Subject Area Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Subject Area maps to BLS occupations averaging about $110,992, with roughly 50,420 workers nationwide in those roles. Median program completion runs near 57%; median in-state published tuition is about $8,120.
Key Statistics
Subject Area: what the data shows
Common questions about subject area degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a subject area degree?
A Subject Area program is classified under NCES CIP 48.1313 in the 48.0013 field family (48.13).
IPEDS counted 36 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
How long does it take to get a subject area degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 48.1313 in our file:
- 5,377 Associate (96.2% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 36 Bachelor's (0.6% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 11 Master's (0.2% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 168 Doctorate (3.0% 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 subject area?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Reading Comprehension, Instructing, Speaking, Active Learning, Active Listening, Learning Strategies, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What degree do you need?
For Teachers and Instructors, All Other (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 subject area degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Subject Area 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 and Instructors, All Other | 125,010 | $64,690 |
| Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary | 11,430 | $84,290 |
| Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary | 5,260 | $95,770 |
| Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary | 97,890 | $80,190 |
| Economics Teachers, Postsecondary | 12,420 | $119,980 |
| Education Teachers, Postsecondary | 59,090 | $72,090 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a subject area degree worth it?
Among schools reporting in our Scorecard extract, median published in-state tuition is $8,120 and median net price is $17,724.
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 Subject Area and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$8,120 Median In-State Public
$35,410 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Subject Area majors are, on average, $8,120 for in-state public colleges, and $35,410 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Subject Area programs.
Institutions awarding the most Subject Area degrees
| # | Institution | State | Completions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ivy Tech Community College | IN | 1,195 |
| 2 | Tulsa Welding School-Houston | TX | 1,170 |
| 3 | Tulsa Welding School-Jacksonville | FL | 984 |
| 4 | Texas State Technical College | TX | 621 |
| 5 | Arclabs | SC | 599 |
| 6 | Tulsa Welding School-Tulsa | OK | 565 |
| 7 | Bluegrass Community and Technical College | KY | 557 |
| 8 | Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College | KY | 547 |
| 9 | South Texas College | TX | 535 |
| 10 | Maysville Community and Technical College | KY | 501 |
IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), all award levels for this CIP in our extract.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
36 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Subject Area from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Subject Area.
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 Subject Area programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | El Camino Community College District | CA | $1,144 |
| 2 | Fullerton College | CA | $1,150 |
| 3 | MiraCosta College | CA | $1,152 |
| 4 | Diablo Valley College | CA | $1,312 |
| 5 | Los Medanos College | CA | $1,312 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Subject Area programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coahoma Community College | MS | $560 |
| 2 | Henry Ford College | MI | $576 |
| 3 | Cerritos College | CA | $693 |
| 4 | Chipola College | FL | $832 |
| 5 | Reedley College | CA | $1,584 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Subject Area programs.
Graduation Rates
57.47% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
59.16% Average Graduation Rate
182 Institutions Reporting
45.95% - 71.53% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Subject Area 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 Subject Area is in RI (29 completions). That state represents about 80.6% 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 RI (0.11% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| RI | 29 | 80.6% | 0.11% |
| ID | 4 | 11.1% | 0.01% |
| CA | 2 | 5.6% | 0.00% |
| MN | 1 | 2.8% | 0.00% |
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 48.1313 in the survey year used in our extract (5,592 total across levels below).
- 5,377 Associate (96.2% of IPEDS total)
- 36 Bachelor's (0.6% of IPEDS total)
- 11 Master's (0.2% of IPEDS total)
- 168 Doctorate (3.0% 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 $110,992. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Subject Area graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Teachers and Instructors, All Other | $92,692 | 125,010 |
| Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary | $129,630 | 11,430 |
| Anthropology and Archeology Teachers, Postsecondary | $126,897 | 5,260 |
| Art, Drama, and Music Teachers, Postsecondary | $130,318 | 97,890 |
| Economics Teachers, Postsecondary | $155,412 | 12,420 |
| Education Teachers, Postsecondary | $103,334 | 59,090 |
Open each occupation for full career profile charts and industry breakdowns on EDsmart Data.
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
$103,429 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Subject Area majors is $103,429.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Subject Area majors.
Occupations by Share
50,420 2023 Workforce
The number of Subject Area graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Subject Area by share of the total number of graduates.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Subject Area in the United States.
Workforce Age
N/A Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Subject Area.
Age distribution for Subject Area degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
36 Total Degrees Awarded
16 Male (44.44%)
20 Female (55.56%)
Gender distribution of Subject Area degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
18 White (50.00%)
6 Asian (16.67%)
3 Hispanic or Latino (8.33%)
1 Two or More Races (2.78%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Subject Area degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Subject Area are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Subject Area.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Subject Area field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Subject Area majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Subject Area 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 Subject Area majors.
About
Subject Area
In 2023, 36 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Subject Area.
CIP Code
48.1313 - Subject Area
What the data shows
Men earned 10.9% of 67,885 Subject Area completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $110,992. The largest mapped role by headcount is Teachers and Instructors, All Other (125,010 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $8,120 in-state at public colleges and $35,410 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.