Quick answer: Journalism degrees usually cover reporting, verification, media law and deadline writing at bachelor’s and master’s level, under CIP 09.0401. Reporter employment is projected to change by -3.9 percent through 2034 at a median of $62,200, while the adjacent writers and authors occupation is projected to change by 3.6 percent at a median of $76,910 (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). This page leads with the decline because it is the number that should shape the decision.
Most degree pages open with a wage. This one opens with a projection, because it is the fact that matters most and the one prospectus copy tends to skip.
Employment of news analysts, reporters and journalists is projected to change by -3.9 percent between 2024 and 2034, moving from 49,300 to 47,400 positions, with about 4,100 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Those openings are almost entirely replacement of people leaving rather than new roles being created. It is a small occupation getting slightly smaller.
That is not an argument against the degree, but it is an argument against one specific plan: enrolling in order to hold a staff newsroom reporting job for thirty years. The federal projection does not support that plan, and anyone selling it should be asked about this number.
The more defensible plan treats the degree as training in a transferable method - find out what is true, verify it, and write it clearly against a deadline - and looks at where that method is being paid for now. The wage tables further down show one such destination sitting right next door: writers and authors, at a median of $76,910 and a projected change of 3.6 percent (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
At master’s level the emphasis usually shifts toward specialization: an investigative, data, or subject-matter beat, often with a long-form thesis project rather than broad survey coursework.
Before you request information anywhere, ask how a program handles field reporting for distance students and how much published work a graduate leaves with. With that filter set, compare online journalism programs enrolling now:
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.
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.
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.
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Each of these institutions holds accreditation from a recognized institutional accreditor. Verify a school’s current standing directly before you commit to it.
CIP 09.0401, journalism, is a distinct code from the broader communication and media studies code covered on the communications degree page and from the public relations code covered on the public relations degree page. At 338 institutions awarding it at degree level, journalism sits between them in supply (IPEDS Completions, 2024).
The functional split is cleaner than the supply figures suggest. Journalism trains people to find out what an organization does not want said. Public relations trains people to manage what gets said. Communications is the general credential covering messaging across contexts. The methods overlap - all three are writing degrees at heart - but the professional postures are opposed, and most programs are built around one posture rather than both.
That opposition is worth knowing before enrolling, because a large share of journalism graduates end up on the public relations side of it. That is not a failure and the training transfers well, but if the reason for choosing journalism over communications is a strong feeling about which side of the table you belong on, the employment numbers on this page deserve a hard look first.
People who already investigate things for a living. Inspectors, estimators, insurance adjusters, union reps and safety investigators run a version of this method already - collect evidence, interview people with reasons to shade the truth, and write a defensible account.
Tradespeople aiming at industry and trade press. This is the strongest specific case on the page. Trade publications and industry desks need writers who can read a drawing, follow a permit trail and tell when a technical explanation is wrong. Newsrooms are short of that knowledge and long on general-assignment writers.
People aiming at communications work who want the harder training first. The verification and deadline discipline of a journalism program is more rigorous than most general communications coursework, and it transfers in the direction of public relations more easily than the reverse.
Career changers using the master’s as a redirection. For someone who already holds a bachelor’s in a technical field, the master’s converts existing subject expertise into publishable specialist reporting without starting over.
Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
News analysts, reporters and journalists earn a median $62,200 across 39,250 jobs, with employment projected to change by -3.9 percent through 2034. Writers and authors earn a median $76,910 across 47,940 jobs, projected to change by 3.6 percent (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
| Metric | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Median annual wage (reporters) | $62,200 ($29.91 per hour) | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Mean annual wage (reporters) | $102,460 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Reporter wage range | $36,240 (10th pct) - $144,140 (90th pct) | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Median annual wage (writers and authors) | $76,910 ($36.98 per hour) | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Writer wage range | $44,310 (10th pct) - $139,870 (90th pct) | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Employment | 39,250 reporters; 47,940 writers and authors | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Projected change (2024-34) | -3.9% reporters, 3.6% writers and authors | BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34 |
| Annual openings | About 4,100 reporters; about 13,400 writers and authors | BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34 |
| Typical credential | Bachelor’s, with master’s common for specialist beats | Program catalogs |
| Institutions awarding | 338 | IPEDS Completions, 2024 |
| SOC codes covered | 27-3023 news analysts, reporters and journalists; 27-3043 writers and authors | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Role | Median | 25th percentile | 75th percentile | 90th percentile | Employment | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| News analysts, reporters and journalists | $62,200 | $45,370 | $98,450 | $144,140 | 39,250 | -3.9% |
| Writers and authors | $76,910 | $58,230 | $101,950 | $139,870 | 47,940 | 3.6% |
All wage and employment figures BLS OEWS, May 2025; growth figures BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
Three things in that table deserve reading carefully.
