Best Survey Researcher programs in Pennsylvania, ranked by enrollment
Plan, develop, or conduct surveys. May analyze and interpret the meaning of survey data, determine survey objectives, or suggest or test question wording.
53 schools in Pennsylvania run programs that feed this job, graduating 1,217 people a year. The job pays a median of $63,310 in Pennsylvania across about — jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
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.
8 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.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 27.0501In Pennsylvania → | 494 | 40.6% | 11 | $59,718 | $20,150 |
| 2 | CIP 45.0601In Pennsylvania → | 425 | 34.9% | 40 | $51,725 | $22,907 |
| 3 | CIP 52.0601In Pennsylvania → | 136 | 11.2% | 16 | $53,269 | $21,962 |
| 4 | CIP 52.1302In Pennsylvania → | 64 | 5.3% | 4 | $62,069 | $23,500 |
| 5 | CIP 45.0102In Pennsylvania → | 38 | 3.1% | 4 | $35,590 | $24,095 |
| 6 | CIP 45.0602In Pennsylvania → | 30 | 2.5% | 1 | $51,725 | $22,907 |
| 7 | CIP 52.1402In Pennsylvania → | 18 | 1.5% | 2 | $44,670 | $24,250 |
| 8 | CIP 27.0601In Pennsylvania → | 12 | 1.0% | 2 | — | — |
Top 25 schools in Pennsylvania
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 20 of the 53 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 146 | Statistics, General | $93,111 | 94% | $23,803 | 12% |
| 2 | Temple University Philadelphia, PA Public · 4 feeder programs | 106 | Economics, General | $48,242 | 75% | — | 80% |
| 3 | University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 4 feeder programs | 103 | Statistics, General | $129,732 | 97% | $22,055 | 5% |
| 4 | Pennsylvania State University - Main Campus University Park, PA Public · 2 feeder programs | 91 | Statistics, General | $68,254 | 86% | — | 61% |
| 5 | Pennsylvania State University - World Campus University Park, PA Public · 2 feeder programs | 83 | Statistics, General | $68,254 | 34% | — | 91% |
| 6 | Bucknell University Lewisburg, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 79 | Economics, General | $70,946 | 86% | $30,675 | 29% |
| 7 | Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 58 | Business/Managerial Economics | $81,796 | 88% | $26,912 | 26% |
| 8 | Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 57 | Economics, General | $76,944 | 92% | $18,174 | 7% |
| 9 | Allegheny College Meadville, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 45 | Business/Managerial Economics | — | 73% | $18,524 | 55% |
| 10 | Ursinus College Collegeville, PA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 45 | Applied Economics | $52,496 | 73% | $27,153 | 92% |
| 11 | University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, PA Public · 4 feeder programs | 41 | Statistics, General | — | 85% | — | 58% |
| 12 | West Chester University of Pennsylvania West Chester, PA Public · 2 feeder programs | 40 | Statistics, General | — | 71% | — | 78% |
| 13 | Villanova University Villanova, PA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 39 | Statistics, General | — | 92% | $33,774 | 27% |
| 14 | Grove City College Grove City, PA Private not-for-profit · 3 feeder programs | 30 | Business Statistics | — | 83% | — | 72% |
| 15 | Dickinson College Carlisle, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 25 | Economics, General | $53,990 | 80% | $22,831 | 42% |
| 16 | Franklin and Marshall College Lancaster, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 23 | Economics, General | $52,801 | 84% | $27,178 | 28% |
| 17 | Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana, PA Public · 1 feeder programs | 15 | Economics, General | $46,860 | 56% | — | 91% |
| 18 | Moravian University Bethlehem, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 14 | Economics, General | $53,999 | 72% | $28,454 | 54% |
| 19 | Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania Bloomsburg, PA Public · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Economics, General | $35,051 | 54% | — | 93% |
| 20 | Lebanon Valley College Annville, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Economics, General | $51,183 | 65% | $24,925 | 84% |
| 21 | Millersville University of Pennsylvania Millersville, PA Public · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Economics, General | $51,960 | 58% | — | 86% |
| 22 | Washington & Jefferson College Washington, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 13 | Economics, General | $50,402 | 70% | $24,246 | 81% |
| 23 | Widener University Chester, PA Private not-for-profit · 2 feeder programs | 13 | Business Statistics | — | 68% | $29,049 | 71% |
| 24 | Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania Shippensburg, PA Public · 2 feeder programs | 9 | Economics, General | — | 56% | — | 87% |
| 25 | Saint Joseph's University - Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 7 | Economics, General | — | 79% | $34,418 | 89% |
All 53 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.
| School | City | Control | Graduates / yr | Feeder programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh | Private not-for-profit | 146 | 1 |
| Temple University | Philadelphia | Public | 106 | 4 |
| University of Pennsylvania | Philadelphia | Private not-for-profit | 103 | 4 |
| Pennsylvania State University - Main Campus | University Park | Public | 91 | 2 |
| Pennsylvania State University - World Campus | University Park | Public | 83 | 2 |
| Bucknell University | Lewisburg | Private not-for-profit | 79 | 1 |
| Lehigh University | Bethlehem | Private not-for-profit | 58 | 2 |
| Swarthmore College | Swarthmore | Private not-for-profit | 57 | 1 |
| Allegheny College | Meadville | Private not-for-profit | 45 | 2 |
| Ursinus College | Collegeville | Private not-for-profit | 45 | 3 |
| University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus | Pittsburgh | Public | 41 | 4 |
| West Chester University of Pennsylvania | West Chester | Public | 40 | 2 |
| Villanova University | Villanova | Private not-for-profit | 39 | 3 |
| Grove City College | Grove City | Private not-for-profit | 30 | 3 |
| Dickinson College | Carlisle | Private not-for-profit | 25 | 1 |
What survey researchers earn in Pennsylvania
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $69,460. Pennsylvania pays below the national figure.
Metro areas in Pennsylvania, by employment
Job outlook
Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.
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 Survey Researchers page.
How to become a Survey Researcher
Job zone 5 of 5 · SVP 8.0 and above- Typical entry education
- Master's degree
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
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 9 majors mapped to Survey Researchers9 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 13.0608Institutional Research
- 27.0501Statistics, General
- 27.0601Applied Statistics, General
- 45.0102Research Methodology and Quantitative Methods
- 45.0601Economics, General
- 45.0602Applied Economics
- 52.0601Business/Managerial Economics
- 52.1302Business Statistics
- 52.1402Marketing Research
Common questions
Answers for people weighing survey researchers programs in Pennsylvania.
What degree do you need to become a Survey Researcher?+
Master's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Statistics, General, which awarded 494 degrees in Pennsylvania in 2024-25, 40.6% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming a Survey Researcher?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 8 programs to this occupation. The largest are Statistics, Economics, Business/Managerial Economics, Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods, plus 3 more. Together they graduate about 1,217 people a year in Pennsylvania.
How much do survey researchers earn in Pennsylvania?+
The median is $63,310 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 8.9% below the U.S. median of $69,460. 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 survey researchers growing?+
BLS projects a -5.2% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, decline, with roughly 700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Pennsylvania?+
53 institutions in Pennsylvania reported graduates from at least one of the 8 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 survey researchers work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Survey Researcher, Research Associate, Research Scientist, Survey Methodologist among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 19-3022.
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 2025Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.
BLS Employment Projections
2024–34Projected 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 cohortsMedian graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes
latest availableGraduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.
NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk
CIP 2020 / SOC 2018Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.
O*NET Database 30.3
30.3Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.
Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA
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