Careers·Ranked by the programs that lead to them·Federal data 2025

Pick a job. See what to study.

Every U.S. occupation, matched to the degree programs that actually feed it and the schools that graduate the most people into it. Wages and outlook from BLS, graduates from IPEDS, ready to cite in your reports.

Occupations
indexed
648
Occupational groups
SOC major groups
22
State pages
job × state
21,548
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Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations

48 occupations

Showing 2548 · sorted by employment

Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-1023

Zoologists and Wildlife Biologists

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$77k
Grads / yr
11k
Growth
+1.6%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-3011

Economists

Typically needs: Master's degree

Median pay
$125k
Grads / yr
56k
Growth
+1.2%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-1013

Soil and Plant Scientists

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$79k
Grads / yr
8.7k
Growth
+5.4%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-4012

Agricultural Technicians

Typically needs: Associate's degree

Median pay
$50k
Grads / yr
104k
Growth
+4.3%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-4013

Food Science Technicians

Typically needs: Associate's degree

Median pay
$52k
Grads / yr
123k
Growth
+4.8%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-1012

Food Scientists and Technologists

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$89k
Grads / yr
5.6k
Growth
+6.5%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-1041

Epidemiologists

Typically needs: Master's degree

Median pay
$87k
Grads / yr
6.3k
Growth
+16.2%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-1032

Foresters

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$76k
Grads / yr
7.0k
Growth
+1.2%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-2021

Atmospheric and Space Scientists

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$99k
Grads / yr
1.4k
Growth
+0.7%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-3091

Anthropologists and Archeologists

Typically needs: Master's degree

Median pay
$71k
Grads / yr
14k
Growth
+3.7%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-2032

Materials Scientists

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$118k
Grads / yr
637
Growth
+4.9%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-3022

Survey Researchers

Typically needs: Master's degree

Median pay
$69k
Grads / yr
40k
Growth
-5.2%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-1099

Life Scientists, All Other

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$94k
Grads / yr
114k
Growth
+3.7%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-4043

Geological Technicians

Typically needs: Associate's degree

Median pay
$53k
Grads / yr
8.6k
Growth
+1.5%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-4051

Nuclear Technicians

Typically needs: Associate's degree

Median pay
$110k
Grads / yr
526
Growth
-7.7%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-2043

Hydrologists

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$97k
Grads / yr
6.5k
Growth
-0.1%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-3094

Political Scientists

Typically needs: Master's degree

Median pay
$142k
Grads / yr
63k
Growth
-3.1%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-3093

Historians

Typically needs: Master's degree

Median pay
$77k
Grads / yr
30k
Growth
+2.2%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-1011

Animal Scientists

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$69k
Grads / yr
12k
Growth
+5.8%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-4044

Hydrologic Technicians

Typically needs: Associate's degree

Median pay
$65k
Grads / yr
2.8k
Growth
-2.1%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-3041

Sociologists

Typically needs: Master's degree

Median pay
$106k
Grads / yr
43k
Growth
+3.6%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-2011

Astronomers

Typically needs: Doctoral or professional degree

Median pay
$129k
Grads / yr
1.7k
Growth
+2.2%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-3092

Geographers

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$102k
Grads / yr
9.1k
Growth
-3.1%
View career
Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations
19-3032

Industrial-Organizational Psychologists

Typically needs: Master's degree

Median pay
$194k
Grads / yr
150k
Growth
+6.3%
View career
Largest degree pipeline

Jobs the most graduates are trained for

Graduates per year, divided across every occupation a major feeds, so the comparison across careers is fair.

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Frequently asked questions

What does each occupation page show?+

Each occupation page lists the college programs that lead to that job, ranked by how many people graduate from them each year, the schools that graduate the most, what the job pays nationally and by state, and its ten-year job outlook. Figures come from IPEDS, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the College Scorecard, and O*NET.

How are programs ranked on an occupation page?+

By graduates per year, from IPEDS completions. No federal dataset publishes enrollment by program, so degrees awarded per year is the closest available measure of how many people a program actually puts into a career. It is not the same as students currently enrolled.

What is the difference between the wage figures and the graduate earnings figures?+

The wage figures are BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics: what people already working in the occupation earn. The graduate earnings column in the programs table is College Scorecard field-of-study data: what people who finished that specific program earn one year after graduating. They measure different populations and are labelled separately on every page.

How do you decide which majors lead to which jobs?+

From the official NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, the federal mapping between instructional programs and occupations. Every occupation page lists the full crosswalk, including the majors that reported no graduates, so you can see exactly what was counted.

Can I compare an occupation across states?+

Yes. Every one of the 648 occupations has a state-by-state view covering 51 states and the District of Columbia, with in-state pay, job counts, job concentration, and the schools in that state that train for it.

Is the occupation data free to access?+

Yes. Browsing occupations, wages, and the programs that lead to them on Clema is free and needs no account.

Data: BLS OEWS May 2025 · IPEDS Fall 2025–26 provisional · College Scorecard (June 2026 release) · Census PSEO 2019–21 cohorts. Rankings use IPEDS completions, i.e. degrees awarded per year. Wages are what people already working in the occupation earn. All sources & release dates →

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