Business degrees remain one of the largest areas of higher education and connect to a wide range of occupations. In 2023, 13,736,300 people held a business degree, with a median wage of $75,000. The following statistics show the scale of the field, its degree pipeline, employment patterns, and selected business-school outcomes.
Contents
- Business degree holders and earnings
- What business graduates study
- Where business degree holders work
- Occupational detail and projected growth
- Business degrees awarded over time
- Earnings and unemployment by field
- Business school finances and graduate outcomes
Business degree holders and earnings
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) business field page counted 13,736,300 business degree holders in 2023. Their median wage was $75,000, compared with $70,000 for degree holders across all fields. This is a median, so it describes the midpoint of the distribution rather than the wage of a typical graduate in every business occupation.
The same BLS data show differences in work patterns and educational attainment:
- 12% of business degree holders worked part time in 2023, compared with 15% across all fields.
- 55% worked in occupations requiring at least a bachelor’s degree.
- 26% had an advanced degree.
These measures describe business degree holders as a broad population, not a single job category. A business credential can lead to management, financial operations, sales, administrative, or technical work, and the wage median combines those different paths.
What business graduates study
Business degree holders are distributed across several major fields of study. In 2023, business management and administration accounted for 28% of business majors, followed by general business at 20%. Accounting represented 17%, marketing and marketing research 12%, and finance 11%, according to the BLS business field page.
The five named areas therefore account for most of the listed business-major distribution, while the remaining share consists of other business specializations. The figures also illustrate why an overall business-degree statistic should not be treated as a direct measure for every specialization.
Where business degree holders work
The BLS business field page grouped 2023 employment among business degree holders into several broad occupational categories.
| Occupational group | Share of employment |
|---|---|
| Management occupations | 25% |
| Business and financial operations occupations | 23% |
| Sales and related occupations | 12% |
| Office and administrative support occupations | 9% |
| Computer and mathematical occupations | 6% |
Management and business or financial operations together represented 48% of employment among workers with a business degree. Sales and related occupations represented 12%, while office and administrative support represented 9%. Computer and mathematical occupations accounted for 6%, showing that some business degree holders work in roles that are more technical in occupational classification.
At the detailed occupation level, accountants and auditors accounted for 8% of occupations held by business degree holders in 2023. Managers, all other, accounted for 6%; financial managers for 4%; and chief executives for 3%. Management analysts, human resources specialists, first-line supervisors of retail sales workers, wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives excluding technical and scientific products, customer service representatives, and general and operations managers each accounted for 2%.
Occupational detail and projected growth
The BLS business field page paired selected occupational shares with advanced-degree rates and projected employment growth from 2024 to 2034. Those growth figures are projections, not recorded changes in employment.
Among the occupations with both measures available, management analysts had the highest advanced-degree rate at 36%, followed by chief executives at 32%, accountants and auditors at 29%, financial managers at 24%, managers, all other, at 21%, human resources specialists at 20%, and general and operations managers at 13%.
| Occupation | Advanced-degree rate | Projected growth, 2024–2034 |
|---|---|---|
| Financial managers | 24% | 15% |
| Management analysts | 36% | 9% |
| Human resources specialists | 20% | 6% |
| Accountants and auditors | 29% | 5% |
| Managers, all other | 21% | 4% |
| Chief executives | 32% | 4% |
| General and operations managers | 13% | 4% |
Financial managers had the strongest projected growth among this group, at 15% from 2024 to 2034. Management analysts were projected to grow 9%, human resources specialists 6%, and accountants and auditors 5%. Managers, all other, chief executives, and general and operations managers were each projected to grow 4%.
The less positive projections were concentrated in several customer-facing or supervisory occupations. First-line supervisors of retail sales workers were projected to decline 5%. Customer service representatives were also projected to decline 5%, while wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives excluding technical and scientific products were projected at 0% growth. These are occupation-level projections and should not be read as forecasts for every person with a business degree.
