Career Outcomes Guide
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Occupations Overview

Our occupations data harnesses nationally representative data from the U.S. Census Bureau, along with details from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Department of Labor, to give you everything you need to know about an occupation. All statistics can be viewed at the state-by-sex level (subject to data availability) — for example, selecting State=Virginia and Sex=Male shows statistics obtained using men living in Virginia who work in the selected occupation. See Methodology for the full data-quality details.

Note: This guide is written for Pro users. Non-logged-in and free users may not have all of these features. You can get Pro access by subscribing.

Overview

The occupations explorer can help you understand these facts about an occupation:

  • The educational requirements, by seeing the real-life educational attainment of people working in it
  • How pay evolves over the career
  • The work-life balance people typically experience
  • Clear paths on how to arrive at that occupation, by seeing the top majors that feed into it — and how pay varies by feeder major within that occupation
  • The specific tasks, skills, and abilities the occupation requires, via interlinked BLS/DOL data

Browsing occupations

The /occupations page is the place to begin your search. You can search across our 478 occupations, and use the filters to restrict occupations by early-career income or educational attainment level. Click any occupation to see more details about it.

The Occupations list page, showing nationally, across both sexes, that 83.4% of people working as Accountants and Auditors have at least a 4-year degree — indicating that a college degree is essentially required for this occupation.
Nationally, across both sexes, 83.4% of people working as Accountants and Auditors have at least a 4-year degree — indicating that a college degree is essentially required for this occupation.

The occupation detail page

Selecting an occupation opens its detail page, organized into eight tabs:

  • Overview — a summary of the occupation's key outcomes.
  • Feeder Majors — the top majors held by people working in the occupation.
  • Industries — the top industries the occupation is found in.
  • Earnings — earnings trajectories by age.
  • Education — the distribution of educational attainment within the occupation.
  • Hours Worked — the distribution of typical weekly hours worked.
  • Details — O*NET tasks, skills, and work abilities for the occupation.
  • Resources — the BLS Occupational Handbook, related occupations, professional associations, and job boards.

Every tab can be broken down by state and sex — for example, to see the top feeder majors for women in Texas.

Overview

This tab summarizes the key information about the occupation. Early Career Income and Typical Weekly Hours are both medians. The percentile gauges help you assess how the occupation compares to others — within the selected sex and geography — by 4-year degree share and female share.

The Overview tab for Clergy, showing that nationally, across both sexes, people working as clergy have a 4-year degree rate higher than 84% of occupations — indicating relatively high educational requirements.
Nationally, across both sexes, people working as clergy have a 4-year degree rate higher than 84% of occupations — indicating relatively high educational requirements for the occupation.

Feeder Majors

This tab lists the top 10 majors held by people working in this occupation (people without a degree are grouped under "No 4-year degree"), along with the share of people holding each major and how much people with that major earn while working in this occupation. This tab is useful for giving users a good idea of the pipelines into an occupation.

The Feeder Majors tab for Clergy in Virginia, men only, showing that the most common major is Theology and Religious Vocations at 24.4%, with median annual earnings of $63,400 for men with that major working as clergy in Virginia.
For men in Virginia working as Clergy, the most common major is Theology and Religious Vocations (24.4%), with median annual earnings of $63,400.

Industries

The Industries tab lists the top 10 industries the occupation is found in, including their share and earnings within the industry. The interpretation of the statistics is the same as for the Feeder Majors tab.

Earnings

The Earnings tab displays median earnings over the career for the selected occupation, within the selected state and sex. The earnings shown are the median earnings within the shown age bin.

The Earnings tab, plotting median earnings by age bin for the selected occupation, state, and sex.
The Earnings tab plots median earnings by age bin for the selected occupation, state, and sex.

Education

The Education tab breaks down the maximum educational attainment within the occupation. These stats are enormously helpful for a student wondering whether they should go to graduate school to work in a given occupation.

The Education tab for Clergy in Virginia, men only, showing that the most common level of education is a master's degree at 43.8%, and more than 62% hold a graduate degree overall — indicating graduate training is probably needed for this occupation.
For men in Virginia working as clergy, the most common level of education is a master's degree (43.8%), and more than 62% hold a graduate degree — indicating graduate training is probably needed if one is aiming for this occupation.

Hours Worked

This tab breaks down the distribution of typical weekly hours worked. It gives users a sense of work-life balance, and how often people working in this occupation do so part-time.

Details

The Details tab brings in O*NET data from the Department of Labor for the occupation. O*NET provides valuable information on an occupation, like key tasks, skills, work abilities, and more.

The Details tab, showing O*NET tasks, skills, and work abilities data from the Department of Labor for the selected occupation.
The Details tab surfaces O*NET tasks, skills, and work-abilities data from the Department of Labor for the occupation.

Resources

The Resources tab compiles additional helpful information, including a link to the BLS Occupational Handbook, related occupations, professional associations, and links to job boards for the selected occupation and geography.

The Resources tab, with links to the BLS Occupational Handbook, related occupations, professional associations, and job boards for the selected occupation and geography.
The Resources tab links out to the BLS Occupational Handbook, related occupations, professional associations, and job boards.

Next

See how your interests match to occupations in the Assessment guide, or jump straight to the Occupations list.

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