Business and Financial Operations Occupations·SOC 13-2011

Best degree programs for Accountants and Auditors, ranked by enrollment

Q: 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 60,383 degrees in 2024-25, 89.5% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Q: Which college majors lead to becoming an Accountant?

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 7 programs to this occupation. The largest are Accounting and Related Services, Taxation, Security Science and Technology, Accounting and Computer Science. Together they graduate about 67,440 people a year.

Q: How much do accountants and auditors earn?

The median is $83,680 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $56,020 at the 10th percentile to $144,090 at the 90th. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Q: 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.

Q: How many schools offer programs for this career?

1,500 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 7 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.

Q: 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.

7 college programs and 1,500 schools train Accountants and Auditors. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $83,680 median wage, 1,449,500 U.S. jobs. Federal data.

7 college programs at 1,500 schools train accountants and auditors, graduating 67,440 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Accounting. The job pays a median of $83,680 (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Graduates / yr

67,440

from every feeder program

Median annual wage

$83,680

BLS OEWS May 2025

Projected growth

+4.6%

About as fast as average

Openings / yr

124,200

new plus replacement

Schools

1,500

with a feeder program

States with jobs

BLS reports wages

About accountants and auditors

Examine, analyze, and interpret accounting records to prepare financial statements, give advice, or audit and evaluate statements prepared by others. Install or advise on systems of recording costs or other financial and budgetary data.

Also calledAuditorAccountantFinancial AuditorCertified Public Accountant (CPA)BursarTax AuditorCity AuditorAsset AnalystAudit PartnerField AuditorStaff AuditorTax Associate

Fields of study that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level, the tier our program pages are built on. Numbers are graduates per year.

Business, Management, Marketing, And Related Support Services

CIP 52.03

Accounting and Related Services

65,854graduates / yr

1,352 schools · 4 specializations · 97.6% of pipeline

Grad earnings $51,824

Business, Management, Marketing, And Related Support Services

CIP 52.16

Taxation

1,257graduates / yr

96 schools · 1 specialization · 1.9% of pipeline

Grad earnings —

Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting And Related Protective Services

CIP 43.04

Security Science and Technology

284graduates / yr

29 schools · 1 specialization · 0.4% of pipeline

Grad earnings $40,889

Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies

CIP 30.16

Accounting and Computer Science

45graduates / yr

6 schools · 1 specialization · 0.1% of pipeline

Grad earnings —

7 degree programs that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are College Scorecard figures for people who finished the program, reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. That is a different measurement from the occupation-wide wages further down this page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#	Program	Graduates / yr	Share of pipeline	Schools	Grad earnings (1 yr)	Median debt
1	Accountingmain feeder CIP 52.0301	60,383	89.5%	1,352	$51,824	$24,433
2	Accounting and Financemain feeder CIP 52.0304	3,776	5.6%	134	$51,824	$24,433
3	Accounting and Business/Managementmain feeder CIP 52.0305	1,487	2.2%	101	$51,824	$24,433
4	Taxationmain feeder CIP 52.1601	1,257	1.9%	96	—	—
5	Financial Forensics and Fraud Investigation CIP 43.0405	284	0.4%	29	$40,889	$25,000
6	Auditingmain feeder CIP 52.0303	208	0.3%	17	$51,824	$24,433
7	Accounting and Computer Sciencemain feeder CIP 30.1601	45	0.1%	6	—	—

