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.
- 5,994
- institutions
- 401
- programs
- 648
- occupations
41 occupations
Showing 1–24
First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Electricians
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Carpenters
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Septic Tank Servicers and Sewer Pipe Cleaners
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Solar Photovoltaic Installers
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Construction and Building Inspectors
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Drywall and Ceiling Tile Installers
Typically needs: No formal educational credential
Tile and Stone Setters
Typically needs: No formal educational credential
Brickmasons and Blockmasons
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Stonemasons
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Sheet Metal Workers
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Earth Drillers
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Continuous Mining Machine Operators
Typically needs: No formal educational credential
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Extraction Workers, All Other
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Highway Maintenance Workers
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Pile Driver Operators
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent
Underground Mining Machine Operators, All Other
Typically needs: No formal educational credential
Jobs with the highest median pay
Jobs adding workers the fastest through 2034
Jobs hiring in the largest numbers each year
Jobs the most graduates are trained for
Graduates per year, divided across every occupation a major feeds, so the comparison across careers is fair.
Or jump straight to a group, an education level, or a state
By occupational group
Every occupation grouped by its SOC major group: healthcare, management, engineering, education, and more.
- Healthcare Practitioners and Technical Occupations70
- Educational Instruction and Library Occupations60
- Production Occupations57
- Life, Physical, and Social Science Occupations48
- Installation, Maintenance, and Repair Occupations46
- Construction and Extraction Occupations41
By education level
Which careers open up at each level of schooling, from no formal credential through a doctorate.
- High school diploma or equivalent223
- Bachelor's degree171
- Doctoral or professional degree73
- Postsecondary nondegree award51
- Associate's degree48
- Master's degree39
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 all 50 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. Every occupation page on Clema, including wages and the programs that lead to it, is free to view 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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