Nebraska·Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations·SOC 19-3022

Best Survey Researcher programs in Nebraska, ranked by enrollment

Plan, develop, or conduct surveys. May analyze and interpret the meaning of survey data, determine survey objectives, or suggest or test question wording.

5 schools in Nebraska run programs that feed this job, graduating 42 people a year. The job pays a median of $64,530 in Nebraska across about 210 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledSurvey ResearcherResearch AssociateResearch ScientistSurvey MethodologistProctorPollsterResearcherInterviewer
Graduates / yr
42
in Nebraska
Median pay · Nebraska
$64,530
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
210
people employed
Schools
5
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
64%
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.

5 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 45.0601In Nebraska
18
42.9%
3$51,725$22,907
2
CIP 27.0501In Nebraska
8
19.0%
1$59,718$20,150
3
CIP 52.0601In Nebraska
7
16.7%
1$53,269$21,962
4
CIP 52.1402In Nebraska
6
14.3%
1$44,670$24,250
5
CIP 52.1302In Nebraska
3
7.1%
1$62,069$23,500

Top 5 schools in Nebraska

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 5 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Creighton University
Omaha, NE Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
14Economics, General$54,82783%$27,35380%
2University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE Public · 2 feeder programs
14Statistics, General67%87%
3University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE Public · 2 feeder programs
10Business/Managerial Economics47%87%
4Nebraska Wesleyan University
Lincoln, NE Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
3Economics, General66%$22,22580%
5Doane University
Crete, NE Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Economics, General57%$25,10398%

All 5 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
Creighton UniversityOmahaPrivate not-for-profit141
University of Nebraska - LincolnLincolnPublic142
University of Nebraska at OmahaOmahaPublic102
Nebraska Wesleyan UniversityLincolnPrivate not-for-profit31
Doane UniversityCretePrivate not-for-profit11

What survey researchers earn in Nebraska

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

Median annual in Nebraska
$64,530
Mean annual
$60,890
Jobs in state
210
What the range looks like
10th pct$33,070Median$64,53090th pct$83,540
Versus the national median
-7.1%

U.S. median $69,460. Nebraska pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
3.85×

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

Metro areas in Nebraska

Omaha, NE-IA
$67,780median
60 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
-5.2%
Decline
Openings per year
700
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
-500
8,800 → 8,300
Typical entry education
Master'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 Survey Researchers page.

How to become a Survey Researcher

Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above
Typical entry education
Master's 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

Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningCritical ThinkingWritingSpeakingMathematics

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 9 majors mapped to Survey Researchers9 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 13.0608Institutional Research
  • 27.0501Statistics, General
  • 27.0601Applied Statistics, General
  • 45.0102Research Methodology and Quantitative Methods
  • 45.0601Economics, General
  • 45.0602Applied Economics
  • 52.0601Business/Managerial Economics
  • 52.1302Business Statistics
  • 52.1402Marketing Research

Common questions

Answers for people weighing survey researchers programs in Nebraska.

What degree do you need to become a Survey Researcher?+

Master's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Economics, General, which awarded 18 degrees in Nebraska in 2024-25, 42.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming a Survey Researcher?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 5 programs to this occupation. The largest are Economics, Statistics, Business/Managerial Economics, Marketing, plus 1 more. Together they graduate about 42 people a year in Nebraska.

How much do survey researchers earn in Nebraska?+

The median is $64,530 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 7.1% below the U.S. median of $69,460. 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 survey researchers growing?+

BLS projects a -5.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

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

5 institutions in Nebraska reported graduates from at least one of the 5 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 survey researchers work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Survey Researcher, Research Associate, Research Scientist, Survey Methodologist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 19-3022.

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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