Quick answer: A taxation degree is a graduate specialization, not an entry credential. Programs usually cover federal income tax, entity taxation, tax research and procedure. The occupation it feeds, accountants and auditors, shows a median of $83,680 and about 124,200 openings a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Who it suits and what it pays are covered below.
Most programs also include a capstone in tax planning or a research seminar. The coursework is heavily reading-based and writing-based, which is one reason it transfers to distance delivery cleanly.
CIP 52.1601 is its own program code, and 90 institutions awarded it in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). Until now a search for taxation programs on this site landed on the general accounting page, which is a different credential at a different level: the online accounting degree is where the bachelor’s-level route lives, and it lists bachelor’s-granting schools.
Somebody searching “online taxation degree” is usually not at that stage. They already have an accounting background, they are looking at a graduate specialization, and the list they need is the 90 schools that award the tax degree itself, not the several hundred that award accounting broadly. Splitting the page makes the school list below match the search.
The other thing the split makes possible is honesty about level. This page covers a master’s credential only. If you are starting from nothing, the accounting page linked above is the right first stop, and this page is the one you come back to later.
Before you request information anywhere, ask how the program handles tax research and whether the coursework maps to your own state’s credit requirements. With that filter set, compare online taxation 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
Working accountants who want to specialize. This is the core audience. The degree is designed to take someone who already handles returns and move them toward planning, controversy and advisory work, which is where the upper half of the accountant and auditor wage range sits.
Bookkeepers and payroll staff aiming higher. The step is long but real. Bookkeeping work builds the ledger fluency that graduate tax courses assume, and the usual sequence is a bachelor’s in accounting first, then this degree once you are in practice.
Tradespeople who ended up running the office. A surprising number of small-contractor owners do their own entity and payroll tax work badly for years before deciding to learn it properly. Multistate and entity taxation are the two courses that pay for themselves fastest in that situation.
Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
Two occupations sit behind this degree and they are not close to each other.
Accountants and auditors show a median of $83,680 across employment of 1,449,500, with a top decile of $144,090 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Growth is 4.6% through 2034, which is unremarkable, but the base is enormous and about 124,200 openings appear each year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Most of those openings are replacement, not expansion, and that is normal for a mature profession.
Tax preparers show a median of $54,920 across employment of 76,480, growing 4.5% with about 10,400 openings per year. That is seasonal, largely non-credentialed work, and it is not the destination this degree is built for. It is worth knowing the distinction because the two job titles get used interchangeably in ordinary speech and they are separated by roughly thirty thousand dollars at the median.
The practical reading: the degree is a move within the accountant and auditor category rather than a move into it. Its value shows up as position inside the wage distribution, not as entry into a growing occupation. Individual outcomes may vary.
The case for is that tax is one of the few areas of accounting that resists automation on the judgment side. Software has taken over preparation almost entirely, and the work that remains is research, structuring and defending positions. That is what a graduate tax program usually concentrates on and what general accounting coursework mostly does not.
The case against is the level. This is a graduate degree taken on top of a bachelor’s, which means the total commitment is long and the wage gain is a shift within a distribution rather than a jump between occupations. If you are early in an accounting career, another two years of practice may move you a similar distance for less.
Is college worth it covers the general tradeoff.
Accountants and auditors earn a median $83,680 across 1,449,500 jobs, with about 124,200 openings per year (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
| Metric | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Median annual wage | $83,680 | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Wage range | $56,020 (10th pct) - $144,090 (90th pct) | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Employment | 1,449,500 accountants and auditors | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Projected change (2024-34) | 4.6%, about 124,200 openings per year | BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34 |
| Typical credential | Master’s - this CIP is awarded at graduate level | Program catalogs |
| Institutions awarding | 90 | IPEDS Completions, 2024 |
| Geo coverage | State, metro and city pages - see Programs by State below | Site structure |
| SOC codes covered | 13-2011 accountants and auditors; 13-2082 tax preparers | BLS OEWS, May 2025 |
| Role | Median | 75th percentile | Employment | Projected change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Accountants and auditors | $83,680 | $109,810 | 1,449,500 | 4.6% |
| Tax preparers | $54,920 | $76,300 | 76,480 | 4.5% |
All wage and employment figures BLS OEWS, May 2025; growth figures BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
The mean wage for accountants and auditors is $94,750, well above the median of $83,680, which tells you the upper tail is long. Graduate tax work is one of the routes into that tail, along with public accounting partnership tracks and industry controller roles. It is not the only route and it is not a guaranteed one.
At 90 institutions the supply of this specific credential is thin nationally, and the school list above is the honest version of the same information. The state and metro pages below organize that same pool by location and attach state wage data. A program delivered online is open to a resident of any state, which is what makes a state page worth having when the schools themselves are concentrated.
Almost always, yes. CIP 52.1601 is awarded overwhelmingly at the master's level, usually as a Master of Science in Taxation, and 90 institutions awarded it in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). Undergraduate tax work is normally two or three courses inside an accounting major rather than a degree of its own.
The national median annual wage is $83,680 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $56,020 or less and the top 10 percent earn $144,090 or more, across employment of 1,449,500.
Employment is projected to grow 4.6% from 2024 to 2034, with about 124,200 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). That is moderate growth on a very large base, and the openings number is what matters most here.
No, and the gap is wide. Tax preparers show a median of $54,920 across employment of 76,480, while accountants and auditors show a median of $83,680 across employment of 1,449,500 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). A taxation master's is aimed at the second group.
Yes. The subject is code, regulation and research, with no laboratory or clinical requirement, so it moved to distance delivery earlier than most graduate business fields. Confirm the delivery format for the specific program before you apply.
Graduate tax coursework is one of the common routes people use to reach a state's total credit-hour requirement, but the rules are set state by state and change. Confirm the current requirement with your own state board of accountancy before you enroll anywhere.
90 institutions awarded CIP 52.1601 at master's level in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). That is a small supply, and the state and metro pages below attach state wage data to that same national pool.
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/.