Top 50 schools by graduates into this job

Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#	School	Graduates / yr	Top feeder program	Grad rate	Net price	Acceptance
1	Western Governors University Salt Lake City, UT Private not-for-profit · 5 feeder programs	2,320	Accounting	46%	$11,580	—
2	Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH Private not-for-profit · 5 feeder programs	1,977	Accounting	43%	$34,565	100%
3	CUNY Bernard M Baruch College New York, NY Public · 2 feeder programs	756	Accounting	72%	—	48%
4	Texas A&M University - College Station College Station, TX Public · 4 feeder programs	664	Accounting	84%	—	57%
5	University of Phoenix - Arizona Phoenix, AZ Private for-profit · 2 feeder programs	641	Accounting	21%	$15,478	—
6	Wake Technical Community College Raleigh, NC Public · 1 feeder programs	634	Accounting and Finance	33%	—	—
7	DeVry University - Illinois Lisle, IL Private for-profit · 2 feeder programs	610	Accounting	37%	$32,381	98%
8	Utah Valley University Orem, UT Public · 1 feeder programs	534	Accounting	45%	—	—
9	Liberty University Lynchburg, VA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs	486	Accounting	65%	$28,911	99%
10	Colorado Technical University - Colorado Springs Colorado Springs, CO Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs	396	Accounting	19%	$16,966	—
11	Dallas College Dallas, TX Public · 1 feeder programs	378	Accounting	32%	—	—
12	University of Georgia Athens, GA Public · 1 feeder programs	374	Accounting	90%	—	38%
13	Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL Public · 2 feeder programs	367	Accounting	63%	—	66%
14	Ohio State University - Main Campus Columbus, OH Public · 1 feeder programs	365	Accounting	88%	—	61%
15	Grand Canyon University Phoenix, AZ Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs	359	Accounting	43%	$21,535	79%
16	The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL Public · 2 feeder programs	359	Accounting	73%	—	77%
17	University of Houston Houston, TX Public · 1 feeder programs	352	Accounting	65%	—	74%
18	University of Mississippi University, MS Public · 2 feeder programs	334	Accounting	72%	—	97%
19	Purdue University Global West Lafayette, IN Public · 1 feeder programs	326	Accounting	50%	—	—
20	University of South Florida Tampa, FL Public · 1 feeder programs	326	Accounting	77%	—	43%
21	Baylor University Waco, TX Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs	309	Accounting	80%	$35,682	51%
22	University of Maryland Global Campus Adelphi, MD Public · 2 feeder programs	309	Accounting	33%	—	—
23	University of North Texas Denton, TX Public · 2 feeder programs	309	Accounting	61%	—	72%
24	University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign Champaign, IL Public · 2 feeder programs	300	Accounting	85%	—	42%
25	Florida International University Miami, FL Public · 1 feeder programs	299	Accounting	74%	—	55%
26	University of Houston - Downtown Houston, TX Public · 1 feeder programs	299	Accounting	33%	—	90%
27	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ Public · 2 feeder programs	278	Accounting	68%	—	90%
28	Auburn University Auburn, AL Public · 1 feeder programs	278	Accounting	82%	—	46%
29	Pennsylvania State University - Main Campus University Park, PA Public · 1 feeder programs	275	Accounting	86%	—	61%
30	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX Public · 1 feeder programs	274	Accounting	69%	—	73%
31	University of Massachusetts - Amherst Amherst, MA Public · 1 feeder programs	274	Accounting	83%	—	60%
32	University of Central Florida Orlando, FL Public · 1 feeder programs	266	Accounting	78%	—	40%
33	Colorado State University Global Denver, CO Public · 1 feeder programs	264	Accounting	—	—	98%
34	University of Oklahoma - Norman Campus Norman, OK Public · 1 feeder programs	261	Accounting	75%	—	77%
35	Texas State University San Marcos, TX Public · 1 feeder programs	260	Accounting	55%	—	89%
36	The University of Tennessee - Knoxville Knoxville, TN Public · 1 feeder programs	260	Accounting	74%	—	42%
37	University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR Public · 1 feeder programs	254	Accounting	71%	—	74%
38	DePaul University Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs	253	Accounting	68%	$28,141	76%
39	Clemson University Clemson, SC Public · 1 feeder programs	252	Accounting	87%	—	38%
40	Kennesaw State University Kennesaw, GA Public · 1 feeder programs	251	Accounting	52%	—	69%
41	California State University - Northridge Northridge, CA Public · 2 feeder programs	249	Accounting	57%	—	93%
42	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ Public · 1 feeder programs	243	Accounting	68%	—	86%
43	University of Kansas Lawrence, KS Public · 1 feeder programs	242	Accounting	69%	—	93%
44	University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT Public · 1 feeder programs	241	Accounting	65%	—	86%
45	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX Public · 1 feeder programs	233	Accounting	89%	—	27%
46	University of Nevada - Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV Public · 1 feeder programs	228	Accounting	51%	—	96%
47	The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Edinburg, TX Public · 1 feeder programs	225	Accounting	51%	—	94%
48	Eastern Washington University Cheney, WA Public · 2 feeder programs	222	Accounting	43%	—	91%
49	University of Washington - Seattle Campus Seattle, WA Public · 3 feeder programs	222	Accounting	85%	—	39%
50	Washington State University Pullman, WA Public · 1 feeder programs	222	Accounting	60%	—	87%

