Nebraska·Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations·SOC 27-3091

Best Interpreter programs in Nebraska, ranked by enrollment

Interpret oral or sign language, or translate written text from one language into.

7 schools in Nebraska run programs that feed this job, graduating 62 people a year. The job pays a median of $53,050 in Nebraska across about 570 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledTranslatorInterpreterMedical InterpreterSign Language InterpreterLinguistFarsi LinguistDeaf InterpreterLegal Translator
Graduates / yr
62
in Nebraska
Median pay · Nebraska
$53,050
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
570
people employed
Schools
7
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
58%
across those schools
Median net price
$25,103
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Nebraska that lead to this job

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

6 programs in Nebraska that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Nebraska (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 Nebraska page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 16.0905In Nebraska
24
38.7%
4$34,541$22,748
2
CIP 16.0101In Nebraska
21
33.9%
4$27,449$20,824
3
CIP 16.0901In Nebraska
9
14.5%
2$34,541$22,748
4
CIP 16.0103In Nebraska
3
4.8%
1$27,449$20,824
5
CIP 16.0501In Nebraska
3
4.8%
1$44,390$23,202
6
CIP 16.0402In Nebraska
2
3.2%
1$60,240$5,500

Top 7 schools in Nebraska

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 2 of the 7 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 Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE Public · 5 feeder programs
28Spanish Language and Literature$38,47867%87%
2University of Nebraska at Kearney
Kearney, NE Public · 2 feeder programs
15Spanish Language and Literature58%89%
3University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE Public · 1 feeder programs
10Foreign Languages and Literatures, General$33,82847%87%
4Creighton University
Omaha, NE Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
4Spanish Language and Literature83%$27,35380%
5Metropolitan Community College Area
Omaha, NE Public · 1 feeder programs
3Language Interpretation and Translation29%
6Doane University
Crete, NE Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Spanish Language and Literature57%$25,10398%
7Nebraska Wesleyan University
Lincoln, NE Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Foreign Languages and Literatures, General66%$22,22580%

All 7 schools in Nebraska

Every school in Nebraska 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 Nebraska that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
University of Nebraska - LincolnLincolnPublic285
University of Nebraska at KearneyKearneyPublic152
University of Nebraska at OmahaOmahaPublic101
Creighton UniversityOmahaPrivate not-for-profit42
Metropolitan Community College AreaOmahaPublic31
Doane UniversityCretePrivate not-for-profit11
Nebraska Wesleyan UniversityLincolnPrivate not-for-profit11

What interpreters and translators earn in Nebraska

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

Median annual in Nebraska
$53,050
Mean annual
$58,940
Jobs in state
570
What the range looks like
10th pct$41,860Median$53,05090th pct$87,480
Versus the national median
-11.8%

U.S. median $60,170. Nebraska pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
1.66×

Concentrated here: Nebraska employs more of this job per worker than the U.S. average.

Metro areas in Nebraska

Omaha, NE-IA
$53,960median
310 jobs
Lincoln, NE
$60,820median
100 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+1.7%
Little or no change
Openings per year
6,900
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
1,300
75,300 → 76,600
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 Interpreters and Translators page.

How to become a Interpreter

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

SpeakingActive ListeningReading ComprehensionWritingMonitoringCritical Thinking

The same job in other states

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

Related careers in Nebraska

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 25 majors mapped to Interpreters and Translators17 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 05.0211Deaf Studies
  • 13.1003Education/Teaching of Individuals with Hearing Impairments Including Deafness
  • 16.0101Foreign Languages and Literatures, General
  • 16.0102Linguistics
  • 16.0103Language Interpretation and Translation
  • 16.0105Applied Linguistics
  • 16.0201African Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics
  • 16.0300East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General
  • 16.0301Chinese Language and Literature
  • 16.0302Japanese Language and Literature
  • 16.0303Korean Language and Literature
  • 16.0304Tibetan Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
  • 16.0399East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Other
  • 16.0400Slavic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General
  • 16.0401Baltic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics(no graduates reported)
  • 16.0402Russian Language and Literature
  • 16.0404Albanian Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
  • 16.0405Bulgarian Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
  • 16.0406Czech Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
  • 16.0407Polish Language and Literature
  • 16.0408Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian Languages and Literatures(no graduates reported)
  • 16.0409Slovak Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
  • 16.0410Ukrainian Language and Literature(no graduates reported)
  • 16.0499Slavic, Baltic, and Albanian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, Other
  • 16.0500Germanic Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, General

Common questions

Answers for people weighing interpreters and translators programs in Nebraska.

What degree do you need to become an Interpreter?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Spanish Language and Literature, which awarded 24 degrees in Nebraska in 2024-25, 38.7% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Interpreter?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 6 programs to this occupation. The largest are Romance Languages, Linguistic, Germanic Languages, Slavic. Together they graduate about 62 people a year in Nebraska.

How much do interpreters and translators earn in Nebraska?+

The median is $53,050 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 11.8% below the U.S. median of $60,170. 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 interpreters and translators growing?+

BLS projects a +1.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 6,900 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

7 institutions in Nebraska reported graduates from at least one of the 6 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 interpreters and translators work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Translator, Interpreter, Medical Interpreter, Sign Language Interpreter among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-3091.

Interpreters and Translators in other statesCaliforniaTexasNew YorkPennsylvaniaUtahOhioWisconsinNorth Carolina

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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