The adjacent occupation pays more and is growing. Writers and authors sit at a median of $76,910 against $62,200 for reporters, with a projected change of 3.6 percent against -3.9 percent, and roughly 13,400 annual openings against 4,100. The same degree feeds both. For most people weighing this credential, the second row is the more realistic target and the more comfortable one to plan around.
The reporter spread is enormous. A 10th percentile of $36,240 and a 90th of $144,140 is close to a fourfold gap inside one occupation. Local reporting sits near the bottom of it and national broadcast work near the top, and the number of positions thins dramatically on the way up.
The average is misleading here. The mean annual wage for reporters is $102,460 against a median of $62,200 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). That gap is caused by a small group of very highly paid roles, and it is why any recruiting material quoting an average for this field should be treated with suspicion. The median is the number a typical person should plan against.
The case against is stated above and is not softened here: a declining occupation with about 4,100 annual openings, a low 25th percentile at $45,370, and a competitive entry market fed by 338 institutions.
The case for rests on two things. The first is that the method transfers. Verification, source work, records research and clear writing under deadline are the core of technical writing, corporate communications, policy research, compliance and investigative work well outside newsrooms, and the adjacent writers and authors row shows better numbers than the reporting row does. The second is specialization: the reporters who are hardest to replace are the ones who know a subject deeply enough to catch what a general-assignment writer would miss, and someone arriving from a technical trade starts that race a long way ahead.
If the plan is a staff reporting job at a general-interest outlet, weigh the -3.9 percent projection seriously. If the plan is to write about an industry you already understand, it looks better. Is college worth it covers the broader tradeoff, and outcomes vary.
Employment of news analysts, reporters and journalists is projected to change by -3.9 percent from 2024 to 2034, with about 4,100 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). That is a declining occupation and this page is structured around that fact rather than around it. Writers and authors, the adjacent occupation this degree also feeds, are projected to change by 3.6 percent.
The national median annual wage is $62,200, or $29.91 an hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $36,240 or less and the top 10 percent earn $144,140 or more, across employment of 39,250. That is one of the widest spreads of any occupation covered on this site.
The mean annual wage is $102,460 against a median of $62,200 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A small number of very highly paid national broadcast and anchor roles pull the average far above what a typical reporter earns. When you see an average quoted for this field, treat the median as the useful number.
The national median annual wage is $76,910, or $36.98 an hour, across employment of 47,940 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $44,310 or less and the top 10 percent earn $139,870 or more. It is the better-paid and slightly growing of the two occupations this degree feeds.
338 institutions awarded CIP 09.0401 at bachelor's or master's level in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). Supply has held up better than employment in the field has, which is part of why the entry-level market is competitive.
As a bet on holding a newsroom reporting job for a career, the projection above argues against it. As training in interviewing, verification, deadline writing and document research - skills that transfer into communications, content, technical writing and investigative work - it holds up considerably better. Individual outcomes may vary.
Yes, though with one caveat worth asking about. The writing, research and law coursework works well at a distance; the reporting practicum needs real sources in a real community. Ask how a program handles field reporting for remote students and whether it places them with local outlets.
In specialist reporting, a great deal. Trade publications, industry press and investigative desks covering construction, energy, transportation and manufacturing need writers who can read a spec, understand a permit and tell when a contractor's explanation does not add up. That knowledge is rare in newsrooms. Individual outcomes may vary.
State pay, licensing and metro-level data for this degree. Wage and employment figures on every state page come from BLS OEWS, May 2025.
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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/.
