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

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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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648 occupations

Showing 265288 · sorted by employment

Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-3091

Interpreters and Translators

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$60k
Grads / yr
22k
Growth
+1.7%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-4021

Photographers

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$45k
Grads / yr
30k
Growth
+1.8%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-3043

Writers and Authors

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$77k
Grads / yr
78k
Growth
+3.6%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-3042

Technical Writers

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$90k
Grads / yr
5.4k
Growth
+0.9%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-3023

News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$62k
Grads / yr
40k
Growth
-3.9%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-2042

Musicians and Singers

Typically needs: No formal educational credential

Median pay
Grads / yr
23k
Growth
+1.1%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-1021

Commercial and Industrial Designers

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$84k
Grads / yr
12k
Growth
+3.2%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-4032

Film and Video Editors

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$75k
Grads / yr
19k
Growth
+4.0%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-4031

Camera Operators, Television, Video, and Film

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$75k
Grads / yr
12k
Growth
+1.2%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-1022

Fashion Designers

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$81k
Grads / yr
3.6k
Growth
+2.0%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-3011

Broadcast Announcers and Radio Disc Jockeys

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$47k
Grads / yr
51k
Growth
-5.5%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-4012

Broadcast Technicians

Typically needs: Associate's degree

Median pay
$60k
Grads / yr
3.4k
Growth
-2.8%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-1014

Special Effects Artists and Animators

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$102k
Grads / yr
33k
Growth
+1.6%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-3099

Media and Communication Workers, All Other

Typically needs: High school diploma or equivalent

Median pay
$74k
Grads / yr
44k
Growth
+2.7%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-2099

Entertainers and Performers, Sports and Related Workers, All Other

Typically needs: No formal educational credential

Median pay
Grads / yr
12k
Growth
+6.0%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-2021

Athletes and Sports Competitors

Typically needs: No formal educational credential

Median pay
$67k
Grads / yr
13k
Growth
+5.5%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-4014

Sound Engineering Technicians

Typically needs: Postsecondary nondegree award

Median pay
$73k
Grads / yr
6.9k
Growth
-1.7%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-3092

Court Reporters and Simultaneous Captioners

Typically needs: Postsecondary nondegree award

Median pay
$72k
Grads / yr
446
Growth
-0.3%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-2041

Music Directors and Composers

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$74k
Grads / yr
16k
Growth
-0.3%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-1013

Fine Artists, Including Painters, Sculptors, and Illustrators

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$55k
Grads / yr
38k
Growth
-1.2%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-1027

Set and Exhibit Designers

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$75k
Grads / yr
11k
Growth
+2.3%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-1029

Designers, All Other

Typically needs: Bachelor's degree

Median pay
$65k
Grads / yr
11k
Growth
+2.0%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-4015

Lighting Technicians

Typically needs: Postsecondary nondegree award

Median pay
$68k
Grads / yr
2.8k
Growth
-4.6%
View career
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media Occupations
27-2031

Dancers

Typically needs: No formal educational credential

Median pay
Grads / yr
4.4k
Growth
+4.5%
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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