Industry group, 6111
Elementary and Secondary Schools
8,919,090 people work in this industry in the US, at mean pay of $64,300 a year (BLS, May 2025). What follows is how much of their working time the best AI models could finish, when, and in which jobs and tasks. Estimates.
of the paid hours. Estimate.
a year: 4.3 billion hours at what they cost. Not a forecast of savings.
- 34%
- 35%
- 31%
of the paid hours are within reach now in tasks people already bring to Claude. Another 16% is within reach in tasks not yet seen there.
Across the US: 22% within reach now and 37% by the end of 2028, on the long-run pace at four in five.
Share of the paid hours within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this industry's paid hours were within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 1%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 21%. Today's estimate: 23%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Where the hours are
Jobs by hours within reach now. The 40 largest jobs hold 92% of the people.
| People | Pay here | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education | 1,381,960 | 30% | 857 million | $64K |
| Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education | 1,055,050 | 32% | 704 million | $72K |
| Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education | 618,660 | 38% | 490 million | $64K |
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | 216,820 | 43% | 192 million | $47K |
| Office Clerks, General | 127,260 | 54% | 144 million | $43K |
| Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors | 173,950 | 34% | 123 million | $77K |
| Speech-Language Pathologists | 72,130 | 71% | 106 million | $83K |
| Teaching Assistants, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School, Except Special Education | 592,750 | 8% | 97 million | $37K |
| Special Education Teachers, Secondary School | 158,870 | 22% | 73 million | $75K |
| Special Education Teachers, Elementary School | 129,340 | 27% | 72 million | $65K |
| Bus Drivers, School | 201,090 | 17% | 72 million | $46K |
| Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks | 40,550 | 78% | 65 million | $52K |
People: BLS counts for this industry, May 2025. Pay here: the median paid for the job in this industry, else its mean, else the national median. 281 smaller jobs (712,190 people) count in every total but are not listed. Task data covers 98% of the industry's people; the rest are in BLS "all other" groups with no task list, or in counts BLS does not publish.
The tasks with the most hours within reach by the end of 2028
Across the whole industry, on the chosen pace and reliability.
- Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools.Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education217 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools.Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education173 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education164 million hours70% of the task within reach
- Adapt teaching methods and instructional materials to meet students' varying needs and interests.Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education100 million hours70% of the task within reach
- Attend professional meetings, educational conferences, or teacher training workshops to improve professional competence.Substitute Teachers, Short-Term99 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Prepare objectives and outlines for courses of study, following curriculum guidelines or requirements of states and schools.Middle School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education94 million hours100% of the task within reach
- Assign and grade class work and homework.Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education94 million hours80% of the task within reach
- Plan and conduct activities for a balanced program of instruction, demonstration, and work time that provides students with opportunities to observe, question, and investigate.Elementary School Teachers, Except Special Education80 million hours30% of the task within reach
- Assign and grade class work and homework.Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education73 million hours80% of the task within reach
- Prepare, administer, and grade tests and assignments to evaluate students' progress.Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education73 million hours70% of the task within reach
Scan a typical company in this industry
The industry's largest jobs, in the proportions BLS counts across the whole industry, at the pay it pays, run through the company scan. A starting point before you have a roster, or a benchmark for the one you have.
Next to this industry
Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools3,216,330 people23% now, 54% by 2028
- Junior Colleges656,220 people26% now, 55% by 2028
- Other Schools and Instruction558,700 people43% now, 54% by 2028
- Educational Support Services265,600 people30% now, 57% by 2028
- Technical and Trade Schools153,950 people27% now, 55% by 2028
- Business Schools and Computer and Management Training82,160 people28% now, 66% by 2028
How it is built: BLS counts the people in each job in this industry; each job's tasks and their lengths give its share within reach at a date; the industry's share is those shares weighted by people. Value is pay times 1.43 for benefits and payroll costs. Seen in Claude use splits today's share by whether Anthropic saw people bring each task to Claude in 2025; other AI tools are not counted. How it works