What Can You Do With an Early Childhood Education Degree? Jobs

Key takeaway: An early childhood education degree leads to preschool teaching, kindergarten teaching, preschool and childcare center director roles, and teaching assistant positions. Median annual wages for those occupations range from $36,780 to $62,680, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS national medians. The single largest pay divide in this field is not the degree level but the setting: public-school kindergarten positions require a state teaching license and pay on a public-school scale, while private preschool and childcare roles generally require neither.

Jobs you can get with an early childhood education degree

Early childhood education covers the years from infancy through roughly third grade, and the jobs split along whether they sit inside the public school system or outside it. That distinction drives almost everything about requirements and pay.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS national medians.

Kindergarten teacher. Kindergarten teachers run a full classroom inside an elementary school: teaching early literacy and number sense, managing a room of five- and six-year-olds, assessing readiness, communicating with families, and working within a district curriculum and testing calendar. In public schools this is a licensed position on a district salary schedule, which is the main reason its median sits well above the preschool figure.

Preschool and childcare center director. Directors run the business and the program: hiring and supervising teachers, meeting state licensing and health and safety regulations, managing enrollment and budgets, setting curriculum, and handling the parent relationships that keep a center full. It is the administrative track in early childhood, and it usually goes to someone who has taught first.

Preschool teacher. Preschool teachers plan and lead the day for three- to five-year-olds: play-based learning activities, early literacy and language, social and emotional skills, routines, and ongoing observation of each child’s development. The work is genuinely skilled and, at a median of $38,140, genuinely underpaid relative to the training it asks for. Head Start programs, public pre-K classrooms, private preschools, and faith-affiliated centers all pay quite differently under this single occupational heading.

Teaching assistant. Assistants support a lead teacher: working with small groups or individual children, supervising during transitions and meals, preparing materials, and often providing targeted help to students who need it. Many people enter here while finishing a degree, and it is a common way to see the work up close before committing to a licensure path.

What the degree level changes

Be clear-eyed about this field: degree level and legal requirement are two different axes, and the requirement side is set by your state.

Below the bachelor’s, an associate degree or a Child Development Associate credential is enough for many private preschool and childcare teaching positions, and for teaching assistant work. Some states set minimum education requirements for lead teachers in licensed centers and for publicly funded pre-K, so the floor varies by where you live and by whether the program takes state or federal funding.

A bachelor’s in early childhood education is the meaningful threshold. It is the standard requirement for public-school kindergarten teaching, and it is what most public pre-K programs and Head Start lead-teacher positions expect. But the degree alone is not sufficient for public-school classroom teaching: you also need a state-issued teaching license or certification, which typically means completing a state-approved preparation program, passing your state’s required exams, and finishing supervised student teaching in an actual classroom. If you enroll in an online program, confirm before you pay that it leads to licensure in your state and that the school will arrange your in-person placement. A degree that does not carry licensure eligibility will not put you in front of a public kindergarten class.

Center director requirements are also regulatory rather than academic. Most states specify a combination of education and documented experience for the director of a licensed childcare center, and a few require a director credential on top. Your state’s childcare licensing agency, not a college, is the authority on what yours requires.

A master’s in early childhood education is not required for classroom teaching. It matters for three things: moving up a district salary schedule, which in many districts is a defined and predictable raise; specialist roles such as curriculum, instructional coaching, or early intervention; and administrative positions that districts restrict to advanced-degree holders. Some states also expect continued graduate coursework to move from an initial to a professional teaching license.

Common questions

What jobs can you get with an early childhood education degree?

Graduates work as kindergarten teachers, preschool teachers, preschool and childcare center directors, and teaching assistants. The same preparation also supports related roles in Head Start programs, early intervention services, and curriculum support, though those often carry additional state or program-specific requirements.

How much do early childhood education majors make?

Among the occupations tied to this degree, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS national medians report $62,680 for kindergarten teachers, $59,300 for preschool and childcare center directors, $38,140 for preschool teachers, and $36,780 for teaching assistants. The gap between the kindergarten and preschool figures is largely a public-school-versus-private-setting gap rather than a difference in the work.

Do you need a master’s in early childhood education?

Not to teach. A master’s matters for advancing on a district salary schedule, moving into curriculum, coaching, or early intervention specialist roles, and qualifying for school administration. Some states also require graduate coursework to advance from an initial to a professional license.

Do you need a teaching license?

For public-school kindergarten and most public pre-K positions, yes. Licensure is issued by your state and typically requires a state-approved preparation program, passing exams, and supervised student teaching completed in person. Private preschools and childcare centers generally set their own requirements instead, subject to state childcare licensing rules.

Is an early childhood education degree worth it?

It is worth it if you are aiming at licensed public-school teaching or a director role, where the credential is a requirement rather than a preference, and if you go in knowing the pay realities of the preschool side of the field. The is an early childhood education degree worth it page works through that trade-off directly.

Keep exploring

• Start at the online early childhood education degree hub to compare programs and formats.
• Compare levels: bachelor’s in early childhood education and master’s in early childhood education.
• Find programs near you on the early childhood education programs by state index.
• Related fields worth comparing: elementary education, special education, and education.

Data verified: August 12, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.

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