Also called: Art and Music Teachers, Postsecondary
Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary build instructing, social perceptiveness and time management skills that carry over to other work. Below are 25 careers ranked by how closely their skills match, with pay from BLS May 2025. The closest match is Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education (78%).
Updated October 2026 · Data: O*NET 31.0 and BLS OEWS May 2025 · How we match careers
Sorted by skill match.
| # | Career | Skill match | Median pay | Pay change | Extra education |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education | 78% | $72,040 | −8% | None |
| 2 | Instructional Coordinators | 77% | $77,440 | −2% | None |
| 3 | Art Therapists | 75% | $77,930Pay for the broader BLS group “Therapists, All Other” | Not compared | None |
| 4 | Music Directors and Composers | 74% | $73,710 | −6% | None |
| 5 | Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education | 72% | $64,370 | −18% | None |
| 6 | Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education | 72% | $63,970 | −19% | None |
| 7 | Music Therapists | 71% | $77,930Pay for the broader BLS group “Therapists, All Other” | Not compared | None |
| 8 | Special Education Teachers, Secondary School | 70% | $74,260 | −6% | None |
| 9 | Career/Technical Education Teachers, Middle School | 70% | $65,030 | −17% | None |
| 10 | Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors | 69% | $61,540 | −22% | None |
Compared with Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary, median $78,620. Skill match is our estimate (0–99) from O*NET 31.0 skills, knowledge, work activities and interests, adjusted for preparation and big pay drops. Pay: BLS OEWS May 2025, national median.
How important each skill is in work as art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary (O*NET importance, scale 1–5).
The gaps that show up most often across your top 10 matches.
Free and low-cost training: use the CareerOneStop training finder below.
A concrete first step, the skills to add, and the hard parts of each job, from O*NET 31.0 education, training and work context data.
78% skill match · $72,040 · −8% pay
Coordination · Judgment and Decision Making · Negotiation
No work-context factor stands out as unusually hard in O*NET data.
77% skill match · $77,440 · −2% pay
Coordination · Service Orientation · Negotiation
75% skill match · $77,930 (broader BLS group)
Service Orientation · Social Perceptiveness · Judgment and Decision Making
If you want to stay close to what you do now, these roles are the nearest.
The closest matches are Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education (78% skill match, median $72,040), Instructional Coordinators (77% skill match, median $77,440) and Art Therapists (75% skill match, median $77,930), based on O*NET 31.0 data and BLS May 2025 pay.
Among the 25 matches, 3 pay more than art, drama, and music teachers, postsecondary at the median. The biggest increases: Sociologists (+35%, $106,030), Occupational Therapists (+28%, $100,330) and Speech-Language Pathologists (+24%, $97,870).
25 of the 25 matches usually need no more education than you have now, based on O*NET Job Zones.
We compare the importance of skills, knowledge, work activities and interests in O*NET 31.0 for your job and every other career, then adjust for extra preparation and big pay drops. The full method is on our Methodology page.