Quick answer: Legal studies degrees usually cover the legal system, contracts, regulation, legal research and writing at bachelor’s and master’s level. The degree does not qualify anyone to practice law, and it is not a vocational paralegal credential either - it is the generalist option, and whether that is a strength or a weakness depends entirely on what you plan to do with it.
Master’s programs concentrate the same material into a shorter applied sequence, usually with a compliance, contracts or regulatory concentration and a capstone drawn from the student’s own industry.
CIP 22.0000 and 22.0001, the general legal studies codes, were awarded by 187 institutions at bachelor’s or master’s level in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). This site’s law degree page covers CIP 22.0101 only, which is the professional doctorate - a different credential, a different admissions process, and a different regulatory framework governing whether it can be earned at a distance at all.
Merging the two would mislead in both directions. Someone searching for legal studies would land on a page about the bar examination, and someone searching for law school would see a school list built from institutions awarding an undergraduate social science degree. Keeping them apart means the schools listed below are the institutions that actually award CIP 22.0000 and 22.0001.
The other page this one has to be distinguished from is the paralegal degree, and the difference is intent rather than subject. Paralegal programs are vocational: associate and bachelor’s credentials built to place a graduate into a named occupation, awarded by 514 institutions. Legal studies is academic and general, taught at bachelor’s and master’s level, and it does not aim at one job title. If you want the job, read the paralegal page. If you want the literacy, stay here.
Before you request information anywhere, ask what proportion of the program is legal research and writing, since that is the transferable skill, and get a written transfer evaluation of any prior coursework. With that filter set, compare online legal studies 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
Legal studies has no occupation of its own in the federal data, and that is the single most important thing to understand before enrolling. The closest anchors are paralegals and legal assistants, at a median $62,890 across employment of 392,880, and title examiners, abstractors and searchers, at a median $58,650 across 48,580 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Neither is what a legal studies degree is built to produce.
That vagueness cuts both ways. A degree with no named destination is a poor purchase for someone who needs one, and a genuinely good purchase for someone who already has a role and needs the legal layer added to it. The people who get the most out of this credential are usually not changing careers - they are staying in an industry they already know and moving into the part of it that handles contracts, regulation and risk.
The practical test is whether you can name the job before you start. If you can, check whether the posting asks for a paralegal credential specifically, because a large share of legal support postings do, and legal studies will not satisfy that filter. If you cannot name the job, the generalist degree is a bet on optionality, and optionality is worth less in legal support work than it is in business.
Compliance and regulatory affairs is the largest destination, and it is mostly counted under management and business codes rather than legal ones. Contract administration is the second, particularly in construction, defense and health care, where someone has to own the terms without being counsel. Claims, permitting, licensing, records and privacy work make up much of the rest.
For readers coming from a trade this is the useful door, and it is worth being specific about why. A contracts administrator who has actually run a site reads a change order differently from one who has not. Construction claims, delay analysis, permitting and safety regulation all reward a person who understands both the paperwork and the work, and there is no fast way to acquire the second half of that. If you already have it, the legal literacy is the cheaper half to add.
Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
Suits: people already inside an industry who need to handle contracts, regulation or compliance in it; legal secretaries and administrative staff who have drifted into substantive work and want the academic credential to match; supervisors moving into risk, safety or contract roles; and anyone considering law school later who wants a rigorous undergraduate foundation without committing to it.
Does not suit: someone whose goal is a legal support job specifically. That reader wants the paralegal route, where the credential is what postings ask for by name. It also does not suit anyone who wants to practice law, since that requires a law degree and bar admission under rules set by each state.
A legal studies degree is designed to build legal literacy and research capability. It confers no license and no authority to give legal advice, and the line between permitted work and the unauthorized practice of law is drawn by each state, so confirm it with your state bar before taking on anything independently. Individual outcomes may vary, and is college worth it covers the general tradeoff.
