Sociology
Add ComparisonIn 2024, the locations with the highest concentration of Sociology degree recipients are Los Angeles, CA, New York, NY, and University of California-Santa Barbara, CA. In 2024, the locations with a relatively high number of Sociology degree recipients are Cheyney University, PA, University of California-Santa Barbara, CA, and South Lake Tahoe, CA. The most common degree awarded to students studying Sociology is a bachelors degree.
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Sociology and the types of students that study this field. University of California-Los Angeles awards the most degrees in Sociology in the US, but Paine College and Feather River Community College District have the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Sociology.
Tuition costs for Sociology majors are, on average, $7,500 for in-state public colleges, and $41,150 for out of state private colleges.
The most common sector, by number of institutions, that offers Sociology programs are Private not-for-profit, 4-year or above institutions (507 total). The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded, is Public, 4-year or above (21,936 completions).
The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded in Sociology, is Public, 4-year or above (21,936 completions in 2024).
The following chart shows the share of universities that offer Sociology programs, by the total number of completions, colored and grouped by their sector.
University of California-Los Angeles has the most Sociology degree recipients, with 682 degrees awarded in 2024.
The following bar chart shows the state tuition for the top 5 institutions with the most degrees awarded in Sociology.
Out of all institutions that offer Sociology programs and have at least 5 graduates in those programs, Paine College has the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Sociology, with 19.4%.
This map shows the counties in the United States colored by the highest number of degrees awarded in Sociology 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 $121,427 and the most common occupations are Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, Other managers, and Chief executives & legislators.
The industry that employs the most Social Sciences majors is Elementary & secondary schools, though the highest paying industry, by average wage, is Prefabricated wood buildings & mobile homes.
The average salary for Social Sciences majors is $121,427 and the most common occupations are Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, Other managers, and Chief executives & legislators.
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 for Social Sciences majors, by number of employees, are Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, Other managers, and Chief executives & legislators.
Compared to other majors, there are an unusually high number of Social Sciences majors working as Economists, Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers, and Judicial law clerks.
The highest paid occupations by median income for Social Sciences majors are Surgeons, Securities, commodities, & financial services sales agents, and Magnetic resonance imaging technologists.
The number of Social Sciences graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 2.26%, from 4.18M in 2023 to 4.28M in 2024.
The largest single share of Social Sciences graduates go on to work as Lawyers, & judges, magistrates, & other judicial workers (7.92%). 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 Elementary & secondary schools, Legal services, and Colleges, universities & professional schools, including junior colleges.
The highest paying industries of Social Sciences majors, by average wage, are Prefabricated wood buildings & mobile homes, Metal ore mining, and Internet publishing, broadcasting & web search portals.
The number of Social Sciences graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 2.26%, from 4.18M in 2023 to 4.28M in 2024.
The industry which employs the most Social Sciences graduates by share is Elementary & secondary schools, followed by Legal services. 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 43.3.
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 (11,251 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 34 years old, which represent 2.87% and 2.85% of the population, respectively.
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Sociology 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 Sociology.
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Sociology for each race & ethnicity.
In 2024, 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 Sociology.
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 Kyrgyzstan that hold Social Sciences degrees (4 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 (54,310 degree recipients).
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Sociology field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Sociology majors need many skills, but most especially Writing. The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Sociology majors need more than the average amount of Operations Analysis, Systems Analysis, and Systems Evaluation.
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 Sociology 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 Writing, Reading Comprehension, and Speaking are the three most important skills for people in the field.
