Best degree programs for Mathematicians, ranked by enrollment
17 college programs and 1,379 schools train Mathematicians. Compare graduates per year, cost and pay, $126,710 median wage, 2,030 U.S. jobs. Federal data.
17 college programs at 1,379 schools train mathematicians, graduating 39,292 people a year (IPEDS completions). The largest is Mathematics, General. The job pays a median of $126,710 (BLS OEWS May 2025).
About mathematicians
Conduct research in fundamental mathematics or in application of mathematical techniques to science, management, and other fields. Solve problems in various fields using mathematical methods.
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
Read more on Wikipedia →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.
17 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.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mathematics, Generalmain feeder CIP 27.0101 | 23,537 | 59.9% | 1,300 | $48,772 | $21,544 |
| 2 | Financial Mathematicsmain feeder CIP 27.0305 | 5,694 | 14.5% | 127 | $60,930 | $21,143 |
| 3 | Applied Mathematics, Generalmain feeder CIP 27.0301 | 3,917 | 10.0% | 224 | $60,930 | $21,143 |
| 4 | Mathematics and Computer Sciencemain feeder CIP 30.0801 | 1,855 | 4.7% | 77 | $89,651 | $23,175 |
| 5 | CIP 27.0503 | 956 | 2.4% | 38 | $59,718 | $20,150 |
| 6 | Computational and Applied Mathematicsmain feeder CIP 27.0304 | 815 | 2.1% | 45 | $60,930 | $21,143 |
| 7 | Mathematics and Statistics, Othermain feeder CIP 27.9999 | 548 | 1.4% | 31 | $59,063 | $21,500 |
| 8 | CIP 27.0502 | 476 | 1.2% | 15 | $59,718 | $20,150 |
| 9 | Computational Mathematicsmain feeder CIP 27.0303 | 389 | 1.0% | 22 | $60,930 | $21,143 |
| 10 | Mathematics, Othermain feeder CIP 27.0199 | 344 | 0.9% | 29 | $48,772 | $21,544 |
| 11 | CIP 26.1199 | 308 | 0.8% | 21 | $72,338 | $18,500 |
| 12 | Applied Mathematics, Othermain feeder CIP 27.0399 | 221 | 0.6% | 18 | $60,930 | $21,143 |
| 13 | CIP 30.4901 | 189 | 0.5% | 11 | — | — |
| 14 | Logicmain feeder CIP 38.0102 | 19 | 0.0% | 4 | $31,618 | $22,862 |
| 15 | Mathematical Biologymain feeder CIP 27.0306 | 14 | 0.0% | 4 | $60,930 | $21,143 |
| 16 | Analysis and Functional Analysismain feeder CIP 27.0103 | 7 | 0.0% | 1 | $48,772 | $21,544 |
| 17 | Topology and Foundationsmain feeder CIP 27.0105 | 3 | 0.0% | 1 | $48,772 | $21,544 |
Top 50 schools by graduates into this job
Counting every feeder program a school offers, not just its largest one.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of California - San Diego La Jolla, CA Public · 6 feeder programs | 928 | Mathematics and Computer Science | 86% | — | 27% |
| 2 | University of California - Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA Public · 7 feeder programs | 687 | Applied Mathematics, General | 93% | — | 9% |
| 3 | University of North Texas Denton, TX Public · 3 feeder programs | 586 | Mathematics and Statistics | 61% | — | 72% |
| 4 | New York University New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 571 | Applied Mathematics, General | 88% | $29,023 | 9% |
| 5 | The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX Public · 2 feeder programs | 492 | Mathematics, General | 89% | — | 27% |
| 6 | University of Illinois Urbana - Champaign Champaign, IL Public · 4 feeder programs | 482 | Mathematics, General | 85% | — | 42% |
| 7 | University of California - Berkeley Berkeley, CA Public · 4 feeder programs | 471 | Applied Mathematics, General | 93% | — | 11% |
| 8 | University of Washington - Seattle Campus Seattle, WA Public · 6 feeder programs | 434 | Applied Mathematics, General | 85% | — | 39% |
| 9 | Purdue University - Main Campus West Lafayette, IN Public · 5 feeder programs | 407 | Mathematical Statistics and Probability | 83% | — | 50% |
| 10 | Washington University in St Louis St. Louis, MO Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 404 | Financial Mathematics | 94% | $14,126 | 12% |
| 11 | University of Chicago Chicago, IL Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 391 | Mathematics, General | 96% | $13,333 | 4% |
| 12 | Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY Public · 3 feeder programs | 363 | Applied Mathematics, General | 76% | — | 49% |
| 13 | University of California - Irvine Irvine, CA Public · 5 feeder programs | 360 | Mathematics, General | 87% | — | 29% |
| 14 | Fordham University Bronx, NY Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 352 | Financial Mathematics | 82% | $38,931 | 59% |
| 15 | University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI Public · 2 feeder programs | 334 | Mathematics, General | 90% | — | 45% |
| 16 | University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 332 | Financial Mathematics | 92% | $26,873 | 10% |
| 17 | Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 315 | Applied Mathematics, General | 96% | $15,315 | 4% |
