History Degrees (2026 stats)
Executive Summary (TL;DR)
History maps to BLS occupations averaging about $261,078, with roughly 92,580 workers nationwide in those roles. About 23,368 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median program completion runs near 62%.
History: what the data shows
Common questions about history degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a history degree?
A History program is classified under NCES CIP 54.0100 in the History field family (54.01).
IPEDS counted 20,902 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
How long does it take to get a history degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 54.0100 in our file:
- 2,382 Associate (8.1% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 23,368 Bachelor's (79.5% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 3,642 Master's (12.4% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 18 Doctorate (0.1% of IPEDS total)—varies by program
Time to completion depends on enrollment intensity and transfer credits; figures above describe credential type, not calendar time for every student.
What do you learn in history?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Speaking, Active Listening, Reading Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Complex Problem Solving, Judgment and Decision Making, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What jobs can you get with a history degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links History 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Lawyers | 747,750 | $151,160 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a history degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the History bachelor's program family: median debt $30,706, median earnings $50,680 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.98.
About 6.8% 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 $8,179 and median net price is $18,325.
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 History and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$8,179 Median In-State Public
$37,835 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for History majors are, on average, $8,179 for in-state public colleges, and $37,835 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for History programs.
Institutions awarding the most History degrees
| # | Institution | State | Completions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liberty University | VA | 567 |
| 2 | Southern New Hampshire University | NH | 542 |
| 3 | Brigham Young University-Idaho | ID | 526 |
| 4 | American Public University System | WV | 381 |
| 5 | Arizona State University Digital Immersion | AZ | 278 |
| 6 | Harvard University | MA | 235 |
| 7 | University of California-Los Angeles | CA | 231 |
| 8 | Gettysburg College | PA | 219 |
| 9 | Yale University | CT | 217 |
| 10 | Columbia University in the City of New York | NY | 215 |
IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), all award levels for this CIP in our extract.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
20,902 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in History from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in History.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern New Hampshire University | NH | 156,755 |
| 2 | University of Phoenix-Arizona | AZ | 76,996 |
| 3 | Grand Canyon University | AZ | 68,619 |
| 4 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,398 |
| 5 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,099 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering History programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barstow Community College | CA | $1,104 |
| 2 | Taft College | CA | $1,108 |
| 3 | Copper Mountain Community College | CA | $1,114 |
| 4 | Antelope Valley Community College District | CA | $1,124 |
| 5 | Woodland Community College | CA | $1,124 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for History programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada College | CA | $10 |
| 2 | College of the Sequoias | CA | $29 |
| 3 | Coahoma Community College | MS | $560 |
| 4 | Henry Ford College | MI | $576 |
| 5 | Oxnard College | CA | $659 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for History programs.
Graduation Rates
62.45% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
61.22% Average Graduation Rate
155 Institutions Reporting
49.70% - 73.40% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for History 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 History is in CA (2,892 completions). That state represents about 12.4% 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 VA (1.01% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA | 2,892 | 12.4% | 0.64% |
| NY | 1,894 | 8.1% | 0.69% |
| TX | 1,564 | 6.7% | 0.53% |
| VA | 1,241 | 5.3% | 1.01% |
| PA | 1,017 | 4.3% | 0.60% |
| MA | 998 | 4.3% | 0.78% |
| IL | 806 | 3.5% | 0.58% |
| FL | 788 | 3.4% | 0.34% |
| NC | 752 | 3.2% | 0.61% |
| OH | 686 | 2.9% | 0.49% |
| GA | 591 | 2.5% | 0.52% |
| NJ | 533 | 2.3% | 0.62% |
| MD | 512 | 2.2% | 0.69% |
| AZ | 501 | 2.1% | 0.36% |
| NH | 497 | 2.1% | 0.79% |
| MI | 459 | 2.0% | 0.40% |
| TN | 438 | 1.9% | 0.59% |
| CO | 433 | 1.9% | 0.60% |
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 54.0100 in the survey year used in our extract (29,410 total across levels below).
- 2,382 Associate (8.1% of IPEDS total)
- 23,368 Bachelor's (79.5% of IPEDS total)
- 3,642 Master's (12.4% of IPEDS total)
- 18 Doctorate (0.1% 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 $261,078. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of History graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Lawyers | $261,078 | 747,750 |
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 History CIP family (95 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every History graduate.
- $30,706 median federal loan debt among completers
- $50,680 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.98 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 6.8% 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
$261,078 Average wage, mapped occupations (OEWS)
Occupations mapped to History average $261,078 a year in the BLS OEWS extract.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for History majors.
Occupations by Share
92,580 2023 Workforce
The number of History graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in History by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in History in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in History.
Age distribution for History degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
30,992 Total Degrees Awarded
17,757 Male (57.30%)
13,235 Female (42.70%)
Gender distribution of History degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
20,483 White or Caucasian (66.09%)
5,098 Hispanic or Latino (16.45%)
1,297 Two or More Races (4.18%)
1,219 Black or African American (3.93%)
1,128 Asian (3.64%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of History degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in History are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in History.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the History field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
History majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for History 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 History majors.
About
History
In 2023, 20,902 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in History.
CIP Code
54.0100 - History
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $30,706 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $50,680, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.98. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual History graduate.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $261,078. The largest mapped role by headcount is Lawyers (747,750 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $8,179 in-state at public colleges and $37,835 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.