Best Athlete programs in Virginia, ranked by enrollment
Compete in athletic.
7 schools in Virginia run programs that feed this job, graduating 328 people a year. The job pays a median of $61,500 in Virginia across about — jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).
Fields of study in Virginia that lead to this job
Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.
1 programs in Virginia that lead to this job
Ranked by graduates per year in Virginia (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 Virginia page.
| # | Program | Graduates / yr | Share of pipeline | Schools | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CIP 31.0501In Virginia → | 328 | 100.0% | 7 | $30,426 | $25,643 |
Top 7 schools in Virginia
Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 5 of the 7 schools in this state.
| # | School | Graduates / yr | Top feeder program | Grad earnings (1 yr) | Grad rate | Net price | Acceptance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA Public · 1 feeder programs | 141 | Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General | $35,955 | 80% | — | 72% |
| 2 | William & Mary Williamsburg, VA Public · 1 feeder programs | 110 | Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General | $27,114 | 89% | — | 34% |
| 3 | Bridgewater College Bridgewater, VA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 51 | Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General | $30,243 | 53% | $19,485 | 92% |
| 4 | Liberty University Lynchburg, VA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 10 | Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General | $27,423 | 65% | $28,911 | 99% |
| 5 | Randolph College Lynchburg, VA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 9 | Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General | — | 46% | $18,525 | 94% |
| 6 | Emory & Henry University Emory, VA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 5 | Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General | $28,146 | 56% | $20,446 | 84% |
| 7 | University of Lynchburg Lynchburg, VA Private not-for-profit · 1 feeder programs | 2 | Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General | — | 57% | $19,488 | 43% |
All 7 schools in Virginia
Every school in Virginia 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Madison University | Harrisonburg | Public | 141 | 1 |
| William & Mary | Williamsburg | Public | 110 | 1 |
| Bridgewater College | Bridgewater | Private not-for-profit | 51 | 1 |
| Liberty University | Lynchburg | Private not-for-profit | 10 | 1 |
| Randolph College | Lynchburg | Private not-for-profit | 9 | 1 |
| Emory & Henry University | Emory | Private not-for-profit | 5 | 1 |
| University of Lynchburg | Lynchburg | Private not-for-profit | 2 | 1 |
What athletes and sports competitors earn in Virginia
What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.
U.S. median $66,710. Virginia pays below the national figure.
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 Athletes and Sports Competitors page.
How to become a Athlete
Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- On-the-job training
- Long-term on-the-job training
Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.
Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.
Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job 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 Virginia
Every major mapped to this job
The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.
All 1 majors mapped to Athletes and Sports Competitors1 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
- 31.0501Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General
Common questions
Answers for people weighing athletes and sports competitors programs in Virginia.
What degree do you need to become an Athlete?+
No formal educational credential is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness, General, which awarded 328 degrees in Virginia in 2024-25, 100.0% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.
Which college majors lead to becoming an Athlete?+
The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 1 programs to this occupation. The largest are Sports. Together they graduate about 328 people a year in Virginia.
How much do athletes and sports competitors earn in Virginia?+
The median is $61,500 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 7.8% below the U.S. median of $66,710. 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 athletes and sports competitors growing?+
BLS projects a +5.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, faster than average, with roughly 2,100 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.
How many schools offer programs for this career in Virginia?+
7 institutions in Virginia reported graduates from at least one of the 1 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 athletes and sports competitors work under?+
Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Hockey Player, Baseball Player, Race Car Driver, Golf Professional among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 27-2021.
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
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