Quick answer:Economics degrees usually cover microeconomics, macroeconomics, statistics and econometrics. Economists earn a median $124,720 but hold only 17,790 jobs nationally; most graduates work under analyst titles instead. Programs, the careers this degree opens, and what they pay are covered below.
What the Coursework Usually Covers
Microeconomics - prices, incentives, firm behavior, and how markets clear or fail to
Macroeconomics - output, employment, inflation, interest rates, and the policy levers that move them
Statistics and econometrics - regression, inference, and the practical business of estimating an effect from messy data
Mathematical methods - optimization and calculus applied to economic problems, at a level most business degrees do not reach
Applied fields - labor, industrial organization, public finance, international trade, environmental or health economics depending on the program
Research and writing - defending a quantitative finding in prose, which is most of the job in practice
The applied field sequence is where programs differ most. Two economics degrees can be almost identical for two years and then diverge sharply, so read the upper-division course list before you commit.
Why This Page Is Separate From Finance and Business
Economics is awarded under two distinct program codes: CIP 45.0601, economics as a social science, and CIP 52.0601, business and managerial economics taught inside a business school. Together they account for 773 institutions awarding the degree at bachelor’s or master’s level (IPEDS Completions, 2024).
That matters for a reader searching this term. The online finance degree page covers valuation, markets and corporate capital, and the business and management degrees hub covers the general business credential. Neither one lists the schools that award economics, and an economics search that lands on either sees the wrong school list. This page exists so the institutions below are the ones that actually award this credential.
Before you request information anywhere, ask which of the two program codes a school teaches under, how heavy the econometrics sequence is, and get a written transfer evaluation. With that filter set, compare online economics programs enrolling now:
Colleges Offering This Degree
Every school listed is verified in federal IPEDS data both to award this degree and to offer programs that can be completed entirely by distance education at this level. Whether this exact degree is delivered fully online varies by school, so confirm the format before you apply.
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 10 schools, closest group first, then ordered by
BOC Score with the highest at the top.
10 of them carry a score.
LOCAL RANK
Location / proximity to this page
Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish
30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off
25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher
20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two
15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working
10%
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal
about the institution rather than about this subject.
Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from
this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
This is the number that should shape the decision, so here it is first. There are 17,790 economists employed nationally (BLS OEWS, May 2025), and the occupation is projected to change by 1.2 percent through 2034 with about 900 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). That is a very small door, and most of it sits in federal agencies, central banking, consultancies and a handful of large firms. A master’s or doctorate is the common credential behind it.
The reason the degree is still widely taken is that almost nobody who studies economics ends up with “economist” on a business card. They end up as analysts. Financial and investment analysts alone number 361,980 at a median of $102,740, growing 5.7 percent with about 25,100 openings a year. That is roughly twenty times the employment and twenty-eight times the annual openings of the economist title.
So the honest framing is this: an economics degree is a quantitative training program that happens to share a name with a small occupation. Judge it on the analytical work it can prepare you for, not on the job title.
Who This Suits
People who like mathematics and are not looking for a vocational credential. Economics is the most theory-heavy of the business-adjacent degrees. If you want a direct line from coursework to a job task, a degree in accounting or supply chain management is a tighter fit.
Tradespeople moving toward estimating, pricing or financial analysis. The habit of reasoning about cost, capacity and constraints is already there from field work. Economics formalizes it and adds the statistics. The bookkeeper career guide covers the nearer, faster route into the same office if a four-year program is not the plan.
Anyone considering graduate study. Economics is one of the standard undergraduate feeders into law, public policy and business graduate programs, and the mathematics sequence is what makes it travel.
Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
Is It Worth It?
The case for is that the analytical core is durable. Regression, causal reasoning and the discipline of separating correlation from effect are not tied to an industry, and they are exactly the skills that move a person from doing the work to pricing and forecasting the work.
The case against is that economics is not a licensure path and not a vocational credential. Nothing about the degree entitles anyone to a title, and the one occupation named after it is tiny. If the goal is the shortest defensible route into a specific office job, other degrees in this silo are more direct.
Is college worth it covers the general cost and time tradeoff. Individual outcomes may vary.
What These Careers Pay
Economists earn a median $124,720 across 17,790 jobs, with employment projected to change by 1.2 percent through 2034 (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
Economics at a Glance
Metric
Detail
Source
Median annual wage
$124,720
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Wage range
$67,360 (10th pct) - $238,060 (90th pct)
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Mean annual wage
$142,130
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Employment
17,790 economists
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Projected change (2024-34)
1.2%, about 900 openings per year
BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34
Typical credential
Bachelor’s, with master’s common for the economist title
Program catalogs
Institutions awarding
773
IPEDS Completions, 2024
Geo coverage
State, metro and city pages - see Programs by State below
Site structure
SOC codes covered
19-3011 economists; 13-2051 financial and investment analysts
BLS OEWS, May 2025
The Two Destinations Compared
Role
Median
75th percentile
Employment
Projected change
Economists
$124,720
$174,720
17,790
1.2%
Financial and investment analysts
$102,740
$133,340
361,980
5.7%
All wage and employment figures BLS OEWS, May 2025; growth figures BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
Read that table as a tradeoff rather than a ranking. The economist row pays more at the median and has a far higher ceiling, with a 90th percentile of $238,060 against $180,860. It is also a job title with 900 openings a year nationally, most of them expecting graduate credentials.
The analyst row pays less at the median and is where the volume is. For a working adult weighing a first degree, the analyst column is the realistic base case and the economist column is the upside. Plan around the first and treat the second as a reason to keep the mathematics strong.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do economists make?
The national median annual wage for economists is $124,720 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $67,360 or less and the top 10 percent earn $238,060 or more, across employment of 17,790.
How many jobs are there for economists?
Employment is 17,790 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), which is one of the smallest occupations covered on this site. Employment is projected to change by 1.2 percent from 2024 to 2034, with about 900 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). That is a well paid but very narrow job title.
What do most economics graduates actually do?
Most work under other job titles. Financial and investment analysts, the largest destination tracked on this page, hold 361,980 jobs at a median of $102,740 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) and are projected to grow 5.7 percent through 2034 (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). The degree is designed to be a quantitative and analytical foundation rather than training for one title.
Do you need a master's degree to be an economist?
The economist job title is usually held by people with graduate training, and this page covers programs at both bachelor's and master's level for that reason. A bachelor's in economics is more commonly used as an entry into analyst work. Individual outcomes may vary.
How many schools offer an economics degree?
773 institutions awarded CIP 45.0601 or CIP 52.0601 at bachelor's or master's level in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). It is one of the more widely offered degrees in this silo.
What is the difference between economics and finance?
Economics studies how markets, prices and incentives behave in general; finance studies how capital is priced, raised and allocated by firms and investors. Economics programs typically carry more theory and econometrics, and finance programs typically carry more valuation and markets coursework.
Can you study economics online?
Yes. The subject is analytical and needs no laboratory or clinical component, so it transfers to distance delivery cleanly. The statistics and econometrics sequence is the part that most often needs proctored assessment, so confirm how a program handles that.
Is economics a realistic degree after a trade career?
It can be, if the mathematics appeals to you. Economics is more quantitative than most business degrees and is designed to build modeling and data skills that carry into analyst work. Individual outcomes may vary.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 - Economists (SOC 19-3011), Financial and Investment Analysts (SOC 13-2051)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2024-34
U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Completions, 2024 - CIP 45.0601, CIP 52.0601
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