| 18 | University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN Public · 4 feeder programs | 314 | Mathematics, General | 85% | — | 80% |
| 19 | The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX Public · 4 feeder programs | 310 | Mathematics and Computer Science | 54% | — | 80% |
| 20 | Northeastern University Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 303 | Financial Mathematics | 91% | $18,925 | 5% |
| 21 | Ohio State University - Main Campus Columbus, OH Public · 3 feeder programs | 303 | Mathematics, General | 88% | — | 61% |
| 22 | University of California - Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA Public · 3 feeder programs | 296 | Mathematics, General | 83% | — | 33% |
| 23 | Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 291 | Applied Mathematics, General | 94% | $11,888 | 6% |
| 24 | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI Public · 3 feeder programs | 287 | Mathematics, General | 93% | — | 16% |
| 25 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 285 | Financial Mathematics | 96% | $11,666 | 5% |
| 26 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC Public · 3 feeder programs | 274 | Applied Mathematics, General | 91% | — | 15% |
| 27 | Boston University Boston, MA Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 271 | Financial Mathematics | 89% | $21,956 | 11% |
| 28 | University of Massachusetts - Amherst Amherst, MA Public · 4 feeder programs | 257 | Mathematics, General | 83% | — | 60% |
| 29 | Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 253 | Mathematics, General | 43% | $34,565 | 100% |
| 30 | Brown University Providence, RI Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 252 | Applied Mathematics, General | 96% | $14,644 | 5% |
| 31 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ Public · 7 feeder programs | 249 | Mathematics, General | 68% | — | 90% |
| 32 | Harvard University Cambridge, MA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 245 | Applied Mathematics, General | 98% | $15,013 | 4% |
| 33 | University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT Public · 4 feeder programs | 240 | Financial Mathematics | 65% | — | 86% |
| 34 | University of Maryland - College Park College Park, MD Public · 4 feeder programs | 238 | Mathematics, General | 89% | — | 45% |
| 35 | Yale University New Haven, CT Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 236 | Mathematics, General | 96% | $27,025 | 4% |
| 36 | The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX Public · 3 feeder programs | 224 | Financial Mathematics | 76% | — | 65% |
| 37 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA Private not-for-profit · 6 feeder programs | 223 | Financial Mathematics | 94% | $23,803 | 12% |
| 38 | Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus Atlanta, GA Public · 3 feeder programs | 211 | Mathematics, General | 94% | — | 14% |
| 39 | Texas A&M University - College Station College Station, TX Public · 4 feeder programs | 210 | Applied Mathematics, General | 84% | — | 57% |
| 40 | University of California - Davis Davis, CA Public · 4 feeder programs | 195 | Applied Mathematics, General | 86% | — | 42% |
| 41 | University of Houston Houston, TX Public · 5 feeder programs | 193 | Mathematics, General | 65% | — | 74% |
| 42 | Harrisburg University of Science and Technology Harrisburg, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 184 | Computational and Applied Mathematics | 34% | $14,140 | 87% |
| 43 | Los Angeles Pierce College Woodland Hills, CA Public · 1 feeder programs | 179 | Mathematics, General | 46% | — | — |
| 44 | University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 177 | Financial Mathematics | 95% | $19,452 | 11% |
| 45 | Stanford University Stanford, CA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 175 | Mathematics, General | 92% | $12,032 | 4% |
| 46 | Pennsylvania State University - Main Campus University Park, PA Public · 2 feeder programs | 170 | Mathematics, General | 86% | — | 61% |
| 47 | University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 5 feeder programs | 170 | Mathematics and Statistics, Other | 97% | $22,055 | 5% |
| 48 | George Mason University Fairfax, VA Public · 4 feeder programs | 166 | Mathematics and Computer Science | 68% | — | 87% |
| 49 | Arkansas Tech University Russellville, AR Public · 1 feeder programs | 162 | Mathematics, General | 49% | — | 96% |
| 50 | University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY Public · 4 feeder programs | 161 | Mathematics, General | 75% | — | 74% |
What mathematicians earn
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
Top-paying states
Top-paying metro areas
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
Where the jobs are, state by state
Pick a state for in-state pay, the schools there, and the programs they run.
