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In 2024, the locations with the highest concentration of Special Education degree recipients are New York, NY, Muncie, IN, and Phoenix, AZ. In 2024, the locations with a relatively high number of Special Education degree recipients are Muncie, IN, Redwood City, CA, and Belmont, CA. The most common degree awarded to students studying Special Education is a masters degree.
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Special Education and the types of students that study this field. Ball State University awards the most degrees in Special Education in the US, having also the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Special Education, followed by Bank Street College of Education.
Tuition costs for Special Education majors are, on average, $7,715 for in-state public colleges, and $36,950 for out of state private colleges.
The most common sector, by number of institutions, that offers Special Education programs are Private not-for-profit, 4-year or above institutions (463 total). The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded, is Public, 4-year or above (20,058 completions).
The most common sector, by number of degrees awarded in Special Education, is Public, 4-year or above (20,058 completions in 2024).
The following chart shows the share of universities that offer Special Education programs, by the total number of completions, colored and grouped by their sector.
Ball State University has the most Special Education degree recipients, with 1,723 degrees awarded in 2024.
The following bar chart shows the state tuition for the top 5 institutions with the most degrees awarded in Special Education.
Out of all institutions that offer Special Education programs and have at least 5 graduates in those programs, Ball State University has the highest percentage of degrees awarded in Special Education, with 28.5%.
This map shows the counties in the United States colored by the highest number of degrees awarded in Special Education by year.
Information on the businesses and industries that employ Education graduates and on wages and locations for those in the field.
The average salary for Education majors is $68,343 and the most common occupations are Elementary & middle school teachers, Secondary school teachers, and Education administrators.
The industry that employs the most Education majors is Elementary & secondary schools, though the highest paying industry, by average wage, is Computer & peripheral equipment manufacturing.
The average salary for Education majors is $68,343 and the most common occupations are Elementary & middle school teachers, Secondary school teachers, and Education administrators.
This chart shows the average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Education majors.
This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States colored by the average salary of Education majors.
Note that the census collects information tied to where people live, not where they work. It is possible that Education 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 Education majors, by number of employees, are Elementary & middle school teachers, Secondary school teachers, and Education administrators.
Compared to other majors, there are an unusually high number of Education majors working as Elementary & middle school teachers, Special education teachers, and Secondary school teachers.
The highest paid occupations by median income for Education majors are Surgeons, Nuclear medicine technologists and medical dosimetrists, and Physicians.
The number of Education graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 0.435%, from 5.15M in 2023 to 5.17M in 2024.
The largest single share of Education graduates go on to work as Elementary & middle school teachers (30.6%). This chart shows the various jobs filled by those with a major in Education by share of the total number of graduates.
The most common industries that employ Education majors, by number of employees, are Elementary & secondary schools, Colleges, universities & professional schools, including junior colleges, and Child day care services.
The highest paying industries of Education majors, by average wage, are Computer & peripheral equipment manufacturing, Internet publishing, broadcasting & web search portals, and Miscellaneous petroleum & coal products.
The number of Education graduates in the workforce has been growing at a rate of 0.435%, from 5.15M in 2023 to 5.17M in 2024.
The industry which employs the most Education graduates by share is Elementary & secondary schools, followed by Colleges, universities & professional schools, including junior colleges. This visualization shows the industries that hire those who major in Education.
This map shows the public use micro areas (PUMAs) in the United States where there are a relatively high population of Education majors.
Note that the census collects information tied to where people live, not where they work. It is possible that Education majors live and work in the same place, but it is also possible that they live and work in two different places.
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Education. The most common ages of employees with this major are 44 and 40 years old, which represent 2.56% and 2.55% of the population, respectively.
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Special Education are Masters Degree, Bachelors Degree, and Postbaccalaureate Certificate.
The most common degree types held by the working population in Education 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 Special Education.
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Special Education 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 Masters Degree recipients in Special Education.
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 Europe that hold Education degrees (2.92 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 Mexico (55,415 degree recipients).
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Special Education field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Special Education majors need many skills, but most especially Learning Strategies. The revealed comparative advantage (RCA) shows that Special Education majors need more than the average amount of Learning Strategies, Service Orientation, and Instructing.
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 Special Education 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 Learning Strategies is very distinctive for majors, but the Learning Strategies, Social Perceptiveness, and Speaking are the three most important skills for people in the field.
Photo by Ryan Tyler Smithright