Best Area programs in Colorado, ranked by enrollment
Teach courses pertaining to the culture and development of an area, an ethnic group, or any other group, such as Latin American studies, women's studies, or urban affairs.
12 schools in Colorado run programs that feed this job, graduating 104 people a year. The job pays a median of $79,190 in Colorado across about 160 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Colorado that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
15 programs in Colorado that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Colorado (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Colorado page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 05.0200In Colorado → | 28 | 26.9% | 4 | $31,459 | $23,000 |
| 2 | CIP 05.0299In Colorado → | 24 | 23.1% | 4 | $31,459 | $23,000 |
| 3 | CIP 05.0207In Colorado → | 15 | 14.4% | 4 | $31,459 | $23,000 |
| 4 | CIP 05.0203In Colorado → | 11 | 10.6% | 3 | $31,459 | $23,000 |
| 5 | Regional Studies (U.S., Canadian, Foreign)main feeder CIP 05.0122In Colorado → | 6 | 5.8% | 1 | $34,211 | $21,627 |
| 6 | Russian Studiesmain feeder CIP 05.0110In Colorado → | 5 | 4.8% | 1 | $34,211 | $21,627 |
| 7 | CIP 05.0202In Colorado → | 4 | 3.8% | 1 | $31,459 | $23,000 |
| 8 | Asian Studies/Civilizationmain feeder CIP 05.0103In Colorado → | 2 | 1.9% | 2 | $34,211 | $21,627 |
| 9 | CIP 30.1202In Colorado → | 2 | 1.9% | 2 | $35,326 | $22,812 |
| 10 | CIP 30.2301In Colorado → | 2 | 1.9% | 1 | $25,750 | $18,622 |
| 11 | French Studiesmain feeder CIP 05.0124In Colorado → | 1 | 1.0% | 1 | $34,211 | $21,627 |
| 12 | Italian Studiesmain feeder CIP 05.0126In Colorado → | 1 | 1.0% | 1 | $34,211 | $21,627 |
| 13 | CIP 05.0201In Colorado → | 1 | 1.0% | 1 | $31,459 | $23,000 |
| 14 | CIP 05.0212In Colorado → | 1 | 1.0% | 1 | $31,459 | $23,000 |
| 15 | CIP 38.0206In Colorado → | 1 | 1.0% | 1 | $26,048 | $25,612 |
Top 12 schools in Colorado
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 2 of the 12 schools in this state.
All 12 schools in Colorado
Every school in Colorado with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Colorado Boulder | Boulder | Public | 31 | 6 |
| Metropolitan State University of Denver | Denver | Public | 16 | 3 |
| Colorado College | Colorado Springs | Private not-for-profit | 14 | 6 |
| Colorado State University - Fort Collins | Fort Collins | Public | 9 | 2 |
| University of Northern Colorado | Greeley | Public | 8 | 2 |
| University of Colorado Colorado Springs | Colorado Springs | Public | 7 | 1 |
| Fort Lewis College | Durango | Public | 6 | 3 |
| University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus | Denver | Public | 5 | 1 |
| University of Denver | Denver | Private not-for-profit | 4 | 1 |
| Colorado State University Pueblo | Pueblo | Public | 2 | 1 |
| Adams State University | Alamosa | Public | 1 | 1 |
| Western Colorado University | Gunnison | Public | 1 | 1 |
What area, ethnic, and cultural studies teachers, postsecondary earn in Colorado
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $85,020. Colorado pays below the national figure.
1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.
Metro areas in Colorado
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.
How to get in
The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary page.
How to become a Area
Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above- Typical entry education
- Doctoral or professional degree
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Top skills
The same job in other states
Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.
Related careers in Colorado
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 25 majors mapped to Area, Ethnic, and Cultural Studies Teachers, Postsecondary21 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 05.0101African Studies
- 05.0102American/United States Studies/Civilization
- 05.0103Asian Studies/Civilization
- 05.0104East Asian Studies
- 05.0105Russian, Central European, East European and Eurasian Studies
- 05.0106European Studies/Civilization
- 05.0107Latin American Studies
- 05.0108Near and Middle Eastern Studies
- 05.0109Pacific Area/Pacific Rim Studies
- 05.0110Russian Studies
- 05.0111Scandinavian Studies
- 05.0112South Asian Studies
- 05.0113Southeast Asian Studies
- 05.0114Western European Studies
- 05.0115Canadian Studies
- 05.0116Balkans Studies(no graduates reported)
- 05.0117Baltic Studies(no graduates reported)
- 05.0118Slavic Studies
- 05.0119Caribbean Studies(no graduates reported)
- 05.0120Ural-Altaic and Central Asian Studies
- 05.0121Commonwealth Studies(no graduates reported)
- 05.0122Regional Studies (U.S., Canadian, Foreign)
- 05.0123Chinese Studies
- 05.0124French Studies
- 05.0125German Studies
Common questions
Answers for people weighing area, ethnic, and cultural studies teachers, postsecondary programs in Colorado.
What degree do you need to become an Area?+
Doctoral or professional degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Ethnic Studies, which awarded 28 degrees in Colorado in 2024-25, 26.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Area?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 15 programs to this occupation. The largest are Ethnic, Area Studies, Historic Preservation and Conservation, Intercultural/Multicultural and Diversity Studies, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 104 people a year in Colorado.
How much do area, ethnic, and cultural studies teachers, postsecondary earn in Colorado?+
The median is $79,190 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 6.9% below the U.S. median of $85,020. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.
Is demand for area, ethnic, and cultural studies teachers, postsecondary growing?+
BLS projects a +2.4% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 1,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Colorado?+
12 institutions in Colorado reported graduates from at least one of the 15 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.
What other job titles do area, ethnic, and cultural studies teachers, postsecondary work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Women's Studies Professor among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 25-1062.
About the data on this page
Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).
BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics
May 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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