Mississippi·Business and Financial Operations Occupations·SOC 13-2011

Best Accountant programs in Mississippi, ranked by enrollment

Examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others.

17 schools in Mississippi run programs that feed this job, graduating 777 people a year. The job pays a median of $68,100 in Mississippi across about 7,350 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledAuditorAccountantFinancial AuditorCertified Public Accountant (CPA)BursarTax AuditorCity AuditorAsset Analyst
Graduates / yr
777
in Mississippi
Median pay · Mississippi
$68,100
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
7,350
people employed
Schools
17
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
46%
across those schools
Median net price
$22,476
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Mississippi that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

3 programs in Mississippi that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Mississippi (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 Mississippi page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
Accountingmain feeder
754
97.0%
16$51,824$24,433
2
Taxationmain feeder
19
2.4%
2
34
0.5%
2$51,824$24,433

Top 17 schools in Mississippi

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 8 of the 17 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1University of Mississippi
University, MS Public · 2 feeder programs
334Accounting$59,12372%97%
2Mississippi State University
Mississippi State, MS Public · 2 feeder programs
182Accounting$41,71767%78%
3University of Southern Mississippi
Hattiesburg, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
67Accounting$40,76449%99%
4Jackson State University
Jackson, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
41Accounting$40,41951%93%
5Mississippi Christian University
Clinton, MS Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
27Accounting59%$21,09629%
6Northwest Mississippi Community College
Senatobia, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
22Accounting$28,72545%
7Itawamba Community College
Fulton, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
21Accounting50%
8Millsaps College
Jackson, MS Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
19Accounting57%$25,24943%
9Copiah - Lincoln Community College
Wesson, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
16Accounting50%
10Belhaven University
Jackson, MS Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
11Accounting$43,01649%$22,47650%
11Delta State University
Cleveland, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
9Accounting48%100%
12East Mississippi Community College
Scooba, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
8Accounting48%
13Alcorn State University
Alcorn State, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
6Accounting$27,47257%45%
14Mississippi Valley State University
Itta Bena, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
6Accounting27%92%
15Coahoma Community College
Clarksdale, MS Public · 1 feeder programs
5Accounting41%
16Strayer University - Mississippi
Jackson, MS Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
2Accounting and Business/Management$52,3730%
17Rust College
Holly Springs, MS Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Accounting12%$8,71149%

All 17 schools in Mississippi

Every school in Mississippi 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.

All schools in Mississippi that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
University of MississippiUniversityPublic3342
Mississippi State UniversityMississippi StatePublic1822
University of Southern MississippiHattiesburgPublic671
Jackson State UniversityJacksonPublic411
Mississippi Christian UniversityClintonPrivate not-for-profit272
Northwest Mississippi Community CollegeSenatobiaPublic221
Itawamba Community CollegeFultonPublic211
Millsaps CollegeJacksonPrivate not-for-profit191
Copiah - Lincoln Community CollegeWessonPublic161
Belhaven UniversityJacksonPrivate not-for-profit111
Delta State UniversityClevelandPublic91
East Mississippi Community CollegeScoobaPublic81
Alcorn State UniversityAlcorn StatePublic61
Mississippi Valley State UniversityItta BenaPublic61
Coahoma Community CollegeClarksdalePublic51

What accountants and auditors earn in Mississippi

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Mississippi
$68,100
Mean annual
$77,680
Jobs in state
7,350
What the range looks like
10th pct$45,440Median$68,10090th pct$120,290
Versus the national median
-18.6%

U.S. median $83,680. Mississippi pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.68×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Mississippi

Gulfport-Biloxi, MS
$76,380median
860 jobs
Jackson, MS
$70,720median
2,590 jobs
Hattiesburg, MS
$65,320median
350 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+4.6%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
124,200
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
72,800
1,579,800 → 1,652,600
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

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 Accountants and Auditors page.

How to become a Accountant

Job zone 4 of 5 · SVP 7.0 to < 8.0
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Top skills

Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningCritical ThinkingSpeakingWritingMonitoring

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Mississippi

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 7 majors mapped to Accountants and Auditors7 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 30.1601Accounting and Computer Science
  • 43.0405Financial Forensics and Fraud Investigation
  • 52.0301Accounting
  • 52.0303Auditing
  • 52.0304Accounting and Finance
  • 52.0305Accounting and Business/Management
  • 52.1601Taxation

Common questions

Answers for people weighing accountants and auditors programs in Mississippi.

What degree do you need to become an Accountant?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Accounting, which awarded 754 degrees in Mississippi in 2024-25, 97.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Accountant?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Accounting and Related Services, Taxation. Together they graduate about 777 people a year in Mississippi.

How much do accountants and auditors earn in Mississippi?+

The median is $68,100 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 18.6% below the U.S. median of $83,680. 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 accountants and auditors growing?+

BLS projects a +4.6% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 124,200 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Mississippi?+

17 institutions in Mississippi reported graduates from at least one of the 3 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 accountants and auditors work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Auditor, Accountant, Financial Auditor, Certified Public Accountant (CPA) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 13-2011.

Programs in MississippiAccountingTaxation

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 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected 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 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, 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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