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Boston Career Explorer

Educational Instruction and Library

Social Work Teachers, Postsecondary

Teach courses in social work. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

Also called: Adjunct Professor, Assistant Professor, Clinical Professor, Faculty Member, Field Education Coordinator, Professor

Median pay in Greater Boston
$83,160
Jobs in Greater Boston
470
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+6.1%
60 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
Doctoral or professional degree

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$58,610$62,830$83,160$134,300$136,250

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
  • Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, or handouts.
  • Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.
  • Supervise students' laboratory and field work.
  • Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as family behavior, child and adolescent mental health, or social intervention evaluation.
  • Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Higher exposure90 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 91
  • Language-model AIOE 98
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 82

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for this job is higher, so AI tools could help with or change some tasks. Preparing lectures and course materials and writing and grading exams are the tasks they touch. There is little or no observed AI use in this job so far. Supervising students' field work and leading discussions about people's lives stay with the instructor.

Likely to change

  • Preparing lectures and course handouts
  • Writing and grading exams

Still relies on people

  • Supervising students' field work
  • Leading sensitive discussions on family and mental health

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

11 programs near Boston (plus 16 graduate)

Related occupations

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