Physics, General Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Physics, General maps to BLS occupations averaging about $64,987, with roughly 1,596,050 workers nationwide in those roles. About 6,710 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median program completion runs near 62%.
Key Statistics
Physics, General: what the data shows
Common questions about physics, general degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a physics, general degree?
A Physics, General program is classified under NCES CIP 40.0801 in the Physics field family (40.08).
A general program that focuses on the scientific study of matter and energy, and the formulation and testing of the laws governing the behavior of the matter-energy continuum. Includes instruction in classical and modern physics, electricity and magnetism, thermodynamics, mechanics, wave properties, nuclear processes, relativity and quantum theory, quantitative methods, and laboratory methods
IPEDS counted 6,710 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of physics, general degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 40.08 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Acoustics (CIP 40.0809)
- Atomic/Molecular Physics (CIP 40.0802)
- Condensed Matter and Materials Physics (CIP 40.0808)
- Elementary Particle Physics (CIP 40.0804)
- Nuclear Physics (CIP 40.0806)
- Optics/Optical Sciences (CIP 40.0807)
- Plasma and High-Temperature Physics (CIP 40.0805)
- Theoretical and Mathematical Physics (CIP 40.0810)
How long does it take to get a physics, general degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 40.0801 in our file:
- 1,493 Associate (14.7% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 6,710 Bachelor's (66.1% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 1,938 Master's (19.1% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 16 Doctorate (0.2% 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 physics, general?
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 40.0801, 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 physics, general degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Physics, General 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 physics, general degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Physics bachelor's program family: median debt $41,101, median earnings $76,786 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.89.
About 9.1% 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 $10,104 and median net price is $17,716.
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 Physics, General and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$10,104 Median In-State Public
$53,350 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Physics, General majors are, on average, $10,104 for in-state public colleges, and $53,350 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Physics, General programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
6,710 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Physics, General from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Physics, General.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
| 2 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
| 3 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
| 4 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,615 |
| 5 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | 59,615 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Physics, General programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antelope Valley Community College District | CA | $1,124 |
| 2 | Compton College | CA | $1,142 |
| 3 | El Camino Community College District | CA | $1,144 |
| 4 | San Diego City College | CA | $1,146 |
| 5 | San Diego Mesa College | CA | $1,146 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Physics, General programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada College | CA | $32 |
| 2 | College of the Sequoias | CA | $480 |
| 3 | College of San Mateo | CA | $536 |
| 4 | Imperial Valley College | CA | $1,115 |
| 5 | Skyline College | CA | $1,738 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Physics, General programs.
Graduation Rates
62.50% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
61.68% Average Graduation Rate
898 Institutions Reporting
49.67% - 74.28% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Physics, General 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 Physics, General is in CA (948 completions). That state represents about 14.1% 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 ME (0.34% 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 | 948 | 14.1% | 0.21% |
| NY | 554 | 8.3% | 0.20% |
| MA | 407 | 6.1% | 0.32% |
| PA | 386 | 5.8% | 0.23% |
| TX | 363 | 5.4% | 0.12% |
| IL | 272 | 4.0% | 0.20% |
| VA | 251 | 3.7% | 0.20% |
| NC | 206 | 3.1% | 0.17% |
| WA | 201 | 3.0% | 0.29% |
| FL | 189 | 2.8% | 0.08% |
| OH | 188 | 2.8% | 0.14% |
| MN | 185 | 2.8% | 0.22% |
| GA | 183 | 2.7% | 0.16% |
| MI | 179 | 2.7% | 0.16% |
| MD | 162 | 2.4% | 0.22% |
| WI | 154 | 2.3% | 0.20% |
| IN | 147 | 2.2% | 0.14% |
| CO | 146 | 2.2% | 0.20% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 40.08 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Acoustics CIP 40.0809
- Atomic/Molecular Physics CIP 40.0802
- Condensed Matter and Materials Physics CIP 40.0808
- Elementary Particle Physics CIP 40.0804
- Nuclear Physics CIP 40.0806
- Optics/Optical Sciences CIP 40.0807
- Plasma and High-Temperature Physics CIP 40.0805
- Theoretical and Mathematical Physics CIP 40.0810
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 40.0801 in the survey year used in our extract (10,157 total across levels below).
- 1,493 Associate (14.7% of IPEDS total)
- 6,710 Bachelor's (66.1% of IPEDS total)
- 1,938 Master's (19.1% of IPEDS total)
- 16 Doctorate (0.2% 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 Physics, General 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 Physics CIP family (12 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Physics, General graduate.
- $41,101 median federal loan debt among completers
- $76,786 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.89 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 9.1% 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 Physics, General majors is $40,621.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Physics, General majors.
Occupations by Share
1,596,050 2023 Workforce
The number of Physics, General graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Physics, General by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Physics, General in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Physics, General.
Age distribution for Physics, General degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
6,710 Total Degrees Awarded
4,997 Male (74.47%)
1,713 Female (25.53%)
Gender distribution of Physics, General degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
3,701 White (55.16%)
827 Hispanic or Latino (12.32%)
628 Asian (9.36%)
348 Two or More Races (5.19%)
217 Black or African American (3.23%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Physics, General degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Physics, General are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Physics, General.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Physics, General field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Physics, General majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Physics, General 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 Physics, General majors.
About
A general program that focuses on the scientific study of matter and energy, and the formulation and testing of the laws governing the behavior of the matter-energy continuum. Includes instruction in classical and modern physics, electricity and magnetism, thermodynamics, mechanics, wave properties, nuclear processes, relativity and quantum theory, quantitative methods, and laboratory methods
In 2023, 6,710 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Physics, General.
CIP Code
40.0801 - Physics, General
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $41,101 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $76,786, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.89. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Physics, General graduate.
About 9.1% 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.
Men earned 25.3% of 11,944 Physics, General 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 $10,104 in-state at public colleges and $53,350 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.