this work
- Advise others on educational or vocational matters
- Maintain current knowledge in area of expertise
- Teach academic or vocational subjects
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Assess student capabilities, needs, or performance
- Supervise personnel activities
- Develop educational programs, plans, or procedures
What the work looks like
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, laboratory work, assignments, and papers.
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as quantum mechanics, particle physics, and optics.
- Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Agricultural sciences teachers, postsecondaryChanging shape, Index 29, +2.9%
- CuratorsGrows with AI, Index 36, +4.9%
- Health specialties teachers, postsecondaryGrows with AI, Index 53, +17.9%
- Engineering teachers, postsecondaryGrows with AI, Index 28, +7.8%
Also known as: Instructor, Physics Instructor, Physics Professor, Professor, Adjunct Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Physical Science Professor.
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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.