Clema Explorer

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
Production Occupations

57 occupations

Showing 25–48

Sort
Production Occupations
51-9071

Jewelers and Precious Stone and Metal Workers

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$53k
Grads / yr
809
Growth
-5.5%
View career
Production Occupations
51-4032

Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$49k
Grads / yr
3.5k
Growth
-19.6%
View career
Production Occupations
51-4021

Extruding and Drawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$48k
Grads / yr
3.5k
Growth
+1.2%
View career
Production Occupations
51-4022

Forging Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$49k
Grads / yr
3.5k
Growth
-18.9%
View career
Production Occupations
51-4034

Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$51k
Grads / yr
3.5k
Growth
-13.6%
View career
Production Occupations
51-4035

Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$53k
Grads / yr
3.5k
Growth
-14.4%
View career
Production Occupations
51-5112

Printing Press Operators

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$46k
Grads / yr
487
Growth
-8.1%
View career
Production Occupations
51-4194

Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$50k
Grads / yr
1.5k
Growth
-7.8%
View career
Production Occupations
51-7099

Woodworkers, All Other

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$45k
Grads / yr
610
Growth
-4.4%
View career
Production Occupations
51-9081

Dental Laboratory Technicians

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$50k
Grads / yr
254
Growth
-4.7%
View career
Production Occupations
51-8092

Gas Plant Operators

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$88k
Grads / yr
254
Growth
-8.8%
View career
Production Occupations
51-9082

Medical Appliance Technicians

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$48k
Grads / yr
354
Growth
+3.7%
View career
Production Occupations
51-4071

Foundry Mold and Coremakers

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$48k
Grads / yr
102
Growth
-25.9%
View career
Production Occupations
51-7042

Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$43k
Grads / yr
520
Growth
-1.8%
View career
Production Occupations
51-7031

Model Makers, Wood

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$57k
Grads / yr
511
Growth
-4.5%
View career
Production Occupations
51-9012

Separating, Filtering, Clarifying, Precipitating, and Still Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$52k
Grads / yr
451
Growth
-4.3%
View career
Production Occupations
51-4061

Model Makers, Metal and Plastic

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$63k
Grads / yr
415
Growth
-18.2%
View career
Production Occupations
51-4062

Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$58k
Grads / yr
415
Growth
-24.4%
View career
Production Occupations
51-6092

Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$63k
Grads / yr
244
Growth
-10.2%
View career
Production Occupations
51-7011

Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$47k
Grads / yr
483
Growth
-1.6%
View career
Production Occupations
51-7032

Patternmakers, Wood

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$50k
Grads / yr
483
Growth
-5.0%
View career
Production Occupations
51-7041

Sawing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Wood

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$43k
Grads / yr
483
Growth
-0.6%
View career
Production Occupations
51-9194

Etchers and Engravers

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$43k
Grads / yr
170
Growth
-0.7%
View career
Production Occupations
51-2031

Engine and Other Machine Assemblers

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$54k
Grads / yr
55
Growth
-21.1%
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.

Browse by category

Or jump straight to a group, an education level, or a state

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 →

Explore every U.S. college in one conversation

Clema turns plain-language questions into sourced answers across every U.S. institution — earnings, aid, acceptance, graduation, safety, and athletics from IPEDS, College Scorecard, and 10+ federal datasets, built in.

Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card