Mass Communication/Media Studies Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Mass Communication/Media Studies maps to BLS occupations averaging about $64,987, with roughly 1,596,050 workers nationwide in those roles. About 6,892 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median program completion runs near 56%.
Key Statistics
Mass Communication/Media Studies: what the data shows
Common questions about mass communication/media studies degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a mass communication/media studies degree?
A Mass Communication/Media Studies program is classified under NCES CIP 09.0102 in the Communication and Media Studies field family (09.01).
A program that focuses on the analysis and criticism of media institutions and media texts, how people experience and understand media content, and the roles of media in producing and transforming culture. Includes instruction in communications regulation, law, and policy; media history; media aesthetics, interpretation, and criticism; the social and cultural effects of mass media; cultural studies; the economics of media industries; visual and media literacy; and the psychology and behavioral aspects of media messages, interpretation, and utilization
IPEDS counted 8,694 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of mass communication/media studies degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 09.01 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Communication and Media Studies (CIP 09.0100)
- Communication, General (CIP 09.0100)
- Communications (CIP 09.0101)
How long does it take to get a mass communication/media studies degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 09.0102 in our file:
- 215 Associate (2.6% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 6,892 Bachelor's (84.0% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 1,100 Master's (13.4% 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 do you learn in mass communication/media studies?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Writing, Critical Thinking, Service Orientation, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What degree do you need?
For Teachers, Postsecondary (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%). Bachelor's awards account for a majority of IPEDS completions for CIP 09.0102, but occupation data show multiple pathways.
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a mass communication/media studies degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Mass Communication/Media Studies 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers, Postsecondary | 1,500,000 | — |
| Secondary School Teachers | 1,072,540 | $64,580 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a mass communication/media studies degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Communication and Media Studies bachelor's program family: median debt $28,481, median earnings $56,359 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.82.
About 4.6% 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 $5,304 and median net price is $10,824.
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 Mass Communication/Media Studies and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$5,304 Median In-State Public
$12,870 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Mass Communication/Media Studies majors are, on average, $5,304 for in-state public colleges, and $12,870 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Mass Communication/Media Studies programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
8,694 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Mass Communication/Media Studies from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Mass Communication/Media Studies.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,099 |
| 2 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 54,926 |
| 3 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | OH | 44,617 |
| 4 | Purdue University-Main Campus | IN | 39,637 |
| 5 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | WI | 35,665 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Mass Communication/Media Studies programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Merced College | CA | $1,194 |
| 2 | Shasta College | CA | $1,197 |
| 3 | Modesto Junior College | CA | $1,270 |
| 4 | San Joaquin Delta College | CA | $1,288 |
| 5 | Reedley College | CA | $1,334 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Mass Communication/Media Studies programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | College of the Sequoias | CA | $29 |
| 2 | Fort Scott Community College | KS | $665 |
| 3 | South Georgia Technical College | GA | $1,026 |
| 4 | Reedley College | CA | $1,584 |
| 5 | Mississippi Delta Community College | MS | $2,276 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Mass Communication/Media Studies programs.
Graduation Rates
55.88% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
55.65% Average Graduation Rate
1,198 Institutions Reporting
44.12% - 67.70% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Mass Communication/Media Studies 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 Mass Communication/Media Studies is in NC (726 completions). That state represents about 10.5% 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 LA (0.96% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| NC | 726 | 10.5% | 0.59% |
| NY | 705 | 10.2% | 0.26% |
| PA | 468 | 6.8% | 0.27% |
| TX | 465 | 6.8% | 0.16% |
| LA | 455 | 6.6% | 0.96% |
| VA | 410 | 6.0% | 0.33% |
| CA | 398 | 5.8% | 0.09% |
| IN | 361 | 5.2% | 0.35% |
| FL | 289 | 4.2% | 0.13% |
| IL | 275 | 4.0% | 0.20% |
| TN | 231 | 3.4% | 0.31% |
| AZ | 187 | 2.7% | 0.14% |
| SC | 175 | 2.5% | 0.32% |
| OH | 142 | 2.1% | 0.10% |
| WA | 134 | 1.9% | 0.20% |
| MN | 123 | 1.8% | 0.14% |
| WI | 99 | 1.4% | 0.13% |
| AL | 91 | 1.3% | 0.13% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 09.01 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Communication and Media Studies CIP 09.0100
- Communication, General CIP 09.0100
- Communications CIP 09.0101
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 09.0102 in the survey year used in our extract (8,207 total across levels below).
- 215 Associate (2.6% of IPEDS total)
- 6,892 Bachelor's (84.0% of IPEDS total)
- 1,100 Master's (13.4% 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 $64,987. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Mass Communication/Media Studies graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers, Postsecondary | $36,511 | 1,500,000 |
| Secondary School Teachers | $104,813 | 1,072,540 |
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 Communication and Media Studies CIP family (285 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Mass Communication/Media Studies graduate.
- $28,481 median federal loan debt among completers
- $56,359 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.82 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 4.6% 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
$40,621 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Mass Communication/Media Studies majors is $40,621.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Mass Communication/Media Studies majors.
Occupations by Share
1,596,050 2023 Workforce
The number of Mass Communication/Media Studies graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Mass Communication/Media Studies by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Mass Communication/Media Studies in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Mass Communication/Media Studies.
Age distribution for Mass Communication/Media Studies degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
6,892 Total Degrees Awarded
2,622 Male (38.04%)
4,270 Female (61.96%)
Gender distribution of Mass Communication/Media Studies degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
3,661 White (53.12%)
1,229 Black or African American (17.83%)
889 Hispanic or Latino (12.90%)
383 Asian (5.56%)
340 Two or More Races (4.93%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Mass Communication/Media Studies degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Mass Communication/Media Studies are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Mass Communication/Media Studies.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Mass Communication/Media Studies field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Mass Communication/Media Studies majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Mass Communication/Media Studies 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 Mass Communication/Media Studies majors.
About
A program that focuses on the analysis and criticism of media institutions and media texts, how people experience and understand media content, and the roles of media in producing and transforming culture. Includes instruction in communications regulation, law, and policy; media history; media aesthetics, interpretation, and criticism; the social and cultural effects of mass media; cultural studies; the economics of media industries; visual and media literacy; and the psychology and behavioral aspects of media messages, interpretation, and utilization
In 2023, 8,694 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Mass Communication/Media Studies.
CIP Code
09.0102 - Mass Communication/Media Studies
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $28,481 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $56,359, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.82. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Mass Communication/Media Studies graduate.
Women earned 63.5% of 8,694 Mass Communication/Media Studies completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $64,987. The largest mapped role by headcount is Teachers, Postsecondary (1,500,000 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $5,304 in-state at public colleges and $12,870 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.