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Business Administration

Business & Management · federal classification: Business Administration, Management and Operations

Business Administration graduates with a bachelor's typically earned about $64,060, measured a few years after finishing (median across US programs, College Scorecard).
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Median earnings by degree level

Earnings range across schools, by degree levelEach row is a degree level: the bar is the middle half of schools' program medians (25th to 75th percentile) and the dot is the overall median. Certificate median $46,512, $40,457 to $55,334; Associate's median $49,051, $43,062 to $54,170; Bachelor's median $64,060, $56,691 to $72,382; Grad cert median $93,577, $85,757 to $116,753; Master's median $94,573, $80,906 to $111,899; Doctoral median $105,432, $94,178 to $119,682; First prof median $166,604, $138,548 to $258,635; Non-credential median $78,280, $64,862 to $105,600.$40k$150k$259kCertificate$46,512Associate's$49,051Bachelor's$64,060Grad cert$93,577Master's$94,573Doctoral$105,432First prof$166,604Non-credential$78,280
Earnings range across schools, by degree levelEach row is a degree level: the bar is the middle half of schools' program medians (25th to 75th percentile) and the dot is the overall median. Certificate median $46,512, $40,457 to $55,334; Associate's median $49,051, $43,062 to $54,170; Bachelor's median $64,060, $56,691 to $72,382; Grad cert median $93,577, $85,757 to $116,753; Master's median $94,573, $80,906 to $111,899; Doctoral median $105,432, $94,178 to $119,682; First prof median $166,604, $138,548 to $258,635; Non-credential median $78,280, $64,862 to $105,600.$40k$150k$259kCertificate$46,512Associate's$49,051Bachelor's$64,060Grad cert$93,577Master's$94,573Doctoral$105,432First prof$166,604Non-credential$78,280
DegreeMedian earningsTypical rangeSchoolsClear the bar
Undergraduate Certificate or Diploma$46,512$40,457 to $55,33411892%
Associate's Degree$49,051$43,062 to $54,17051192%
Bachelor's Degree$64,060$56,691 to $72,382113399%
Graduate/Professional Certificate$93,577$85,757 to $116,75327100%
Master's Degree$94,573$80,906 to $111,899830100%
Doctoral Degree$105,432$94,178 to $119,68219100%
First Professional Degree$166,604$138,548 to $258,6355100%
Non-Credential Program (Preparatory Coursework/Teacher Certification)$78,280$64,862 to $105,6008100%

"Clear the bar" is the share of programs whose graduates out-earn a typical high-school graduate (the federal earnings-premium test). Typical range is the 25th to 75th percentile of program medians.

Job outlook

Projected employment growth +6% (2025 to 2035), about 1,645,100 openings a year across the occupations this field commonly leads to.

OccupationMedian payGrowthOpenings/yr
General and Operations Managers$105,770+5%285,000
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers$69,500+0.1%127,400
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers$48,520-3.7%113,500
Managers, All Other$141,900+4.9%100,900
Business Operations Specialists, All Other$83,050+3.9%98,700
Management Analysts$101,860+10.1%94,100

Occupation pay and outlook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS wages, Employment Projections). A field maps to several occupations, and the same occupations serve many majors, so these are the jobs this major commonly leads to, not positions reserved for its graduates; the openings should not be added up across majors.

Where this is studied

The 8 colleges where the most students complete a business administration program, of 2,519 that report one. Ordered by number of completions only: this is where people study it, not a judgement about where to.

Earnings source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (release 2026-06-10), median earnings of graduates measured up to four years after completing. Figures describe past graduates and are never a promise. Method: methodology. Report an error.