Air Traffic Controller Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Air Traffic Controller maps to BLS occupations averaging about $136,564, with roughly 29,980 workers nationwide in those roles. Median in-state published tuition is about $5,656; common paths include Air Traffic Controllers and Traffic Technicians.
Key Statistics
Air Traffic Controller: what the data shows
Common questions about air traffic controller degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a air traffic controller degree?
A Air Traffic Controller program is classified under NCES CIP 49.0105 in the Air Transportation field family (49.01).
A program that prepares individuals to apply technical knowledge and skills to air-traffic management and control, usually with additional training at the FAA Flight Control Center in a cooperative education program. Includes instruction in flight control, the use of radar and electronic scanning devices, plotting of flights, radio communication, interpretation of weather conditions affecting flights, flight instrumentation used by pilots, and maintenance of flight-control center or control-tower log books
IPEDS counted 56 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of air traffic controller degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 49.01 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Aeronautics/Aviation/Aerospace Science and Technology, General (CIP 49.0101)
- Airline Flight Attendant (CIP 49.0106)
- Airline/Commercial/Professional Pilot and Flight Crew (CIP 49.0102)
- Aviation/Airway Management and Operations (CIP 49.0104)
- Flight Instructor (CIP 49.0108)
- Remote Aircraft Pilot (CIP 49.0109)
How long does it take to get a air traffic controller degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 49.0105 in our file:
- 100 Associate (64.1% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 56 Bachelor's (35.9% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
Time to completion depends on enrollment intensity and transfer credits; figures above describe credential type, not calendar time for every student.
What degree do you need?
For Air Traffic Controllers (top mapped occupation), O*NET incumbent surveys in our career profile report these education credentials most often: Some college (29%), High School or Equivalent (27%), Bachelors Degree (22%).
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a air traffic controller degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Air Traffic Controller to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.
| Occupation | U.S. employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Air Traffic Controllers | 22,400 | $144,580 |
| Traffic Technicians | 7,580 | $58,480 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a air traffic controller degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Air Transportation bachelor's program family: median debt $54,664, median earnings $85,825 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 1.27.
About 3.6% of graduates in this field family were not working and not enrolled one year after completion in Scorecard's national program medians.
Among schools reporting in our Scorecard extract, median published in-state tuition is $5,656 and median net price is $12,547.
We do not score "worth" on opinion—compare debt, earnings, wages for mapped occupations, and completion data above against your cost and career target.
Institutions
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Air Traffic Controller and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$5,656 Median In-State Public
$34,227 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Air Traffic Controller majors are, on average, $5,656 for in-state public colleges, and $34,227 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Air Traffic Controller programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
100,000 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Air Traffic Controller from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Air Traffic Controller.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern New Hampshire University | NH | 163,164 |
| 2 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
| 3 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 58,267 |
| 4 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 58,267 |
| 5 | Liberty University | VA | 50,012 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Air Traffic Controller programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Miramar College | CA | $1,146 |
| 2 | San Diego Miramar College | CA | $1,146 |
| 3 | Cypress College | CA | $1,150 |
| 4 | Cypress College | CA | $1,150 |
| 5 | Fullerton College | CA | $1,150 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Air Traffic Controller programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Christian College | CA | $992 |
| 2 | Texas A&M University-Central Texas | TX | $1,300 |
| 3 | Trident Technical College | SC | $1,406 |
| 4 | St Petersburg College | FL | $1,471 |
| 5 | Carroll Community College | MD | $2,725 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Air Traffic Controller programs.
Graduation Rates
Graduation rate data is not available for this degree program.
Graduation/completion rates for Air Traffic Controller programs across institutions.
Where students complete this major (IPEDS)
Bachelor's-level completions (IPEDS Completions, award level 5) summed by institution state. State is taken from IPEDS Directory (HD2023) for each reporting institution.
Geographic concentration
The largest number of reported bachelor's completions for Air Traffic Controller is in ND (23 completions). That state represents about 41.1% of U.S. bachelor's completions reported for this CIP in the IPEDS file we use.
Among states, the highest concentration relative to all bachelor's degrees awarded in-state is ND (0.19% of that state's bachelor's completions).
