Accounting

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Total Degrees
Awarded in 2016

83,555

growing 0.796%

Median In-State
Public Tuition

$6,478

growing 0.872%

Median Out-of-State
Private Tuition

$28,140

growing 3.17%

Average Wage

$88,037

growing 2.76%

People in Workforce

10.9M

growing 3.53%

Average Employee Age

43.7

growing 0.358%

About

Institutions

Employment

Diversity

Skills

About

The locations with the highest concentration of Accounting degree recipients are New York, NY, Chicago, IL, and Tempe, AZ. The locations with a relatively high number of Accounting degree recipients are Atherton, CA, Troy, MI, and Henniker, NH. The most common degree awarded to students studying Accounting is a bachelors degree.

Photo by Ken Teegardin

Business Accounting

Institutions

Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Accounting and the types of students that study this field. University of Phoenix-Arizona awards the most degrees in Accounting in the US, but Cheryl Fells School of Business and Consolidated School of Business-Lancaster have the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Accounting.

Tuition costs for Accounting majors are, on average, $6,478 for in-state public colleges, and $28,140 for out of state private colleges.

The most common sector, by number of institutions, that offers Accounting programs are Private not-for-profit, 4-year or above institutions (687 total). The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded, is Public, 4-year or above (46,274 completions).

Institutions

Institution with the Most Degrees Awarded in Accounting

The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded in Accounting, is Public, 4-year or above (46,274 completions).

The following chart shows the share of universities that offer Accounting programs, by the total number of completions, colored and grouped by their sector.

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Tuition Costs for Common Institutions

$6,478

Median In-State Public

$28,140

Median Out of State Private

University of Phoenix-Arizona has the most Accounting degree recipients, with 1,062 degrees awarded in 2016.

The following bar chart shows the state tuition for the top 5 institutions with the most degrees awarded in Accounting.

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Specialized Colleges

Highest Concentration Institution

Out of all institutions that offer Accounting programs and have at least 5 graduates in those programs, Cheryl Fells School of Business and Consolidated School of Business-Lancaster have the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Accounting, with 40% and 31.4%, respectively.

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Degrees Awarded by County

Counties with the Most Degrees Awarded in Accounting

This map shows the counties in the United States colored by the highest number of degrees awarded in Accounting by year.

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Growth in Awarded Degrees

Counties with the Fastest Growing Number of Degrees Awarded

This map shows the counties in the United States colored by the highest growth in degrees awarded for Accounting.

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Employment

Information on the businesses and industries that employ Business graduates and on wages and locations for those in the field.

The average salary for Business majors is $88,037 and the most common occupations are Accountants & auditors, Miscellaneous managers, and Financial managers.

The industry that employs the most Business majors is Insurance carriers & related activities, though the highest paying industry, by average wage, is Leather tanning & finishing, & other allied products manufacturing .

Wages

Yearly Income for Common Jobs

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Accounting is from the 2 Digit Course Business.

$88,037

Average Wage in Workforce

± $668

2.76%

1 Year Growth

± 1.05%

The average salary for Business majors is $88,037 and the most common occupations are Accountants & auditors, Miscellaneous managers, and Financial managers.

This chart shows the average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Business majors.

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± 78,018

3.53%

1 Year Growth

± 0.986%

The number of Business graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 3.53%, from 10.5M in 2016 to 10.9M in 2017.

The industry which employs the most Business graduates by share is Insurance carriers & related activities, followed by Elementary & secondary schools. This visualization shows the industries that hire those who major in Business.

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Specialty Locations

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Accounting is from the 2 Digit Course Business.

PUMAS with a relatively high number of Business majors

This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States where there are a relatively high population of Business majors.

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Diversity

Demographic information on those who earn a degree in Business in the US. The average age of a person in the workforce with a degree in Business is 43.7, and the most common degree type these workers hold is a Bachelors Degree. Female employees are more likely to hold Business degrees, and White students earn the majority (47,880) of the degrees.

Workforce Age

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Accounting is from the 2 Digit Course Business.

43.7

Average Age in 2017

± 0.0939 Years

0.358%

1 Year Change

± 0.304%

This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Business. The most common ages of employees with this major are 35 and 47 years old, which represent 2.72% and 2.69% of the population, respectively.

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Degrees Awarded

The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Accounting are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.

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Workforce Degrees

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Accounting is from the 2 Digit Course Business.

The most common degree types held by the working population in Business are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Professional degree.

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Gender Imbalance for Common Institutions

Female (53.9%)

Most Common Gender with a Degree in this Field

This chart shows the granted degrees by gender at the 5 institutions that graduate the most students in Accounting.

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Race & Ethnicity by Degrees Awarded

Most Common Race or Ethnicity

White
47,880 degrees awarded
Hispanic or Latino
9,205 degrees awarded
Non-resident Alien
8,055 degrees awarded

This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Accounting for each race & ethnicity. White students earned the largest share of the degrees with this major.

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Race & Ethnicity by Gender

Most Common Race/Ethnicity and Gender Combination

White Male
17,283 degrees awarded
White Female
15,051 degrees awarded
Hispanic or Latino Female
3,469 degrees awarded

This chart illustrates the differences by gender for each race & ethnicity of Bachelors Degree recipients in Accounting. White Male students, who earn most of the degrees in this field, are the most common combination of race/ethnicity and gender.

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Global Diversity

The closest comparable data for the 6 Digit Course Accounting is from the 2 Digit Course Business.

Most Common Countries of Origin

India
157,347 degree recipients
Philippines
150,806 degree recipients
Mexico
127,078 degree recipients

High Relative Number of Students

Indonesia
3.17 times more than expected
Latvia
3.1 times more than expected
South Central Asia, not specified
2.88 times more than expected

There are a relatively high number of people that were born in Indonesia that hold Business degrees (3.17 times more than expected), and the most common country of origin by total numbers for non-US students earning a degree in this field is India (157,347 degree recipients).

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Skills

Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Accounting field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accounting majors need many skills, but most especially Reading Comprehension. The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Accounting majors need more than the average amount of Management of Financial Resources, Mathematics, and Systems Analysis.

These two visualizations, one a radial chart and one a bar chart, show the same information, a rating of how necessary the following skills are for Accounting majors. Toggle between "value" and "RCA" to see the absolute rating of that skill (value) and the revealed comparative advantage (RCA), or how much greater or lesser that skill's rating is than the average. The longer the bar or the closer the line comes to the circumference of the circle, the more important that skill is. The importance of Management of Financial Resources is very distinctive for majors, but the Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, and Critical Thinking are the three most important skills for people in the field.