What accountants and auditors earn

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

Median annual wage

$83,680

Mean annual

$94,750

Median hourly

$40.23/hr

People employed

1,449,500

What the range looks like

10th pct$56,020Median$83,68090th pct$144,090

Top-paying states

Top-paying metro areas

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA

$121,700median

13,180 jobs

San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA

$110,730median

25,170 jobs

New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ

$105,650median

111,930 jobs

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

$102,140median

41,470 jobs

Midland, TX

$100,890median

1,240 jobs

Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury, CT

$102,020median

5,000 jobs

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH

$100,150median

37,150 jobs

Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO

$100,020median

22,720 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

Where the jobs are, state by state

Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.

This occupation state by state: pay, jobs, and schools
State	Median pay	Jobs	Concentration	Schools	Graduates / yr
Texas	$80,920	116,470	0.89×	82	6,704
New York	$102,640	109,830	1.22×	80	4,512
Utah	$79,990	15,490	0.96×	12	3,672
North Carolina	$82,050	49,270	1.07×	82	3,472
Florida	$79,250	91,000	0.98×	41	2,851
Illinois	$80,230	54,930	0.97×	70	2,683
Pennsylvania	$79,000	54,290	0.96×	90	2,601
Ohio	$79,320	50,440	0.97×	64	2,406
Arizona	$79,970	27,410	0.91×	25	2,238
New Hampshire	$83,470	7,000	1.10×	14	2,137
California	$97,050	175,360	1.03×	70	1,693
Georgia	$81,900	44,020	0.97×	35	1,669
Michigan	$78,820	41,460	1.01×	42	1,654
New Jersey	$100,830	42,250	1.06×	31	1,617
Virginia	$93,290	47,100	1.23×	27	1,498
Massachusetts	$99,460	46,230	1.36×	39	1,475
Wisconsin	$79,400	25,100	0.92×	45	1,402
Alabama	$74,880	24,300	1.23×	21	1,394
Minnesota	$81,600	30,530	1.11×	48	1,361
Connecticut	$97,550	16,770	1.06×	15	1,295
Indiana	$77,720	25,660	0.86×	39	1,275
Colorado	$97,030	35,410	1.32×	23	1,199
South Carolina	$76,560	15,270	0.71×	36	1,190
Washington	$96,550	34,740	1.05×	18	1,174
Missouri	$76,590	28,000	1.02×	30	1,125
Tennessee	$76,840	27,340	0.89×	30	1,044
Iowa	$77,440	13,210	0.91×	36	966
Maryland	$89,370	26,170	1.02×	21	937
Louisiana	$73,810	14,050	0.78×	22	838
Kentucky	$75,270	11,930	0.64×	21	804
Kansas	$79,000	13,610	1.02×	23	794
Oklahoma	$79,370	16,720	1.05×	21	788
Mississippi	$68,100	7,350	0.68×	17	777
Oregon	$85,800	14,920	0.81×	23	684
Arkansas	$66,330	7,870	0.65×	27	621
Idaho	$74,730	5,570	0.70×	8	519
West Virginia	$73,320	4,900	0.75×	18	385
Rhode Island	$95,820	6,570	1.41×	9	373
Nebraska	$72,080	10,340	1.08×	13	318
Nevadamoderate	$81,600	6,930	0.48×	4	310
Delaware	$95,020	6,570	1.45×	5	306
District of Columbia	$111,530	9,810	1.50×	10	240
South Dakota	$78,880	5,820	1.36×	14	224
North Dakota	$75,730	4,430	1.11×	7	217
Maine	$77,480	3,860	0.65×	12	208
New Mexico	$78,580	6,300	0.78×	10	208
Hawaiimoderate	$74,500	4,670	0.80×	4	138
Montana	$75,810	4,730	0.99×	7	129
Vermont	$78,890	2,630	0.93×	6	115
Alaskamoderate	$83,460	2,190	0.72×	4	81
Wyoming	$77,620	2,670	1.02×	6	25

