Educational psychology is a promising career for those who have attained at least a graduate degree in this field. Educational psychologists are generally employed in a variety of different professional settings. Many are employed by universities and are tasked with carrying out research as it pertains to the social processes and cognitive skills of human learning. They may also be employed in a consulting capacity by universities who are looking to have high quality educational materials and online courses developed.

The majority of those employed in the educational psychology field are employed at elementary or secondary schools. These individuals are tasked with teacher evaluations, crisis intervention services, behavioral intervention services and student counseling. These individuals are also occasionally tasked with developing classroom materials and criteria, but generally their capacity is oriented more towards providing student behavioral services than they are in developing academic criteria.

Educational psychology jobs in the private sector aren’t as highly sought after as other jobs in the broader psychology field, which presents a great opportunity for the applicant who is looking to work their way up in a field that has a fairly favorable salary ceiling and decent long-term job growth. It also offers applicants looking to make a considerable mark in the education sector a chance to work directly with the students in the system.

Salary Information For Educational Psychologists

The average salary for educational psychology jobs depends on not only the educational level, location and experience of the job applicant but is also dependent on whether the educational psychologist is employed in a school advisory capacity or is employed in academic research and development. The median average salary for an educational psychologist is approximately $60,581 per year as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The bottom ten percent of educational psychologists earned slightly less than $37,900 per year and the top ten percent earned well over $106,840 per year. Individuals with over eight years experience in the educational psychology field generally earned in the top ten percentile, while those who have under a year experience in the field had a top salary in the bottom ten percentile. Educational Psychologist employed in elementary or secondary education can expect an average annual salary of approximately $68,340 per year, while those employed in research and development can expect an average annual salary of approximately $84,060 per year. Educational psychologists employed at the university level in a student advisory capacity had an average salary of approximately $65,398 per year according to the National Association of School Psychologists.

Past Job Growth for Educational Psychologists

Employment in the field of educational psychologist has consistently grown at a pace about equal to other professions. In 2010, educational psychologists accounted for over 152,000 jobs in the United States, which is approximately 29 percent of all workers employed in the field of psychology. Over the past twenty years, the field of educational psychology have historically enjoyed a stable growth of around 11 percent each year. Though there has been a dramatic increase in the number of applicants entering this field, this has been offset by the increase in educational psychology jobs throughout the education sector as well as the retirement of current professionals who once worked in this field.

Future Job Growth for Educational Psychologists

Future job growth for educational psychologists is expected to grow at a rate of about 12 percent each year. This contrast slightly with other occupations in this field. Industrial psychologists can expect about 25 percent increase each year while psychologists in other areas can expect a job growth of around 14 percent. Estimated employment in the field of education psychologists is expected to top over 169,000 applicants by the year 2018. This expected job growth is due to a number of different factors but can be mainly attributed to the increase in educational services, academic facilities and special education facilities. This figure is further bolstered by an increase in the awareness of the need for specialized counseling services within educational facilities and the response of these educational facilities as they address the the needs of students requiring psychological profiling in an academic setting. Opportunities for women entering this field are especially promising with women entering this field at a rate of approximately 26 percent each year.