Top states by count of bachelor's completions for this CIP (IPEDS).
| State | Bachelor's completions (this CIP) | % of U.S. total (this CIP) | % of state's all bachelor's |
|---|---|---|---|
| ND | 23 | 41.1% | 0.19% |
| FL | 22 | 39.3% | 0.01% |
| AZ | 6 | 10.7% | 0.00% |
| IL | 5 | 8.9% | 0.00% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 49.01 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Aeronautics/Aviation/Aerospace Science and Technology, General CIP 49.0101
- Airline Flight Attendant CIP 49.0106
- Airline/Commercial/Professional Pilot and Flight Crew CIP 49.0102
- Aviation/Airway Management and Operations CIP 49.0104
- Flight Instructor CIP 49.0108
- Remote Aircraft Pilot CIP 49.0109
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 49.0105 in the survey year used in our extract (156 total across levels below).
- 100 Associate (64.1% of IPEDS total)
- 56 Bachelor's (35.9% of IPEDS total)
Source: IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), summed by award level for this CIP.
Careers & Jobs
Occupations linked to this major in our degree→career mapping, with wages and employment from processed BLS career profiles in this repo.
Across these BLS occupations, employment-weighted mean pay is about $136,564. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Air Traffic Controller graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Air Traffic Controllers | $156,689 | 22,400 |
| Traffic Technicians | $77,090 | 7,580 |
Open each occupation for full career profile charts and industry breakdowns on EDsmart Data.
Program outcomes (College Scorecard)
National medians across bachelor's programs in the Air Transportation CIP family (18 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Air Traffic Controller graduate.
- $54,664 median federal loan debt among completers
- $85,825 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 1.27 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 3.6% of graduates not working and not enrolled one year out (program cohort)
Source: College Scorecard program-level outcomes aggregated by 4-digit CIP family.
Employment
Wages and industry mix below use BLS OEWS data for occupations linked to this major in our mapping—not a graduate earnings survey.
Yearly Income for Common Jobs
$136,564 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Air Traffic Controller majors is $136,564.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Air Traffic Controller majors.
Occupations by Share
29,980 2023 Workforce
The number of Air Traffic Controller graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Air Traffic Controller by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Air Traffic Controller in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Air Traffic Controller.
Age distribution for Air Traffic Controller degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
56 Total Degrees Awarded
37 Male (66.07%)
19 Female (33.93%)
Gender distribution of Air Traffic Controller degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
32 White (57.14%)
7 Hispanic or Latino (12.50%)
2 Asian (3.57%)
2 Black or African American (3.57%)
2 Two or More Races (3.57%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Air Traffic Controller degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Air Traffic Controller are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Air Traffic Controller.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Air Traffic Controller field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Air Traffic Controller majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Air Traffic Controller majors.
Skills Bar Chart
This bar chart shows the same information as the radar chart, displaying the importance of each skill.
Skill importance ratings for Air Traffic Controller majors.
About
A program that prepares individuals to apply technical knowledge and skills to air-traffic management and control, usually with additional training at the FAA Flight Control Center in a cooperative education program. Includes instruction in flight control, the use of radar and electronic scanning devices, plotting of flights, radio communication, interpretation of weather conditions affecting flights, flight instrumentation used by pilots, and maintenance of flight-control center or control-tower log books
In 2023, 100,000 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Air Traffic Controller.
CIP Code
49.0105 - Air Traffic Controller
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $54,664 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $85,825, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 1.27. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Air Traffic Controller graduate.
Men earned 23.8% of 189 Air Traffic Controller completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $136,564. The largest mapped role by headcount is Air Traffic Controllers (22,400 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $5,656 in-state at public colleges and $34,227 at private institutions for programs in this field.
Data Sources
This page uses data from the following sources:
- College Scorecard - U.S. Department of Education
- Institutional characteristics, costs, completion rates, and earnings data
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: collegescorecard.ed.gov
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
- Employment and wage data by occupation
- Latest data: May 2024
- Source: bls.gov/oes
- O*NET Online - U.S. Department of Labor
- Occupational skills, knowledge, abilities, and work activities
- Database version: 28.0 (August 2023)
- Source: onetcenter.org
- IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) - National Center for Education Statistics
- Institutional data, completions, enrollment, and financial aid
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: nces.ed.gov/ipeds
- Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS)
- Demographic and workforce data
- Latest data: 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates
- Source: census.gov/acs
Data Processing: All data has been processed, cleaned, and aggregated for presentation. Where specific data points are unavailable, estimates are based on available data and clearly marked.
Last Updated: Data reflects the most recent available information as of January 2025.
Methodology
Data for this profile is sourced from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard dataset, IPEDS completion data, and Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data.
All financial figures are adjusted for inflation and represent the most recent available data. Employment and wage data are from the most recent Census Bureau ACS PUMS estimates.