Pennsylvania·Legal Occupations·SOC 23-1022

Best Arbitrator programs in Pennsylvania, ranked by enrollment

Facilitate negotiation and conflict resolution through dialogue.

12 schools in Pennsylvania run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,595 people a year. The job pays a median of $67,890 in Pennsylvania across about 310 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledMediatorArbitratorLabor ArbitratorAlternative Dispute Resolution Coordinator (ADR Coordinator)ArbiterOmbudsmanAdjudicatorConciliator
Graduates / yr
1,595
in Pennsylvania
Median pay · Pennsylvania
$67,890
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
310
people employed
Schools
12
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
80%
across those schools
Median net price
$25,675
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Pennsylvania that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

3 programs in Pennsylvania that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Pennsylvania (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Pennsylvania page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
11,562
97.9%
8
221
1.3%
5$40,929$25,000
312
0.8%
2$41,622$21,250

Top 12 schools in Pennsylvania

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 0 of the 12 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Widener University
Chester, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
312Law68%$29,04971%
2University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
254Law97%$22,0555%
3Pennsylvania State University - Main Campus
University Park, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
221Law86%61%
4Villanova University
Villanova, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
191Law92%$33,77427%
5Temple University
Philadelphia, PA Public · 1 feeder programs
184Law75%80%
6Duquesne University
Pittsburgh, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
152Law77%$32,06084%
7Drexel University
Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
133Law78%$36,00479%
8University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus
Pittsburgh, PA Public · 2 feeder programs
133Law85%58%
9Arcadia University
Glenside, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
9Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution67%$23,79680%
10Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
3Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution92%$18,1747%
11Juniata College
Huntingdon, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs
2Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution74%$24,86779%
12Messiah University
Mechanicsburg, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs
1Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution75%$25,67579%

All 12 schools in Pennsylvania

Every school in Pennsylvania with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Pennsylvania that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Widener UniversityChesterPrivate not-for-profit3121
University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaPrivate not-for-profit2541
Pennsylvania State University - Main CampusUniversity ParkPublic2211
Villanova UniversityVillanovaPrivate not-for-profit1912
Temple UniversityPhiladelphiaPublic1841
Duquesne UniversityPittsburghPrivate not-for-profit1521
Drexel UniversityPhiladelphiaPrivate not-for-profit1331
University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh CampusPittsburghPublic1332
Arcadia UniversityGlensidePrivate not-for-profit91
Swarthmore CollegeSwarthmorePrivate not-for-profit31
Juniata CollegeHuntingdonPrivate not-for-profit22
Messiah UniversityMechanicsburgPrivate not-for-profit11

What arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators earn in Pennsylvania

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Pennsylvania
$67,890
Mean annual
$71,690
Jobs in state
310
What the range looks like
10th pct$40,680Median$67,89090th pct$98,070
Versus the national median
-10.1%

U.S. median $75,530. Pennsylvania pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.87×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Pennsylvania

Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
$74,520median
140 jobs
Pittsburgh, PA
$65,590median
70 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+4.3%
About as fast as average
Openings per year
300
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
400
9,100 → 9,500
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Plus moderate-term on-the-job training

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators page.

How to become a Arbitrator

Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above
Typical entry education
Bachelor's degree
Work experience needed
Less than 5 years
On-the-job training
Moderate-term on-the-job training

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.

Top skills

Active ListeningWritingReading ComprehensionSpeakingCritical ThinkingActive Learning

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Pennsylvania

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 3 majors mapped to Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators3 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 22.0101Law
  • 30.0501Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
  • 30.2801Dispute Resolution

Common questions

Answers for people weighing arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators programs in Pennsylvania.

What degree do you need to become an Arbitrator?+

Bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Law, which awarded 1,562 degrees in Pennsylvania in 2024-25, 97.9% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Arbitrator?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 3 programs to this occupation. The largest are Law, Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution, Dispute Resolution. Together they graduate about 1,595 people a year in Pennsylvania.

How much do arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators earn in Pennsylvania?+

The median is $67,890 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 10.1% below the U.S. median of $75,530. 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 arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators growing?+

BLS projects a +4.3% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, about as fast as average, with roughly 300 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Pennsylvania?+

12 institutions in Pennsylvania reported graduates from at least one of the 3 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 arbitrators, mediators, and conciliators work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Mediator, Arbitrator, Labor Arbitrator, Alternative Dispute Resolution Coordinator (ADR Coordinator) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 23-1022.

Arbitrators, Mediators, and Conciliators in other statesCaliforniaNew YorkDistrict of ColumbiaTexasIllinoisVirginiaNorth CarolinaOhio

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 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected 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 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

All Clema data sources and 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