Education Teachers build instructing, complex problem solving 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 Instructional Coordinators (92%).
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 | Instructional Coordinators | 92% | $77,440 | +3% | None |
| 2 | Special Education Teachers, Secondary School | 84% | $74,260 | −1% | None |
| 3 | Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors | 83% | $61,540 | −18% | None |
| 4 | Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education | 82% | $72,040 | −4% | None |
| 5 | Education Administrators, Postsecondary | 82% | $104,590 | +39% | None |
| 6 | Special Education Teachers, Middle School | 81% | $66,810 | −11% | None |
| 7 | Training and Development Specialists | 80% | $69,280 | −8% | None |
| 8 | Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors | 79% | $64,330 | −15% | None |
| 9 | Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education | 79% | $63,970 | −15% | None |
| 10 | Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education | 79% | $64,370 | −15% | None |
Compared with Education Teachers, Postsecondary, median $75,350. 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 education teachers (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.
92% skill match · $77,440 · +3% pay
Coordination · Judgment and Decision Making · Quality Control Analysis
84% skill match · $74,260 · −1% pay
Coordination · Service Orientation · Operations Monitoring
83% skill match · $61,540 · −18% pay
Operations Monitoring · Service Orientation · Technology Design
No work-context factor stands out as unusually hard in O*NET data.
If you want to stay close to what you do now, these roles are the nearest.
The closest matches are Instructional Coordinators (92% skill match, median $77,440), Special Education Teachers, Secondary School (84% skill match, median $74,260) and Adult Basic Education, Adult Secondary Education, and English as a Second Language Instructors (83% skill match, median $61,540), based on O*NET 31.0 data and BLS May 2025 pay.
Among the 25 matches, 7 pay more than education teachers at the median. The biggest increases: Industrial-Organizational Psychologists (+157%, $193,950), Sociologists (+41%, $106,030) and Education Administrators, Kindergarten through Secondary (+41%, $105,870).
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.