Documentary Production Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Documentary Production maps to BLS occupations averaging about $74,106, with roughly 1,476,430 workers nationwide in those roles. Median in-state published tuition is about $6,088; common paths include Helpers--Production Workers and Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks.
Key Statistics
Documentary Production: what the data shows
Common questions about documentary production degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a documentary production degree?
A Documentary Production program is classified under NCES CIP 50.0607 in the Film/Video and Photographic Arts field family (50.06).
A program that prepares individuals to produce nonfiction film and video. Includes instruction in film and video writing, directing, and production; film studies; history of the documentary; research techniques; videography; editing; and business aspects of film production
IPEDS counted 29 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of documentary production degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 50.06 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Cinematography and Film/Video Production (CIP 50.0602)
- Film/Cinema/Media Studies (CIP 50.0601)
How long does it take to get a documentary production degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 50.0607 in our file:
- 29 Bachelor's (44.6% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 36 Master's (55.4% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
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 Helpers--Production Workers (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 documentary production degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Documentary Production 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Helpers--Production Workers | 167,490 | $38,220 |
| Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks | 385,000 | $57,770 |
| First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers | 685,140 | $71,190 |
| Production Workers, All Other | 277,060 | $38,820 |
| Computer Hardware Engineers | 75,710 | $155,020 |
| Brickmasons and Blockmasons | 53,520 | $60,800 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a documentary production degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Film/Video and Photographic Arts bachelor's program family: median debt $41,106, median earnings $43,765 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 1.62.
About 8.0% 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 $6,088 and median net price is $16,296.
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 Documentary Production and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$6,088 Median In-State Public
$42,942 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Documentary Production majors are, on average, $6,088 for in-state public colleges, and $42,942 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Documentary Production programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
100,000 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Documentary Production from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Documentary Production.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern New Hampshire University | NH | 163,164 |
| 2 | Southern New Hampshire University | NH | 163,164 |
| 3 | Grand Canyon University | AZ | 73,371 |
| 4 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
| 5 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Documentary Production programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barstow Community College | CA | $1,104 |
| 2 | Barstow Community College | CA | $1,104 |
| 3 | Lake Tahoe Community College | CA | $1,131 |
| 4 | San Diego City College | CA | $1,146 |
| 5 | San Diego City College | CA | $1,146 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Documentary Production programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | College of San Mateo | CA | $536 |
| 2 | Wiregrass Georgia Technical College | GA | $614 |
| 3 | Henry Ford College | MI | $660 |
| 4 | Southern Regional Technical College | GA | $813 |
| 5 | Southern Regional Technical College | GA | $813 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Documentary Production programs.
Graduation Rates
Graduation rate data is not available for this degree program.
Graduation/completion rates for Documentary Production 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 Documentary Production is in UT (15 completions). That state represents about 51.7% 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 UT (0.01% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| UT | 15 | 51.7% | 0.01% |
| NY | 6 | 20.7% | 0.00% |
| GA | 5 | 17.2% | 0.00% |
| IL | 3 | 10.3% | 0.00% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 50.06 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Cinematography and Film/Video Production CIP 50.0602
- Film/Cinema/Media Studies CIP 50.0601
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 50.0607 in the survey year used in our extract (65 total across levels below).
- 29 Bachelor's (44.6% of IPEDS total)
- 36 Master's (55.4% 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 $74,106. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Documentary Production graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Helpers--Production Workers | $46,620 | 167,490 |
| Production, Planning, and Expediting Clerks | $67,248 | 385,000 |
| First-Line Supervisors of Production and Operating Workers | $82,652 | 685,140 |
| Production Workers, All Other | $47,821 | 277,060 |
| Computer Hardware Engineers | $188,333 | 75,710 |
| Brickmasons and Blockmasons | $74,538 | 53,520 |
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 Film/Video and Photographic Arts CIP family (54 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Documentary Production graduate.
- $41,106 median federal loan debt among completers
- $43,765 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 1.62 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 8.0% 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
$77,224 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Documentary Production majors is $77,224.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Documentary Production majors.
Occupations by Share
1,476,430 2023 Workforce
The number of Documentary Production graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Documentary Production by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Documentary Production in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Documentary Production.
Age distribution for Documentary Production degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
29 Total Degrees Awarded
12 Male (41.38%)
17 Female (58.62%)
Gender distribution of Documentary Production degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
14 White (48.28%)
6 Hispanic or Latino (20.69%)
5 Black or African American (17.24%)
2 Two or More Races (6.90%)
1 Asian (3.45%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Documentary Production degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Documentary Production are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Documentary Production.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Documentary Production field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Documentary Production majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Documentary Production 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 Documentary Production majors.
About
A program that prepares individuals to produce nonfiction film and video. Includes instruction in film and video writing, directing, and production; film studies; history of the documentary; research techniques; videography; editing; and business aspects of film production
In 2023, 100,000 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Documentary Production.
CIP Code
50.0607 - Documentary Production
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $41,106 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $43,765, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 1.62. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Documentary Production graduate.
About 8.0% of graduates in this field family were not working and not enrolled one year after completion in Scorecard's national program medians. That is a program-level mobility signal, not a national underemployment rate.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $74,106. The largest mapped role by headcount is Helpers--Production Workers (167,490 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $6,088 in-state at public colleges and $42,942 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.