Census Bureau data shows 34.4% of adults age 25 to 34 have a bachelor’s degree. It’s also becoming more common for jobs to require a four-year degree. Among more than 800 careers tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 275 require at least a bachelor's degree. Those jobs are also higher paying. People with a bachelor’s degree earn $1,173 per week, compared to the $907 median weekly earnings for all workers. (We previously looked at the 10 highest paying jobs you can get with a bachelor's degree.)
To understand what college students are studying, we looked at data on the most popular bachelor’s degrees attained by adults age 25 and older in every state, including Washington, D.C. We used Census data, which look at broad degree categories, rather than specific majors. So a degree in business administration and international business would both fall into the category of “business” in the Census data.
A bachelor’s degree in business is the most popular by far. About 14.4 million people in the U.S. have a business degree, which is 20.3% of all people with a bachelor’s degree. In every state, business is either the first- or second-most popular field of study.
A business degree could also be handy later in life. More than one quarter of new entrepreneurs are between the ages of 55 and 64.
The second-most popular degree was in the field of education (8.6 million people nationally), followed by science and engineering related fields (6.8 million people across the country).
The least common field for a bachelor’s degree was in multidisciplinary studies, at just 516,502 people in the U.S. (0.7% of all people with a bachelor’s degree). The next least popular degrees were in physical sciences and communications. Both of those fields account for less than 4% of all people with a bachelor’s degree.
Alabama
- Business: 22.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 17.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.9% of bachelor's degree holders
Alaska
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 13.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Business: 13.3% of bachelor's degree holders
- Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences: 11.9% of bachelor's degree holders
Arizona
- Business: 22.2% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 14.3% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 9.9% of bachelor's degree holders
Arkansas
- Business: 20.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 18.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.5% of bachelor's degree holders
California
- Business: 18.3% of bachelor's degree holders
- Engineering: 10.2% of bachelor's degree holders
- Social Sciences: 9.7% of bachelor's degree holders
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Colorado
- Business: 19.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 9.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Engineering: 8.9% of bachelor's degree holders
Connecticut
- Business: 19.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 10.4% of bachelor's degree holders
- Social Sciences: 9.2% of bachelor's degree holders
Delaware
- Business: 22.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 14.7% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 9.3% of bachelor's degree holders
District of Columbia
- Social Sciences: 24.7% of bachelor's degree holders
- Business: 13.4% of bachelor's degree holders
- Liberal Arts and History: 7.6% of bachelor's degree holders
Florida
- Business: 24.3% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 13.1% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.7% of bachelor's degree holders
Georgia
- Business: 24.1% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 12.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 9.4% of bachelor's degree holders
Hawaii
- Business: 21.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 12.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.5% of bachelor's degree holders
Idaho
- Business: 17.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 14.8% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 11.4% of bachelor's degree holders
Illinois
- Business: 21.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 12.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 9.8% of bachelor's degree holders
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Indiana
- Business: 20.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 15.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 13.2% of bachelor's degree holders
Iowa
- Business: 20.2% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 18.7% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.4% of bachelor's degree holders
Kansas
- Business: 20.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 18.0% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.3% of bachelor's degree holders
Kentucky
- Business: 19.3% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 16.1% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 11.7% of bachelor's degree holders
Louisiana
- Business: 20.4% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 15.8% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 12.1% of bachelor's degree holders
Maine
- Business: 14.0% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 13.2% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.4% of bachelor's degree holders
Maryland
- Business: 17.7% of bachelor's degree holders
- Social Sciences: 10.2% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 9.6% of bachelor's degree holders
Massachusetts
- Business: 17.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Social Sciences: 9.7% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 9.0% of bachelor's degree holders
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Michigan
- Business: 20.7% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 13.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 11.2% of bachelor's degree holders
Minnesota
- Business: 19.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 13.4% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.2% of bachelor's degree holders
Mississippi
- Business: 21.4% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 20.7% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 12.3% of bachelor's degree holders
Missouri
- Business: 22.0% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 15.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 11.0% of bachelor's degree holders
Montana
- Education: 17.7% of bachelor's degree holders
- Business: 15.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences: 12.2% of bachelor's degree holders
Nebraska
- Business: 22.1% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 17.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.8% of bachelor's degree holders
Nevada
- Business: 22.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 12.2% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.2% of bachelor's degree holders
New Hampshire
- Business: 18.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 11.2% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 9.1% of bachelor's degree holders
New Jersey
- Business: 22.3% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 10.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Engineering: 8.9% of bachelor's degree holders
New Mexico
- Business: 15.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 15.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 9.7% of bachelor's degree holders
New York
- Business: 19.0% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 11.2% of bachelor's degree holders
- Social Sciences: 9.8% of bachelor's degree holders
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North Carolina
- Business: 20.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 12.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 9.5% of bachelor's degree holders
North Dakota
- Business: 20.4% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 16.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 15.0% of bachelor's degree holders
Ohio
- Business: 21.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 15.8% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 11.2% of bachelor's degree holders
Oklahoma
- Business: 22.7% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 19.4% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 9.9% of bachelor's degree holders
Oregon
- Business: 14.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Social Sciences: 10.1% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 10.0% of bachelor's degree holders
Pennsylvania
- Business: 19.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 14.6% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.7% of bachelor's degree holders
Rhode Island
- Business: 20.7% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 11.8% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.0% of bachelor's degree holders
South Carolina
- Business: 21.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 15.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 9.8% of bachelor's degree holders
South Dakota
- Business: 19.8% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 19.3% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 12.7% of bachelor's degree holders
Tennessee
- Business: 23.0% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 14.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.3% of bachelor's degree holders
Texas
- Business: 23% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 12.2% of bachelor's degree holders
- Engineering: 9.8% of bachelor's degree holders
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Utah
- Business: 19% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 14.1% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.0% of bachelor's degree holders
Vermont
- Business: 12.8% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 12.2% of bachelor's degree holders
- Social Sciences: 10.1% of bachelor's degree holders
Virginia
- Business: 18.8% of bachelor's degree holders
- Social Sciences: 10.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 9.8% of bachelor's degree holders
Washington
- Business: 16.2% of bachelor's degree holders
- Engineering: 10.0% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 9.6% of bachelor's degree holders
West Virginia
- Education: 19.9% of bachelor's degree holders
- Business: 19.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 13.8% of bachelor's degree holders
Wisconsin
- Business: 19.5% of bachelor's degree holders
- Education: 16.0% of bachelor's degree holders
- Science and Engineering Related Fields: 10.9% of bachelor's degree holders
Wyoming
- Education: 19.0% of bachelor's degree holders
- Business: 13.8% of bachelor's degree holders
- Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences: 10.9% of bachelor's degree holders
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