Mathematics Degrees (2026 stats)
Executive Summary (TL;DR)
Mathematics maps to BLS occupations averaging about $125,367, with roughly 54,640 workers nationwide in those roles. About 27,586 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median program completion runs near 56%.
Mathematics: what the data shows
Common questions about mathematics degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a mathematics degree?
A Mathematics program is classified under NCES CIP 27.0100 in the Mathematics field family (27.01).
IPEDS counted 14,616 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
How long does it take to get a mathematics degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 27.0100 in our file:
- 4,433 Associate (10.0% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 27,586 Bachelor's (62.3% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 12,198 Master's (27.6% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 52 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 mathematics?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Active Listening, Mathematics, Complex Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Speaking, Reading Comprehension, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What jobs can you get with a mathematics degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Mathematics 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Civil Engineers | 355,410 | $99,590 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a mathematics degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Mathematics bachelor's program family: median debt $35,655, median earnings $69,562 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.73.
About 5.7% 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 $7,592 and median net price is $17,727.
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 Mathematics and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$7,592 Median In-State Public
$38,142 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Mathematics majors are, on average, $7,592 for in-state public colleges, and $38,142 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Mathematics programs.
Institutions awarding the most Mathematics degrees
| # | Institution | State | Completions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of California-Los Angeles | CA | 900 |
| 2 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | IL | 775 |
| 3 | Columbia University in the City of New York | NY | 742 |
| 4 | University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | 708 |
| 5 | New York University | NY | 686 |
| 6 | University of California-San Diego | CA | 605 |
| 7 | University of California-Berkeley | CA | 584 |
| 8 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | WA | 558 |
| 9 | University of North Texas | TX | 555 |
| 10 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | WI | 546 |
IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), all award levels for this CIP in our extract.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
14,616 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Mathematics from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Mathematics.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern New Hampshire University | NH | 156,755 |
| 2 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,398 |
| 3 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,099 |
| 4 | University of Central Florida | FL | 59,095 |
| 5 | Liberty University | VA | 50,059 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Mathematics programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taft College | CA | $1,108 |
| 2 | Copper Mountain Community College | CA | $1,114 |
| 3 | Antelope Valley Community College District | CA | $1,124 |
| 4 | Woodland Community College | CA | $1,124 |
| 5 | Imperial Valley College | CA | $1,126 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Mathematics 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 | Oxnard College | CA | $659 |
| 5 | Cerritos College | CA | $693 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Mathematics programs.
Graduation Rates
55.94% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
56.51% Average Graduation Rate
183 Institutions Reporting
46.44% - 68.19% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Mathematics 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 Mathematics is in CA (4,736 completions). That state represents about 17.2% 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 VI (2.74% 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 | 4,736 | 17.2% | 1.05% |
| NY | 2,749 | 10.0% | 1.00% |
| MA | 1,670 | 6.0% | 1.31% |
| PA | 1,454 | 5.3% | 0.85% |
| TX | 1,400 | 5.1% | 0.48% |
| IL | 1,242 | 4.5% | 0.90% |
| NC | 985 | 3.6% | 0.80% |
| OH | 822 | 3.0% | 0.59% |
| MI | 775 | 2.8% | 0.68% |
| VA | 758 | 2.8% | 0.62% |
| IN | 755 | 2.7% | 0.73% |
| FL | 748 | 2.7% | 0.33% |
| WA | 620 | 2.2% | 0.90% |
| WI | 581 | 2.1% | 0.76% |
| NJ | 580 | 2.1% | 0.67% |
| GA | 578 | 2.1% | 0.51% |
| MN | 562 | 2.0% | 0.66% |
| CT | 523 | 1.9% | 1.07% |
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 27.0100 in the survey year used in our extract (44,269 total across levels below).
- 4,433 Associate (10.0% of IPEDS total)
- 27,586 Bachelor's (62.3% of IPEDS total)
- 12,198 Master's (27.6% of IPEDS total)
- 52 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 $125,367. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Mathematics graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Civil Engineers | $125,367 | 355,410 |
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 Mathematics CIP family (31 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Mathematics graduate.
- $35,655 median federal loan debt among completers
- $69,562 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.73 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 5.7% 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
$125,367 Average wage, mapped occupations (OEWS)
Occupations mapped to Mathematics average $125,367 a year in the BLS OEWS extract.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Mathematics majors.
Occupations by Share
54,640 2023 Workforce
The number of Mathematics graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Mathematics by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Mathematics in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Mathematics.
Age distribution for Mathematics degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
47,270 Total Degrees Awarded
29,680 Male (62.79%)
17,590 Female (37.21%)
Gender distribution of Mathematics degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
17,791 White or Caucasian (37.64%)
6,689 Asian (14.15%)
5,230 Hispanic or Latino (11.06%)
1,622 Two or More Races (3.43%)
1,295 Black or African American (2.74%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Mathematics degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Mathematics are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Mathematics.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Mathematics field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Mathematics majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Mathematics 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 Mathematics majors.
About
Mathematics
In 2023, 14,616 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Mathematics.
CIP Code
27.0100 - Mathematics
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $35,655 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $69,562, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.73. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Mathematics graduate.
Men earned 37.2% of 47,270 Mathematics completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $125,367. The largest mapped role by headcount is Civil Engineers (355,410 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $7,592 in-state at public colleges and $38,142 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.