Special Education Degrees (2026 stats)
Executive Summary (TL;DR)
Special Education maps to BLS occupations averaging about $62,288, with roughly 3,440 workers nationwide in those roles. About 7,666 degrees completed in recent IPEDS counts; median program completion runs near 61%.
Special Education: what the data shows
Common questions about special education degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a special education degree?
A Special Education program is classified under NCES CIP 13.1000 in the Special Education and Teaching field family (00.13).
IPEDS counted 7,666 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
Types of special education degrees and related programs
Other NCES program codes in the 00.13 family with pages on EDsmart Data:
- Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education (CIP 00.1302)
- Educational Administration and Supervision (CIP 00.1304)
- Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research (CIP 00.1306)
- Educational/Instructional Media Design (CIP 00.1305)
- International and Comparative Education (CIP 00.1307)
- Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education (CIP 00.1309)
- Student Counseling and Personnel Services (CIP 00.1311)
- Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods (CIP 00.1312)
- Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas (CIP 00.1313)
- Teaching Assistants/Aides (CIP 00.1315)
- Teaching English or French as a Second or Foreign Language (CIP 00.1314)
How long does it take to get a special education degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 13.1000 in our file:
- 175 Bachelor's (10.8% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 1,437 Master's (89.0% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 2 Doctorate (0.1% 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 special education?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Speaking, Active Listening, Social Perceptiveness, Critical Thinking, Reading Comprehension, Writing, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What jobs can you get with a special education degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Special Education 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Special Education Teachers | 28,200 | $62,190 |
| Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten | — | — |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a special education degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Special Education and Teaching bachelor's program family: median debt $28,598, median earnings $50,499 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.65.
About 0.0% 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 $8,487 and median net price is $17,089.
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 Special Education and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$8,487 Median In-State Public
$35,712 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Special Education majors are, on average, $8,487 for in-state public colleges, and $35,712 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Special Education programs.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
7,666 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Special Education from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Special Education.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern New Hampshire University | NH | 156,755 |
| 2 | Western Governors University | UT | 135,822 |
| 3 | University of Phoenix-Arizona | AZ | 76,996 |
| 4 | Grand Canyon University | AZ | 68,619 |
| 5 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,398 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Special Education programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taft College | CA | $1,108 |
| 2 | Woodland Community College | CA | $1,124 |
| 3 | Imperial Valley College | CA | $1,126 |
| 4 | Yuba College | CA | $1,128 |
| 5 | Compton College | CA | $1,142 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Special Education programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada College | CA | $10 |
| 2 | College of the Sequoias | CA | $29 |
| 3 | Cleveland Community College | NC | $414 |
| 4 | Coahoma Community College | MS | $560 |
| 5 | Henry Ford College | MI | $576 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Special Education programs.
Graduation Rates
61.16% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
60.42% Average Graduation Rate
132 Institutions Reporting
47.09% - 77.14% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Special Education programs across institutions.
Related specializations
Other NCES program codes in the 00.13 CIP family with dedicated pages on EDsmart Data.
- Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education CIP 00.1302
- Educational Administration and Supervision CIP 00.1304
- Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research CIP 00.1306
- Educational/Instructional Media Design CIP 00.1305
- International and Comparative Education CIP 00.1307
- Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education CIP 00.1309
- Student Counseling and Personnel Services CIP 00.1311
- Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods CIP 00.1312
- Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas CIP 00.1313
- Teaching Assistants/Aides CIP 00.1315
- Teaching English or French as a Second or Foreign Language CIP 00.1314
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 13.1000 in the survey year used in our extract (1,614 total across levels below).
- 175 Bachelor's (10.8% of IPEDS total)
- 1,437 Master's (89.0% of IPEDS total)
- 2 Doctorate (0.1% 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 $62,288. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Special Education graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Special Education Teachers | $62,288 | 28,200 |
| Special Education Teachers, Kindergarten | — | — |
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 Special Education and Teaching CIP family (28 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Special Education graduate.
- $28,598 median federal loan debt among completers
- $50,499 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.65 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 0.0% 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
$62,288 Average wage, mapped occupations (OEWS)
Occupations mapped to Special Education average $62,288 a year in the BLS OEWS extract.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Special Education majors.
Occupations by Share
3,440 2023 Workforce
The number of Special Education graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Special Education by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Special Education in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Special Education.
Age distribution for Special Education degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Gender distribution data is not available for this degree program.
Gender distribution of Special Education degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Race and ethnicity distribution data is not available for this degree program.
Racial and ethnic distribution of Special Education degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Special Education are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Special Education.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Special Education field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Special Education majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Special Education 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 Special Education majors.
About
Special Education
In 2023, 7,666 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Special Education.
CIP Code
13.1000 - Special Education
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $28,598 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $50,499, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.65. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Special Education graduate.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $62,288. The largest mapped role by headcount is Special Education Teachers (28,200 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $8,487 in-state at public colleges and $35,712 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.