This is my experience and understanding in a STEM field. Others may have it work differently. Depending how intense the lab job is, you can work with a h.s. degree. Most public universities post their salaries and are easy to find. For example, my university which is one for many in the University of California System. I'm considered a specialist. I started off as a Jr. specialist after graduation with a BS in Chem.[LINK](https://ap.uci.edu/compensation/salary-scales/). Several years ago I considered a lab job at Penn state with a buddy of mine. At the time, I was making 50-60K, however that may have been because I live in California. At Penn state in PA, they were offering 40K. So take cost of living into consideration. I personally do teach, however not classes. Our lab allows visiting grads and professors from other universities to see our lab and how we do things so they can replicate it at their university. This is my most difficult part of my lab, but I'm actually one of the better teachers in our lab. It really depends what you want to do. Any run of the mill science job can be done with a BS. More supervisor positions would require a MS or simply time to move up. A PhD is regularly required to direct and overall supervise a lab. In the US at least, a graduate student will earn a MS or a Phd. After a Phd, then can choose to go into industry and earn a significant amount of money. However, your doors are limited and depending on the field, competition fierce. PhDs can be overqualified. PhDs who go into academia, can choose to so a post-doc which is typically a researcher/project scientist position at a university or research institute to conduct research, publish results, write grants to fund said research and perhaps even teach as a lecturer. Afterwards they look good on the CV(longer version of a resume) and can be considered for a professorship (PI/Principal investigator). However competition if even more extreme. Many Profs don't want to retire. A PIs main goal is to secure grant funding and publish results. Done by hiring lab techs/grad students to do said work to publish. A PI will mentor/supervise a grad student on their path to a MS or Phd. The Uni can provide seed funding, but anything afterwards is usually all grants. They work up the ranks for Assistant Professor/Associate Professor/Professor (usually tenured), they teach as well. They can bypass the post-doc is they're great candidates for a Professorship or get really lucky finding a position. If you want some lab tech/grad student meme humor, check out /r/labrats . Mostly bio related thou.