Education & Social
What you can do with Early Childhood Education
The earliest years, from infants to kindergarten.
- Careers
- 2
- Early career
- $45,000
- Mid-career
- $52,000
- Growing fast
- 0 of 2
How these numbers work: A major does not have its own salary. Early and mid-career pay is what people who hold this degree earn at the start of their careers and midway through them. Career pay comes from the 2 careers an Early Childhood Education degree commonly leads to, and counts everyone in those jobs, including people who have been doing them for thirty years. The two answer different questions, which is why they do not match.
44% of people with this degree go on to a graduate degree, so the higher-paying careers below usually mean more school after the bachelor's.
0 of 2 careers this degree leads to are projected to grow faster than average from 2024 to 2034.
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2 careers this degree leads to
Kindergarten Teacher
$62,680Teach children their first year of formal school, blending early academics with social growth.
- Middle half of workers
- $52,180 to $79,910
- Growth
- Declining
- Openings a year
- 12,800
Work-life60Remote52- Early Literacy Instruction
- Classroom Management
- Learning Strategies
- Patience
Preschool Teacher
$38,140Guide the youngest learners through the social, physical, and early academic growth that sets up everything after.
- Middle half of workers
- $34,530 to $47,550
- Growth
- About average
- Openings a year
- 65,500
Work-life76Remote52- Early Childhood Instruction
- Learning Strategies
- Classroom Management
- Patience
Related majors
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Where these pay figures come from
Early and mid-career pay is the median annual wage of full-time workers who hold a bachelor's degree in that major, ages 22 to 27 and ages 35 to 45, from 2024 data. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (IPUMS). Published as Outcomes by Major by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Career pay is the annual wage of everyone working in that occupation, not only recent graduates, so it includes people who have done the job for decades. The middle half is the 25th to the 75th percentile. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*NET OnLine (median and percentile annual wages May 2025; employment projections 2024-2034).
All figures are national. What you earn depends on where you work, who you work for, and how far you take the degree.