Pharmaceutics and Drug Design Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Pharmaceutics and Drug Design maps to BLS occupations averaging about N/A, with roughly 158,550 workers nationwide in those roles. Median in-state published tuition is about $12,102; common paths include Floral Designers and Artists and Related Workers, All Other.
Key Statistics
Pharmaceutics and Drug Design: what the data shows
Common questions about pharmaceutics and drug design degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a pharmaceutics and drug design degree?
A Pharmaceutics and Drug Design program is classified under NCES CIP 51.2003 in the Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration field family (51.20).
A program that focuses on the scientific study of the formulation of medicinal substances into product vehicles capable of being stored, transported, and then introduced into the patient and behaving in ways optimal to therapeutic interaction. Includes instruction in statistics, biopharmaceutics, drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, physical pharmacy, pharmacological analysis, drug design and development, pharmacological biotechnology, chemical separations, spectroscopy, drug-host interactions, immunology, quantitative drug measurement, enzymatic transformations, and metabolic excretion
IPEDS counted 180 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of pharmaceutics and drug design degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 51.20 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Clinical and Industrial Drug Development (CIP 51.2006)
- Clinical, Hospital, and Managed Care Pharmacy (CIP 51.2008)
- Industrial and Physical Pharmacy and Cosmetic Sciences (CIP 51.2009)
- Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry (CIP 51.2004)
- Natural Products Chemistry and Pharmacognosy (CIP 51.2005)
- Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management (CIP 51.2011)
- Pharmaceutical Sciences (CIP 51.2010)
- Pharmacoeconomics/Pharmaceutical Economics (CIP 51.2007)
- Pharmacy (CIP 51.2001)
- Pharmacy Administration and Pharmacy Policy and Regulatory Affairs (CIP 51.2002)
How long does it take to get a pharmaceutics and drug design degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.2003 in our file:
- 180 Bachelor's (43.0% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 239 Master's (57.0% 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 Floral Designers (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 pharmaceutics and drug design degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Pharmaceutics and Drug Design 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Floral Designers | 40,160 | $36,120 |
| Artists and Related Workers, All Other | 7,370 | $72,760 |
| Set and Exhibit Designers | 10,850 | $66,280 |
| Fashion Designers | 20,910 | $80,690 |
| Interior Designers | 69,580 | $63,490 |
| Designers, All Other | 9,680 | $66,220 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a pharmaceutics and drug design degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration bachelor's program family: median debt $34,505, median earnings $116,539 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.70.
About 6.5% 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 $12,102 and median net price is $19,216.
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 Pharmaceutics and Drug Design and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$12,102 Median In-State Public
$41,475 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Pharmaceutics and Drug Design majors are, on average, $12,102 for in-state public colleges, and $41,475 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Pharmaceutics and Drug Design programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
100,000 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Pharmaceutics and Drug Design from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Pharmaceutics and Drug Design.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,615 |
| 2 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,615 |
| 3 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 58,267 |
| 4 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | OH | 45,638 |
| 5 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | OH | 45,638 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Pharmaceutics and Drug Design programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durham Technical Community College | NC | $1,986 |
| 2 | Durham Technical Community College | NC | $1,986 |
| 3 | South Plains College | TX | $2,731 |
| 4 | North Idaho College | ID | $3,396 |
| 5 | Butler Community College | KS | $3,541 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Pharmaceutics and Drug Design programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Durham Technical Community College | NC | $1,664 |
| 2 | Durham Technical Community College | NC | $1,664 |
| 3 | CUNY York College | NY | $4,456 |
| 4 | East Mississippi Community College | MS | $4,608 |
| 5 | Brightpoint Community College | VA | $5,490 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Pharmaceutics and Drug Design programs.
Graduation Rates
Graduation rate data is not available for this degree program.
Graduation/completion rates for Pharmaceutics and Drug Design 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 Pharmaceutics and Drug Design is in IN (59 completions). That state represents about 32.8% 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 SD (0.33% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| IN | 59 | 32.8% | 0.06% |
| SD | 39 | 21.7% | 0.33% |
| NM | 37 | 20.6% | 0.23% |
| OH | 26 | 14.4% | 0.02% |
| PA | 17 | 9.4% | 0.01% |
| CA | 2 | 1.1% | 0.00% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 51.20 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Clinical and Industrial Drug Development CIP 51.2006
- Clinical, Hospital, and Managed Care Pharmacy CIP 51.2008
- Industrial and Physical Pharmacy and Cosmetic Sciences CIP 51.2009
- Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry CIP 51.2004
- Natural Products Chemistry and Pharmacognosy CIP 51.2005
- Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management CIP 51.2011
- Pharmaceutical Sciences CIP 51.2010
- Pharmacoeconomics/Pharmaceutical Economics CIP 51.2007
- Pharmacy CIP 51.2001
- Pharmacy Administration and Pharmacy Policy and Regulatory Affairs CIP 51.2002
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 51.2003 in the survey year used in our extract (419 total across levels below).
- 180 Bachelor's (43.0% of IPEDS total)
- 239 Master's (57.0% 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 N/A. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Pharmaceutics and Drug Design graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Floral Designers | $49,284 | 40,160 |
| Artists and Related Workers, All Other | $89,549 | 7,370 |
| Set and Exhibit Designers | $105,707 | 10,850 |
| Fashion Designers | — | 20,910 |
| Interior Designers | $87,978 | 69,580 |
| Designers, All Other | $98,753 | 9,680 |
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 Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration CIP family (16 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Pharmaceutics and Drug Design graduate.
- $34,505 median federal loan debt among completers
- $116,539 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.70 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 6.5% 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
$N/A Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Pharmaceutics and Drug Design majors is $N/A.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Pharmaceutics and Drug Design majors.
Occupations by Share
158,550 2023 Workforce
The number of Pharmaceutics and Drug Design graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Pharmaceutics and Drug Design by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Pharmaceutics and Drug Design in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Pharmaceutics and Drug Design.
Age distribution for Pharmaceutics and Drug Design degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
180 Total Degrees Awarded
62 Male (34.44%)
118 Female (65.56%)
Gender distribution of Pharmaceutics and Drug Design degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
94 White (52.22%)
24 Asian (13.33%)
20 Hispanic or Latino (11.11%)
11 Black or African American (6.11%)
7 Two or More Races (3.89%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Pharmaceutics and Drug Design degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Pharmaceutics and Drug Design are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Pharmaceutics and Drug Design.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Pharmaceutics and Drug Design field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Pharmaceutics and Drug Design majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Pharmaceutics and Drug Design 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 Pharmaceutics and Drug Design majors.
About
A program that focuses on the scientific study of the formulation of medicinal substances into product vehicles capable of being stored, transported, and then introduced into the patient and behaving in ways optimal to therapeutic interaction. Includes instruction in statistics, biopharmaceutics, drug metabolism, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, physical pharmacy, pharmacological analysis, drug design and development, pharmacological biotechnology, chemical separations, spectroscopy, drug-host interactions, immunology, quantitative drug measurement, enzymatic transformations, and metabolic excretion
In 2023, 100,000 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Pharmaceutics and Drug Design.
CIP Code
51.2003 - Pharmaceutics and Drug Design
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $34,505 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $116,539, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.70. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Pharmaceutics and Drug Design graduate.
Women earned 61.0% of 603 Pharmaceutics and Drug Design completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about N/A. The largest mapped role by headcount is Floral Designers (40,160 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $12,102 in-state at public colleges and $41,475 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.