| State | Median pay | Jobs | Concentration | Schools | Graduates / yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California | $126,710 | 250 | 1.04× | 181 | 9,809 |
| New York | $126,950 | 150 | 1.20× | 97 | 3,162 |
| Massachusetts | $104,190 | 40 | 0.93× | 51 | 2,261 |
| Illinois | $130,970 | 60 | 0.81× | 47 | 1,745 |
| Indiana | $88,050 | 40 | 1.07× | 34 | 1,049 |
| Virginia | $148,030 | 400 | 7.45× | 33 | 815 |
| Maryland | $131,810 | 160 | 4.38× | 21 | 753 |
| Washington | $162,280 | 100 | 2.14× | 17 | 725 |
| Michigan | $65,510 | 90 | 1.65× | 34 | 719 |
| New Jersey | — | 70 | 1.22× | 30 | 700 |
| Colorado | $86,020 | 60 | 1.57× | 22 | 483 |
| Rhode Island | $109,260 | 100 | 14.58× | 8 | 354 |
| Nevadamoderate | $102,890 | 70 | 3.50× | 4 | 84 |
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
- Mentor others on mathematical techniques.
- Maintain knowledge in the field by reading professional journals, talking with other mathematicians, and attending professional conferences.
- Develop new principles and new relationships between existing mathematical principles to advance mathematical science.
- Disseminate research by writing reports, publishing papers, or presenting at professional conferences.
- Assemble sets of assumptions, and explore the consequences of each set.
- Perform computations and apply methods of numerical analysis to data.
- Address the relationships of quantities, magnitudes, and forms through the use of numbers and symbols.
- Conduct research to extend mathematical knowledge in traditional areas, such as algebra, geometry, probability, and logic.
Skills
- Mathematics5.0
- Critical Thinking4.1
- Active Learning4.0
- Reading Comprehension4.0
- Writing3.6
- Science3.6
- Active Listening3.4
- Learning Strategies3.3
Knowledge areas
- Mathematics4.8
- Education and Training3.7
- Computers and Electronics3.5
- English Language3.3
- Physics3.0
- Engineering and Technology2.9
Abilities
- Mathematical Reasoning5.0
- Number Facility4.6
- Oral Expression4.1
- Written Comprehension4.1
- Oral Comprehension4.1
- Written Expression4.1
Core activities
- Thinking Creatively4.7
- Analyzing Data or Information4.5
- Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge4.3
- Processing Information4.3
- Training and Teaching Others4.3
- Working with Computers4.3
Tools and technology
hotmarks an O*NET hot technologyHow to get in
How to become a Mathematician
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.
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 20 majors mapped to Mathematicians17 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 26.1199Biomathematics, Bioinformatics, and Computational Biology, Other
- 27.0101Mathematics, General
- 27.0102Algebra and Number Theory(no graduates reported)
- 27.0103Analysis and Functional Analysis
- 27.0104Geometry/Geometric Analysis(no graduates reported)
- 27.0105Topology and Foundations
- 27.0199Mathematics, Other
- 27.0301Applied Mathematics, General
- 27.0303Computational Mathematics
- 27.0304Computational and Applied Mathematics
- 27.0305Financial Mathematics
- 27.0306Mathematical Biology
- 27.0399Applied Mathematics, Other
- 27.0502Mathematical Statistics and Probability
- 27.0503Mathematics and Statistics
- 27.9999Mathematics and Statistics, Other
- 30.0801Mathematics and Computer Science
- 30.4901Mathematical Economics
- 30.5001Mathematics and Atmospheric/Oceanic Science(no graduates reported)
- 38.0102Logic
Related careers
Jobs O*NET identifies as close to this one, with their own pay and outlook.
Common questions
What degree do you need to become a Mathematician?+
Master's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Mathematics, General, which awarded 23,537 degrees in 2024-25, 59.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Mathematician?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 17 programs to this occupation. The largest are Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Mathematics and Computer Science, Statistics, plus 4 more. Together they graduate about 39,292 people a year.
How much do mathematicians earn?+
The median is $126,710 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). The middle range runs from $69,240 at the 10th percentile to $195,190 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 mathematicians growing?+
BLS projects a -0.7% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career?+
1,379 institutions reported graduates from at least one of the 17 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 mathematicians work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Cryptographer, Mathematician, Research Scientist, Computational Scientist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 15-2021.
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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