Overview
Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education has a national median salary of $62,680 per year, with -0.3% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.
Description
Teach academic and social skills to kindergarten students.
Work Values
- Relationships
- Achievement
- Independence
Work Styles
Responsibilities
Tasks
- Establish and enforce rules for behavior and policies and procedures to maintain order among students.
- Prepare children for later grades by encouraging them to explore learning opportunities and to persevere with challenging tasks.
- Instruct students individually and in groups, adapting teaching methods to meet students' varying needs and interests.
- Teach basic skills, such as color, shape, number and letter recognition, personal hygiene, and social skills.
- Demonstrate activities to children.
Work Activities
- Thinking Creatively
- Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work
- Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
- Developing Objectives and Strategies
- Making Decisions and Solving Problems
- Training and Teaching Others
- Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
- Getting Information
- Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
- Assisting and Caring for Others
Detailed Work Activities
- Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.
- Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.
- Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
- Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
- Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
- Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.
- Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.
- Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
- Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
- Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
T-A-S-K
Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge
Technology Skills
- Spreadsheet software
- Computer based training software
- Electronic mail software
- Desktop communications software
- Office suite software
Abilities
- Oral Expression
- Written Comprehension
- Oral Comprehension
- Problem Sensitivity
- Speech Clarity
Skills
- Instructing
- Social Perceptiveness
- Active Listening
- Learning Strategies
- Monitoring
Knowledge
- Education and Training
- English Language
- Psychology
- Mathematics
- Customer and Personal Service
Education
Education Levels of Current Workers
The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor's degree as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished a master's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Master's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for a bachelor's degree.
Certificates
Certifications applicable to Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education:
Income & Employability
Income Percentile
The median (50th percentile) is the middle wage; 10% earn less than the low figure and 10% earn more than the high figure.
| Low (10%) | $46,990 |
| Median (50%) | $62,680 |
| High (90%) | $101,830 |
Income by Experience
How pay typically grows from entry level (0–2 yrs) to expert (8+ yrs).
| Entry (0–2 yrs) | $66,091 |
| Mid (3–5 yrs) | $71,872 |
| Senior (6–8 yrs) | $70,359 |
| Expert (8+ yrs) | $89,366 |
Employability
There are currently 111,200 jobs in this career path (2025). That number is projected to change to 110,900 by 2035, a -0.3% change.
-0.3% growthVideo Resources
Training Programs
3 programs at 2 schools on Career School App prepare students for a career as Kindergarten Teachers, Except Special Education, including Early Childhood Education (3).
- Child Care ProviderBlackstone Career Institute · Allentown, PADiploma · 4–12 months
- Early Childhood Ancillary CertificateUnitech Training Academy · Lafayette, LADiploma · 5 months (day) or 6.25 months (evening)
- Early Childhood Ancillary CertificateUnitech Training Academy · Alexandria, LADiploma · 5 months (day) or 6.25 months (evening)
Related Careers
This site incorporates information from O*NET Web Services by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET® is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. Used under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Certification, licence and career video information is sourced from CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA) and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
Wage, employment and outlook figures are from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) and the Employment Projections program. Figures describe the occupation, not any particular program or graduate.
Career cluster definitions are from Advance CTE.
Pay-by-experience bands are from Lightcast (as recent as July 2025).