Business degrees awarded over time
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Digest table 325.25 reports long-term changes in business degrees conferred in the United States. Business bachelor’s degrees increased from 42,813 in 1955–56 to 105,580 in 1969–70, 184,867 in 1979–80, and 249,165 in 1990–91. The total reached 311,574 in 2004–05, 335,495 in 2007–08, 358,119 in 2009–10, 365,133 in 2010–11, and 391,375 in 2020–21.
Business master’s degrees also expanded across the reported years: 3,280 in 1955–56, 21,561 in 1969–70, 54,484 in 1979–80, 78,255 in 1990–91, 142,617 in 2004–05, 155,804 in 2007–08, 187,178 in 2010–11, and 202,334 in 2020–21.
Doctoral production was smaller but rose as well. Business doctor’s degrees conferred totaled 129 in 1955–56, 620 in 1969–70, 753 in 1979–80, 1,185 in 1990–91, 1,498 in 2004–05, 2,084 in 2007–08, 2,286 in 2010–11, and 3,711 in 2020–21.
The NCES trend measures also show different recent growth rates. From 2010–11 to 2015–16, business bachelor’s degrees grew 1.8%, master’s degrees declined 0.2%, and doctor’s degrees grew 45.5%. From 2015–16 to 2020–21, bachelor’s degrees increased 5.3%, master’s degrees increased 8.3%, and doctor’s degrees increased 13.8%.
In 2020–21, women earned 46.7% of business bachelor’s degrees. Women earned 48.7% of business master’s degrees, based on 99,403 female recipients out of 202,334 total, and 48.1% of business doctor’s degrees, based on 1,787 female recipients out of 3,711 total. These percentages refer to degrees conferred in that academic year.
Earnings and unemployment by field
NCES Condition of Education data provide a narrower comparison for people ages 25 to 29 in 2018. Across all fields, bachelor’s degree holders in this age group had median annual earnings of $50,600 and an unemployment rate of 2.9%.
Business management and administration bachelor’s degree holders also had median annual earnings of $50,600 in 2018. Their unemployment rate was not measurably different from the 2.9% rate for bachelor’s degree holders overall. Business management and administration was among the largest fields of study, with at least 300,000 degree holders in 2018.
The NCES data also report a change in unemployment for business management and administration degree holders: the rate fell from 6.5% in 2010 to 2.4% in 2018, a decline of 4.1 percentage points. The 2018 rate was therefore lower than the 2010 rate in this comparison. Because these figures cover specific years and a defined field, they should not be substituted for the broader 2023 BLS wage and employment measures.
Business school finances and graduate outcomes
The AACSB Business School Finances and Tuition Trends 2026 report describes finances for AACSB-accredited schools in 2024–25. On average, 67% of operating funds came from tuition and fees. Median operating funds increased 13% globally over five years, while median expenditures increased 11%. The median operating budget held at roughly $20 million over that period.
Regional figures varied. Median operating budgets were approximately $39 million in EMEA and $16 million in Asia Pacific in 2024–25. Median operating funds reached $78 million in EMEA, compared with $24 million in the Americas and $14 million in Asia Pacific. In Asia Pacific, non-degree education’s share of operating funds rose from 5% to 11%.
School size and financial structure also differed. Small AACSB-accredited schools drew 72% of operating funds from tuition in 2024–25, down from 81% five years earlier. Nearly three-quarters of standard academic units reported a positive net flow of funds. A majority of schools in Asia Pacific and EMEA reported having no endowment, while 38% of endowments at small schools were in the $5 million to $20 million range. Reported expenditures ranged from $2 million to $362 million, and high-budget outliers in the Americas reached nearly $350 million.
Graduate management education outcomes provide another perspective. GMAC reported that 85% of 2022 business school graduates said their investment in graduate management education had a positive return. Around two-thirds said they advanced at least one job level after their degrees, and three out of four said graduate management education helped them achieve personal, professional, and financial goals. In the GMAC Report to Schools 2023, 86% of 2022 business school graduates were employed at graduation, and graduates reported a median 29% increase in total compensation after graduation. Separately, 99% of global employers expressed confidence in graduate business education in GMAC’s 2025 Corporate Recruiters Survey.