Social Sciences
Contains Stem Majors
Add ComparisonIn 2023, the locations with the highest concentration of Social Sciences degree recipients are New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA, and Washington, DC. In 2022, the locations with a relatively high number of Social Sciences degree recipients are Hamilton, NY, Easton, PA, and South Lake Tahoe, CA. The most common degree awarded to students studying Social Sciences is a bachelors degree.
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Social Sciences and the types of students that study this field. University of California-Los Angeles awards the most degrees in Social Sciences in the US, but International Institute for Restorative Practices and Institute of World Politics have the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Social Sciences.
Tuition costs for Social Sciences majors are, on average, $7,876 for in-state public colleges, and $44,029 for out of state private colleges.
The most common sector, by number of institutions, that offers Social Sciences programs are Private not-for-profit, 4-year or above institutions (793 total). The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded, is Public, 4-year or above (111,471 completions).
The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded in Social Sciences, is Public, 4-year or above (111,471 completions in 2023).
The following chart shows the share of universities that offer Social Sciences programs, by the total number of completions, colored and grouped by their sector.
University of California-Los Angeles has the most Social Sciences degree recipients, with 2,653 degrees awarded in 2023.
The following bar chart shows the state tuition for the top 5 institutions with the most degrees awarded in Social Sciences.
Out of all institutions that offer Social Sciences programs and have at least 5 graduates in those programs, International Institute for Restorative Practices has the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Social Sciences, with 100%.
This map shows the counties in the United States colored by the highest number of degrees awarded in Social Sciences by year.
Information on the businesses and industries that employ Social Sciences graduates and on wages and locations for those in the field.
The average salary for Social Sciences majors is $113,579 and the most common occupations are Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, Other managers, and Elementary & middle school teachers.
The industry that employs the most Social Sciences majors is Legal services, though the highest paying industry, by average wage, is Not specified food industries, manufacturing.
The average salary for Social Sciences majors is $113,579 and the most common occupations are Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, Other managers, and Elementary & middle school teachers.
This chart shows the average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Social Sciences majors.
This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States colored by the average salary of Social Sciences majors.
Note that the census collects information tied to where people live, not where they work. It is possible that Social Sciences majors live and work in the same place, but it is also possible that they live and work in two different places.
The most common occupations Social Sciences majors, by number of employees, are Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, Other managers, and Elementary & middle school teachers.
Compared to other majors, there are an unusually high number of Social Sciences majors working as Economists, Miscellaneous social scientists, including survey researchers & sociologists, and Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers.
The highest paid occupations by median income for Social Sciences majors are Surgeons, Nuclear medicine technologists and medical dosimetrists, and Securities, commodities, & financial services sales agents.
The number of Social Sciences graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 2.44%, from 3.97M in 2021 to 4.07M in 2022.
The largest single share of Social Sciences graduates go on to work as Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers (8.07%). This chart shows the various jobs filled by those with a major in Social Sciences by share of the total number of graduates.
The most common industries that employ Social Sciences majors, by number of employees, are Legal services, Elementary & secondary schools, and Colleges, universities & professional schools, including junior colleges.
The highest paying industries of Social Sciences majors, by average wage, are Not specified food industries, manufacturing, Securities, commodities, funds, trusts & other financial investments, and Internet publishing, broadcasting & web search portals.
The number of Social Sciences graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 2.44%, from 3.97M in 2021 to 4.07M in 2022.
The industry which employs the most Social Sciences graduates by share is Legal services, followed by Elementary & secondary schools. This visualization shows the industries that hire those who major in Social Sciences.
This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States where there are a relatively high population of Social Sciences majors.
Note that the census collects information tied to where people live, not where they work. It is possible that Social Sciences majors live and work in the same place, but it is also possible that they live and work in two different places.
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Social Sciences in the United States.
The average age of a person in the workforce with a degree in Social Sciences is 43.1.
The most common degree type these workers hold is a Bachelors Degree. Female employees are more likely to hold Social Sciences degrees, and White students are the most common race/ethnicty group awarded degrees in Social Sciences (87,748 students).
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Social Sciences. The most common ages of employees with this major are 35 and 30 years old, which represent 2.93% and 2.87% of the population, respectively.
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Social Sciences are Bachelors Degree, Associates Degree, and Masters Degree.
The most common degree types held by the working population in Social Sciences are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Professional degree.
This chart shows the granted degrees by sex at the 5 institutions that graduate the most students in Social Sciences.
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Social Sciences for each race & ethnicity. White students earned the largest share of the degrees with this major.
This chart illustrates the differences by sex for each race & ethnicity of Bachelors Degree recipients in Social Sciences.
White Female students, who earn most of the degrees in this field, are the most common combination of race/ethnicity and sex.
There are a relatively high number of people that were born in Azerbaijan that hold Social Sciences degrees (4.07 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 (49,969 degree recipients).
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Social Sciences field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Social Sciences majors need many skills, but most especially Reading Comprehension. The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Social Sciences majors need more than the average amount of Operations Analysis, Writing, and Science.
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 Social Sciences 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 Operations Analysis is very distinctive for majors, but the Reading Comprehension, Writing, and Speaking are the three most important skills for people in the field.