TL;DR

Receptionist — headline outcomes are in the stats below. Median in-state published tuition is about $4,612.

Key Statistics

$4,612
Median In-State Public Tuition
$13,450
Median Out-of-State Private Tuition

Receptionist: what the data shows

Common questions about receptionist degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.

What is a receptionist degree?

A Receptionist program is classified under NCES CIP 52.0406 in the Business Operations Support and Assistant Services field family (52.04).

A program that prepares individuals to perform frontline public relations duties for a business, organization, or answering service. Includes instruction in telephone answering techniques, responding to information requests, keeping caller and/or visitor records, placing business calls, operating telephone switchboards and/or other communications equipment, relaying incoming and interoffice calls, schedule maintenance, and public relations skills

Types of receptionist degrees and related programs

Other NCES program codes in the 52.04 family with pages on EDsmart Data:

Is a receptionist degree worth it?

College Scorecard national medians for the Business Operations Support and Assistant Services bachelor's program family: median debt $6,740, median earnings $28,311 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.41.

About 47.5% 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 $4,612 and median net price is $8,568.

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 Receptionist and the types of students that study this field.

Tuition Costs for Common Institutions

$4,612 Median In-State Public

$13,450 Median Out of State Private

Tuition costs for Receptionist majors are, on average, $4,612 for in-state public colleges, and $13,450 for out of state private colleges.

Tuition costs comparison for Receptionist programs.

Degrees Awarded Over Time

100,000 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023

This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Receptionist from 2015 to 2023.

Historical trend of degrees awarded in Receptionist.

Top 5 Schools by Enrollment

# School State Enrollment
1 Ivy Tech Community College IN 58,267
2 Ivy Tech Community College IN 58,267
3 Miami Dade College FL 46,182
4 Lone Star College System TX 45,188
5 Lone Star College System TX 45,188

Schools with the largest enrollment offering Receptionist programs.

Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition

# School State Tuition
1 Barstow Community College CA $1,104
2 Taft College CA $1,108
3 Taft College CA $1,108
4 Antelope Valley Community College District CA $1,124
5 Antelope Valley Community College District CA $1,124

Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Receptionist programs.

Top 5 Lowest Net Price

Schools with the lowest average net price for Receptionist programs.

Graduation Rates

Graduation rate data is not available for this degree program.

Graduation/completion rates for Receptionist programs across institutions.

Related specializations

Other NCES program codes in the 52.04 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.

Program outcomes (College Scorecard)

National medians across bachelor's programs in the Business Operations Support and Assistant Services CIP family (1 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Receptionist graduate.

  • $6,740 median federal loan debt among completers
  • $28,311 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
  • 0.41 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
  • 47.5% 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 Receptionist majors is $N/A.

Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Receptionist majors.

Occupations by Share

N/A 2023 Workforce

The number of Receptionist graduates in the workforce has been growing.

Various jobs filled by those with a major in Receptionist by share of the total number of graduates.

Diversity

Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Receptionist in the United States.

Workforce Age

N/A Average Age in 2023

This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Receptionist.

Age distribution for Receptionist degree holders in the workforce.

Gender Distribution

87 Total Degrees Awarded

7 Male (8.05%)

80 Female (91.95%)

Gender distribution of Receptionist degree recipients.

Race and Ethnicity Distribution

54 White (62.07%)

10 Black or African American (11.49%)

8 Two or More Races (9.20%)

7 Hispanic or Latino (8.05%)

2 Asian (2.30%)

Racial and ethnic distribution of Receptionist degree recipients.

Degrees Awarded

The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Receptionist are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.

Distribution of degree types awarded in Receptionist.

Skills

Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Receptionist field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Required Skills

Receptionist majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.

Rating of how necessary various skills are for Receptionist 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 Receptionist majors.

About

A program that prepares individuals to perform frontline public relations duties for a business, organization, or answering service. Includes instruction in telephone answering techniques, responding to information requests, keeping caller and/or visitor records, placing business calls, operating telephone switchboards and/or other communications equipment, relaying incoming and interoffice calls, schedule maintenance, and public relations skills

In 2023, 100,000 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Receptionist.

CIP Code

52.0406 - Receptionist

What the data shows

At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $6,740 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $28,311, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.41. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Receptionist graduate.

About 47.5% 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.

Women earned 92.0% of 87 Receptionist completions in the IPEDS file used here.

Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $4,612 in-state at public colleges and $13,450 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.