Skills and tools

From O*NET, the U.S. Department of Labor's occupational database. Importance is a 1 to 5 scale.

What they do day to day

Prepare detailed reports on audit findings.
Report to management about asset utilization and audit results, and recommend changes in operations and financial activities.
Collect and analyze data to detect deficient controls, duplicated effort, extravagance, fraud, or non-compliance with laws, regulations, and management policies.
Inspect account books and accounting systems for efficiency, effectiveness, and use of accepted accounting procedures to record transactions.
Supervise auditing of establishments, and determine scope of investigation required.
Confer with company officials about financial and regulatory matters.
Examine and evaluate financial and information systems, recommending controls to ensure system reliability and data integrity.
Inspect cash on hand, notes receivable and payable, negotiable securities, and canceled checks to confirm records are accurate.

Skills

Reading Comprehension3.9
Active Listening3.8
Critical Thinking3.8
Speaking3.8
Writing3.5
Monitoring3.4
Mathematics3.3
Active Learning3.1

Knowledge areas

Economics and Accounting4.7
English Language4.0
Mathematics3.9
Administration and Management3.5
Customer and Personal Service3.5
Law and Government3.3

Abilities

Oral Comprehension4.0
Oral Expression3.9
Written Comprehension3.9
Near Vision3.8
Inductive Reasoning3.8
Deductive Reasoning3.8

Core activities

Getting Information4.5
Working with Computers4.5
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates4.4
Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards4.4
Documenting/Recording Information4.3
Processing Information4.2

Tools and technology

hotmarks an O*NET hot technology

Adobe AcrobathotAlteryx softwarehotEpic SystemshotGoogle DocshotGoogle SheetshotIBM SPSS StatisticshotIntuit QuickBookshotIntuit TurboTaxhotMEDITECH softwarehotMicrosoft Accesshot

How to get in

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.

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

Related careers

Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.

43-3031

Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks

$50,6701,373,680 jobs-5.8%

13-2061

Financial Examiners

$94,16067,830 jobs+18.5%

11-3031

Financial Managers

$166,570841,710 jobs+14.8%

13-2082

Tax Preparers

$54,92076,480 jobs+4.5%

13-2031

Budget Analysts

$91,64047,160 jobs+1.0%

13-2041

Credit Analysts

$83,51064,390 jobs-4.4%

Common questions

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 60,383 degrees in 2024-25, 89.5% 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 7 programs to this occupation. The largest are Accounting and Related Services, Taxation, Security Science and Technology, Accounting and Computer Science. Together they graduate about 67,440 people a year.

How much do accountants and auditors earn?+

The median is $83,680 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $56,020 at the 10th percentile to $144,090 at the 90th. 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?+

1,500 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 7 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.

↑ Zoom outAll occupations Business and Financial Operations Occupations

Accountants and Auditors by stateTexas New York Utah North Carolina Florida Illinois Pennsylvania Ohio Arizona New Hampshire California Georgia

Programs that lead hereAccounting and Related Services Taxation Security Science and Technology Accounting and Computer Science

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.
Official source →
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34
Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.
Official source →
IPEDS Completions
2024-25 (provisional)
Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.
Official source →
College Scorecard, Field of Study
2020-21 cohorts
Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Official source →
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest available
Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
Official source →
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018
Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
Official source →
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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