You teach physics to high school students. As a High School Physics Teacher, you're demonstrating Newton's laws, explaining electricity and magnetism, and helping students see the physical principles governing the world around them.
High School Science Teacher pay typically runs $58K–$83K at this level, and jobs in this field are projected to shrink 2% through 2034.
High school science teachers typically teach across multiple science disciplines or specialize in one—biology, chemistry, physics, or earth science. The lab component is a defining feature: designing safe, meaningful experiments, managing materials and equipment, and building students' scientific reasoning through direct observation and data collection.
The range of course levels—from introductory to AP—creates significant preparation variability. An AP Chemistry section requires different depth of content preparation than a standard-level class, and managing both simultaneously is common in many departments.
People who tend to thrive are genuinely curious about their science discipline and find teaching the scientific method as rewarding as the content itself. If you can make hypothesis testing and data analysis feel like genuine intellectual work rather than rote procedure—and can sustain the lab-related preparation and cleanup demands over a full career—high school science teaching tends to be professionally engaging and important work in developing scientific literacy.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
You teach physics to high school students. As a High School Physics Teacher, you're demonstrating Newton's laws, explaining electricity and magnetism, and helping students see the physical principles governing the world around them.
Median pay for a High School Science Teacher is about $65K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $47K to $105K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Instructing, Reading Comprehension, Speaking, Active Listening, and Learning Strategies.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to decline about 1.6% through 2034, with roughly 1.1 million people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include School Director, French Teacher, and Science Teacher.
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