Paralegals and legal assistants earn a median $62,890 across 392,880 jobs with a 0.2 percent projection through 2034, while title examiners, abstractors and searchers earn a median $58,650 across 48,580 jobs with a 2 percent projection (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
| Metric | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Median annual wage | $62,890 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Wage range | $44,740 (10th pct) - $101,500 (90th pct) | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Employment | 392,880 paralegals and legal assistants | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Projected change (2024-34) | 0.2%, about 39,300 openings per year | BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34 |
| Typical credential | Bachelor’s, with the master’s taken alongside an existing role | Program catalogs |
| Institutions awarding | 187 | IPEDS Completions, 2024 |
| Geo coverage | State, metro and city pages - see Programs by State below | Site structure |
| SOC codes covered | 23-2011 paralegals and legal assistants; 23-2093 title examiners, abstractors and searchers | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Role | Median | 75th percentile | Employment | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paralegals and legal assistants | $62,890 | $80,080 | 392,880 | 0.2% |
| Title examiners, abstractors and searchers | $58,650 | $74,810 | 48,580 | 2% |
All wage and employment figures BLS OEWS, May 2025; growth figures BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
Both rows describe replacement-driven markets. Paralegal employment is projected to be essentially unchanged at 0.2 percent, yet still turns over about 39,300 openings a year, which tells you the hiring is real but the field is not expanding. Title work grows slightly faster on a much smaller base.
Neither row is the ceiling for a legal studies graduate, and neither is a promise. The upper end of the wage range above, $101,500 at the 90th percentile, is generally reached through specialization and seniority rather than through the degree itself. The honest summary is that this credential adds legal capability to whatever you already do, and its value tracks what that is.
A generalist law-adjacent degree at bachelor's or master's level, covering the legal system, contracts, regulation, research and writing, without qualifying anyone to practice law. It sits under CIP 22.0000 and 22.0001, which 187 institutions awarded at those levels in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024).
No. Paralegal programs sit under CIP 22.0302 and 22.0301 and are vocational credentials built to place someone into a specific job at associate or bachelor's level. Legal studies is broader and more academic, and it is the degree people take when law-adjacent work is one of several possible destinations.
No. Practicing law requires a law degree and admission to a state bar, and the rules on both are set state by state, so confirm them with your state bar. The law degree route is covered separately on this site.
Paralegals and legal assistants earn a national median of $62,890, with the bottom 10 percent at $44,740 or less and the top 10 percent at $101,500 or more, across employment of 392,880 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Paralegals and legal assistants are projected to change by 0.2 percent from 2024 to 2034, with about 39,300 openings per year. Title examiners, abstractors and searchers are projected to grow 2 percent with about 5,400 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Both are replacement-driven markets rather than expanding ones.
Working professionals who need to read and apply law without practicing it - compliance officers, contract administrators, human resources leads, safety and regulatory staff, and public-sector managers. It is usually taken alongside a job rather than as a career change.
Yes. The subject is reading, research and writing, with no laboratory or clinical requirement, so distance delivery is standard at both levels covered here.
It can, mostly through the regulatory door. Contract administration, claims, permitting, safety regulation and construction contracts are all fields where site experience plus legal literacy is worth more than either alone. 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.
Alabama * Alaska * Arizona * Arkansas * California * Colorado * Connecticut * Delaware * District of Columbia * Florida * Georgia * Hawaii * Idaho * Illinois * Indiana * Iowa * Kansas * Kentucky * Louisiana * Maine * Maryland * Massachusetts * Michigan * Minnesota * Mississippi * Missouri * Montana * Nebraska * Nevada * New Hampshire * New Jersey * New Mexico * New York * North Carolina * North Dakota * Ohio * Oklahoma * Oregon * Pennsylvania * Rhode Island * South Carolina * South Dakota * Tennessee * Texas * Utah * Vermont * Virginia * Washington * West Virginia * Wisconsin * Wyoming
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/.
