Quick answer:Statistics degrees usually cover probability, inference, regression and statistical computing. The job title “statistician” is small, at 29,030 jobs and about 2,000 openings a year, but the wage is high at a median of $105,650 and the adjacent data scientist category is growing 33.5% (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). What the coursework covers and where graduates actually land are below.
What the Coursework Usually Covers
Probability theory - distributions, expectation, limit theorems, and the machinery every later course assumes
Statistical inference - estimation, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, and what those actually claim
Regression and linear models - the workhorse of applied statistics, from simple regression through mixed models
Experimental design - randomization, blocking, factorial designs, and why an observational study cannot answer some questions
Statistical computing - R and Python, simulation, resampling, and reproducible analysis
Applied electives - biostatistics, survival analysis, time series, Bayesian methods, or survey sampling depending on the department
Bachelor’s programs usually build the theory in sequence and finish with a capstone. Master’s programs assume the calculus and move faster into applied methods, which is why the master’s is the more common credential for people already working.
Why This Page Exists Separately from Data Science
CIP 27.0501 and 27.0503 are the statistics and mathematical statistics program codes, and 256 institutions awarded them at degree level in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). Those codes live in mathematics departments. Data science programs mostly sit under a different code in computing or interdisciplinary units, and the school lists barely overlap.
Before this page existed, a search for statistics programs resolved to the data science page, which meant the reader saw data science schools and a data science curriculum. Those are related fields and genuinely different degrees. Data science coursework front-loads programming, pipelines and machine learning. Statistics coursework front-loads probability and inference, and the graduate comes out able to say how confident a conclusion is entitled to be, which is the part that is hardest to pick up later.
Separating the pages means the school list below is the institutions that award the statistics credential itself.
Before you request information anywhere, check the mathematics prerequisites in writing, since they are the usual reason an application stalls. With that filter set, compare online statistics 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.
People who liked the mathematics and want to use it. That is the honest filter. Statistics rewards comfort with abstraction in a way that most applied computing degrees do not, and someone who found calculus tolerable rather than enjoyable will have a hard two years.
Quality and process people from manufacturing. Statistical process control, tolerance analysis and design of experiments are the same material a statistics program usually formalizes. Anyone who has run a capability study on a production line has already met half the first-year curriculum without the notation.
Analysts who keep hitting a ceiling. A lot of people do competent descriptive work and stall the moment a question requires inference. The master’s is the standard fix, and it can prepare you for the modeling side of analytics roles.
Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
Where Statistics Graduates Actually Work
This is the part worth being blunt about. The occupation called “statisticians” employs 29,030 people, with about 2,000 openings a year. That is small. If the plan is to hold that specific job title, the market is narrow and concentrated in government agencies, pharmaceutical and biotech research, insurance, and academic research units.
Most statistics graduates are counted elsewhere. The data scientist category alone employs 262,440 and is projected to grow 33.5% through 2034, and a large share of the people in it were trained in statistics. Others land in actuarial work, market research, epidemiology, or software roles that involve modeling.
The practical implication is that the degree should be evaluated on the skills it certifies rather than the job title it names. Inference, experimental design and modeling are portable in a way that a tool-specific credential is not. That portability is the argument for the degree; the small size of the named occupation is the argument against reading the statistician wage as a forecast of your own. Individual outcomes may vary.
Is It Worth It?
The case for is the wage floor. Even the bottom decile of statisticians sits at $64,000, and the median of $105,650 is above most bachelor’s-level destinations covered on this site. The mathematics is a real barrier to entry, and barriers to entry are what hold wages up.
The case against is the length of the runway. Statistics is not a field you can enter part way. The prerequisite chain is long, the master’s is effectively the working credential in most settings, and the total time is measured in years rather than terms.
Statisticians earn a median $105,650 across 29,030 jobs and are projected to grow 8.5% through 2034; data scientists, the larger adjacent category, earn $120,230 across 262,440 jobs and are projected to grow 33.5% (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
Statistics at a Glance
Metric
Detail
Source
Median annual wage
$105,650
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Wage range
$64,000 (10th pct) - $174,050 (90th pct)
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Employment
29,030 statisticians
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Projected change (2024-34)
8.5%, about 2,000 openings per year
BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34
Typical credential
Bachelor’s, with master’s the working credential in most settings
Program catalogs
Institutions awarding
256
IPEDS Completions, 2024
SOC codes covered
15-2041 statisticians; 15-2051 data scientists
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Statisticians and Data Scientists Compared
Role
Median
75th percentile
Employment
Projected change
Statisticians
$105,650
$141,490
29,030
8.5%
Data scientists
$120,230
$158,880
262,440
33.5%
All wage and employment figures BLS OEWS, May 2025; growth figures BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
Read those two rows together rather than separately. Data science pays more at the median and is growing four times faster, but it is a broader category that includes a lot of engineering-weighted work. Statistics pays slightly less and is smaller, and its top quartile of $141,490 still sits close to the data science figure of $158,880. The choice between the two degrees is mostly a choice about which half of the job you want to be good at.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do statisticians make?
The national median annual wage is $105,650 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $64,000 or less and the top 10 percent earn $174,050 or more, across employment of 29,030.
Is statistics a growing field?
Yes. Statistician employment is projected to grow 8.5% from 2024 to 2034 (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). The related data scientist category is projected to grow 33.5% over the same period, and that is where most of the volume is.
Statistics degree or data science degree?
Statistics teaches inference: how much you are entitled to conclude from a sample and how wrong you might be. Data science teaches the engineering and computing that surrounds it. Statisticians show a median of $105,650 across employment of 29,030; data scientists show $120,230 across employment of 262,440 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).
Is a statistics degree hard?
It is the most mathematically demanding route covered in this part of the site. Calculus through multivariable and a linear algebra course are typical prerequisites, and probability theory sits under everything after that. It is not a good fit for someone hoping to avoid mathematics.
Can you study statistics online?
Yes. The subject needs no laboratory, and statistical computing is done on a personal machine, so distance delivery is well established at both bachelor's and master's level. Confirm the format for a specific program before you apply.
How many schools offer a statistics degree?
256 institutions awarded CIP 27.0501 or 27.0503 at bachelor's or master's level in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). That is a moderate supply concentrated in universities with strong mathematics departments.
How few statistician jobs are there really?
Employment is 29,030 with about 2,000 openings per year (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). That is a small occupation by job title. Most statistics graduates end up counted under data scientists, analysts or software roles rather than under the statistician title itself.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 - Statisticians (SOC 15-2041), Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2024-34
U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Completions, 2024 - CIP 27.0501, CIP 27.0503
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/.
