Real Estate Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Real Estate maps to BLS occupations averaging about $64,987, with roughly 1,596,050 workers nationwide in those roles. About 1,894 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; median program completion runs near 58%.
Key Statistics
Real Estate: what the data shows
Common questions about real estate degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a real estate degree?
A Real Estate program is classified under NCES CIP 52.1501 in the Real Estate field family (52.15).
A program that prepares individuals to develop, buy, sell, appraise, and manage real estate. Includes instruction in land use development policy, real estate law, real estate marketing procedures, agency management, brokerage, property inspection and appraisal, real estate investing, leased and rental properties, commercial real estate, and property management
IPEDS counted 1,894 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
How long does it take to get a real estate degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 52.1501 in our file:
- 658 Associate (18.1% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 1,894 Bachelor's (52.0% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 1,079 Master's (29.6% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 10 Doctorate (0.3% 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 real estate?
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 52.1501, 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 real estate degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Real Estate 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 real estate degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Real Estate bachelor's program family: median debt $21,387, median earnings $84,821 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.39.
About 5.2% 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 $4,780 and median net price is $8,033.
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 Real Estate and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$4,780 Median In-State Public
$15,968 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Real Estate majors are, on average, $4,780 for in-state public colleges, and $15,968 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Real Estate programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
1,894 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Real Estate from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Real Estate.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brigham Young University-Idaho | ID | 42,090 |
| 2 | Tarrant County College District | TX | 40,214 |
| 3 | Purdue University-Main Campus | IN | 39,637 |
| 4 | Connecticut State Community College | CT | 32,292 |
| 5 | Hillsborough Community College | FL | 19,998 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Real Estate programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles Trade Technical College | CA | $1,238 |
| 2 | Victor Valley College | CA | $1,425 |
| 3 | Tarrant County College District | TX | $1,728 |
| 4 | Pitt Community College | NC | $1,972 |
| 5 | Durham Technical Community College | NC | $1,986 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Real Estate programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Henry Ford College | MI | $576 |
| 2 | Durham Technical Community College | NC | $1,183 |
| 3 | Mississippi Delta Community College | MS | $2,276 |
| 4 | Advantage Technical College | PR | $2,791 |
| 5 | Seminole State College of Florida | FL | $3,119 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Real Estate programs.
Graduation Rates
57.83% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
58.11% Average Graduation Rate
280 Institutions Reporting
44.70% - 73.07% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Real Estate 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 Real Estate is in FL (243 completions). That state represents about 12.8% 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 WI (0.29% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| FL | 243 | 12.8% | 0.11% |
| TX | 235 | 12.4% | 0.08% |
| WI | 220 | 11.6% | 0.29% |
| GA | 210 | 11.1% | 0.18% |
| NY | 157 | 8.3% | 0.06% |
| CA | 155 | 8.2% | 0.03% |
| OH | 126 | 6.7% | 0.09% |
| VA | 105 | 5.5% | 0.09% |
| PA | 104 | 5.5% | 0.06% |
| SC | 104 | 5.5% | 0.19% |
| CO | 34 | 1.8% | 0.05% |
| IA | 34 | 1.8% | 0.07% |
| MS | 30 | 1.6% | 0.10% |
| MN | 29 | 1.5% | 0.03% |
| NE | 22 | 1.2% | 0.07% |
| IL | 20 | 1.1% | 0.01% |
| NV | 17 | 0.9% | 0.08% |
| MD | 15 | 0.8% | 0.02% |
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 52.1501 in the survey year used in our extract (3,641 total across levels below).
- 658 Associate (18.1% of IPEDS total)
- 1,894 Bachelor's (52.0% of IPEDS total)
- 1,079 Master's (29.6% of IPEDS total)
- 10 Doctorate (0.3% 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 Real Estate 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 Real Estate CIP family (1 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Real Estate graduate.
- $21,387 median federal loan debt among completers
- $84,821 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.39 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 5.2% 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 Real Estate majors is $40,621.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Real Estate majors.
Occupations by Share
1,596,050 2023 Workforce
The number of Real Estate graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Real Estate by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Real Estate in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Real Estate.
Age distribution for Real Estate degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
1,894 Total Degrees Awarded
1,331 Male (70.27%)
563 Female (29.73%)
Gender distribution of Real Estate degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
1,296 White (68.43%)
279 Hispanic or Latino (14.73%)
93 Asian (4.91%)
69 Two or More Races (3.64%)
64 Black or African American (3.38%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Real Estate degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Real Estate are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Real Estate.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Real Estate field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Real Estate majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Real Estate 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 Real Estate majors.
About
A program that prepares individuals to develop, buy, sell, appraise, and manage real estate. Includes instruction in land use development policy, real estate law, real estate marketing procedures, agency management, brokerage, property inspection and appraisal, real estate investing, leased and rental properties, commercial real estate, and property management
In 2023, 1,894 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Real Estate.
CIP Code
52.1501 - Real Estate
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $21,387 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $84,821, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.39. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Real Estate graduate.
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 $4,780 in-state at public colleges and $15,968 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.