Public Administration Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Public Administration maps to BLS occupations averaging about $64,987, with roughly 1,596,050 workers nationwide in those roles. About 2,130 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median in-state published tuition is about $9,992.
Key Statistics
Public Administration: what the data shows
Common questions about public administration degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a public administration degree?
A Public Administration program is classified under NCES CIP 44.0401 in the Public Administration field family (44.04).
A program that prepares individuals to serve as managers in the executive arm of local, state, and federal government and that focuses on the systematic study of executive organization and management. Includes instruction in the roles, development, and principles of public administration; the management of public policy; executive-legislative relations; public budgetary processes and financial management; administrative law; public personnel management; professional ethics; and research methods
IPEDS counted 2,130 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of public administration degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 44.04 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Architecture (CIP 44.0402)
- Transportation and Infrastructure Planning/Studies (CIP 44.0403)
How long does it take to get a public administration degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 44.0401 in our file:
- 88 Associate (0.7% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 2,130 Bachelor's (16.7% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 10,493 Master's (82.1% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 69 Doctorate (0.5% 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 public administration?
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%).
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a public administration degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Public Administration 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 public administration degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Public Administration bachelor's program family: median debt $28,262, median earnings $65,093 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.62.
About 4.5% 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 $9,992 and median net price is $16,863.
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 Public Administration and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$9,992 Median In-State Public
$36,450 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Public Administration majors are, on average, $9,992 for in-state public colleges, and $36,450 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Public Administration programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
2,130 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Public Administration from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Public Administration.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern New Hampshire University | NH | 163,164 |
| 2 | Southern New Hampshire University | NH | 163,164 |
| 3 | University of Phoenix-Arizona | AZ | 85,991 |
| 4 | University of Phoenix-Arizona | AZ | 85,991 |
| 5 | Grand Canyon University | AZ | 73,371 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Public Administration programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southwestern College | CA | $1,344 |
| 2 | Palomar College | CA | $1,354 |
| 3 | Kilgore College | TX | $2,160 |
| 4 | Central Arizona College | AZ | $2,250 |
| 5 | Glendale Community College | AZ | $2,358 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Public Administration programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Petersburg College | FL | $1,471 |
| 2 | South Texas College | TX | $1,751 |
| 3 | South Texas College | TX | $1,751 |
| 4 | CUNY Hunter College | NY | $2,984 |
| 5 | CUNY Bernard M Baruch College | NY | $3,033 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Public Administration programs.
Graduation Rates
54.87% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
54.63% Average Graduation Rate
576 Institutions Reporting
42.92% - 67.50% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Public Administration 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 Public Administration is in IN (433 completions). That state represents about 20.3% 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 GU (1.85% 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 | 433 | 20.3% | 0.42% |
| FL | 221 | 10.4% | 0.10% |
| CA | 214 | 10.1% | 0.05% |
| NY | 146 | 6.8% | 0.05% |
| NC | 118 | 5.5% | 0.10% |
| VA | 110 | 5.2% | 0.09% |
| AZ | 107 | 5.0% | 0.08% |
| TX | 97 | 4.5% | 0.03% |
| HI | 94 | 4.4% | 0.85% |
| OH | 91 | 4.3% | 0.07% |
| OR | 74 | 3.5% | 0.17% |
| MI | 57 | 2.7% | 0.05% |
| MO | 53 | 2.5% | 0.07% |
| MD | 49 | 2.3% | 0.07% |
| IA | 38 | 1.8% | 0.08% |
| WI | 28 | 1.3% | 0.04% |
| NJ | 21 | 1.0% | 0.02% |
| PA | 21 | 1.0% | 0.01% |
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 44.04 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Architecture CIP 44.0402
- Transportation and Infrastructure Planning/Studies CIP 44.0403
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 44.0401 in the survey year used in our extract (12,780 total across levels below).
- 88 Associate (0.7% of IPEDS total)
- 2,130 Bachelor's (16.7% of IPEDS total)
- 10,493 Master's (82.1% of IPEDS total)
- 69 Doctorate (0.5% 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 Public Administration 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 Public Administration CIP family (6 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Public Administration graduate.
- $28,262 median federal loan debt among completers
- $65,093 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.62 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 4.5% 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
$40,621 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Public Administration majors is $40,621.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Public Administration majors.
Occupations by Share
1,596,050 2023 Workforce
The number of Public Administration graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Public Administration by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Public Administration in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Public Administration.
Age distribution for Public Administration degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
2,130 Total Degrees Awarded
1,028 Male (48.26%)
1,102 Female (51.74%)
Gender distribution of Public Administration degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
1,092 White (51.27%)
415 Hispanic or Latino (19.48%)
231 Black or African American (10.85%)
119 Two or More Races (5.59%)
113 Asian (5.31%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Public Administration degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Public Administration are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Public Administration.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Public Administration field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Public Administration majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Public Administration 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 Public Administration majors.
About
A program that prepares individuals to serve as managers in the executive arm of local, state, and federal government and that focuses on the systematic study of executive organization and management. Includes instruction in the roles, development, and principles of public administration; the management of public policy; executive-legislative relations; public budgetary processes and financial management; administrative law; public personnel management; professional ethics; and research methods
In 2023, 2,130 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Public Administration.
CIP Code
44.0401 - Public Administration
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $28,262 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $65,093, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.62. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Public Administration graduate.
Women earned 58.4% of 13,898 Public Administration 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 $9,992 in-state at public colleges and $36,450 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.