Environmental Studies
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OverviewSalary and DebtIs a Bachelor's EnoughCareersSchoolsRelated ProgramsGenderRace/Origin
Overview
Environmental studies is a program that focuses on environment-related issues using scientific, social scientific, or humanistic approaches or a combination. includes instruction in the basic principles of ecology and environmental science and related subjects such as policy, politics, law, economics, social aspects, planning, pollution control, natural resources, and the interactions of human beings and nature.
Highlights
School with the highest reported median starting salary ($68K) with a Bachelor's Degree: Columbia Southern University
Career with the highest median salary ($105K) where most workers have a Bachelor's Degree: Software Developers
Explore Pathways
Careers for program graduates
Environmental studies majors work in these careers, which are sized by percentage of majors in the career (at least 1%) and colored by the predominant level of education.
Specialized ManagersElementary and Middle School S...Postsecondary TeachersEnvironmental Scientists and S...Management AnalystsCompliance OfficersGeoscientists and HydrologistsLawyers, and judges, magistrat...Project Management SpecialistsFirst-Line Supervisors of Offi...First-Line Supervisors of Reta...Specialized Physical Scientist...Biological ScientistsChief executives and legislato...General and Operations Manager...Wholesale and Manufacturing Sa...Customer Service Representativ...Education and childcare admini...Physicians
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Current completions
What level of degree do most graduates achieve, and do they match what your goals?
05K10K0-1 Year Certificate1-2 Year CertificateAssociate's DegreeBachelor's DegreePostbaccalaureate CertMaster's DegreeResearch Doctorate
SOURCES:
Completions over time
Have completions for environmental science changed over time? Increasing completions may mean you'll likely have an easier time finding a school that offers this degree, with the opposite being true as well.
Show percentages
Number of graduates
02,0004,0006,0008,00010,000200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Research Doctorate
Post-master's Cert
Master's Degree
Postbaccalaureate Cert
Bachelor's Degree
Associate's Degree
1-2 Year Certificate
0-1 Year Certificate
Salary and Debt
How are students who recently completed a degree in environmental studies doing?
Below is the distribution of starting salaries along with accumulated federal and private education loans across schools that offer a degree in the field natural resources conservation and research, which includes environmental studies.
Median starting salaries
$33K$49K$0$20K$40K$60K$80KMaster'sBachelor's
Median cumulative loan amount
$22K$51K$0$20K$40K$60K$80KMaster'sBachelor's
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Context: median salaries
How does the median (middle) salary for environmental science majors compare to the median salaries for other college majors?
$57K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100K
Distribution: environmental science majors' salaries by education level
What is the salary distribution for graduates with a bachelor's inenvironmental science by the level of their highest degree (Graduate degrees may not be in the same field as the bachelor’s)
$52K$69K$81K$77K$0$50K$100K$150K$200KBachelor'sMaster'sDoctorateProfessional
We only include salary data when the survey error is less than 20%, so you may see only partial information for some categories.
Is a bachelor's degree all you need?
Education level of workers with a bachelor's in environmental science
Is a bachelor's degree going to be sufficient to make you competative in the job market? We can look at the education level of workers with a bachelors in this degree to see if there is a likely need for a graduate degree. You'll also want to check out the careers section on this page to where they are employed.
This chart shows the level of education of workers with a bachelor's degree in environmental science. The worker's graduate degree may have been completed in a different field.
Education level of workers
Bachelor's Degree
Master's Degree
Professional Degree
Doctorate
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Context: Graduate degrees in any field by undergraduate ACS degree
About 31% of environmental science majors chose to also earn a graduate degree (possibly of a different major). The percentage of environmental science majors who also earned a graduate degree is higher than about 62% of other fields.
31%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Percentage salary boost obtained with a graduate degree
How important is a graduate degree for earning a higher salary? We can see the difference in salary of workers with a bachelors in this degree to workers with a bachelor’s AND a graduate degree.
32%47%56%0%20%40%60%80%Bachelor's to Master'sBachelor's to DoctorateBachelor's to Professional
Careers
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Careers for environmental science majors
Where do environmental science majors work, and how well do those jobs pay? A ** in the job title indicates that the Department of Education recommends this job for this program.
Not so much?
The top ten careers for workers with a bachelor's in environmental science
Take a minute to interact with this sankey diagram. Follow the top ten jobs held by environmental science graduates through to their most hired majors. Learn where it may easiest to find work. Expand the careers to explore other majors that might lead to the job that excites you the most. *For many majors, the top ten jobs don't even include half of graduates!*
Expand careers
Specialized ManagersElementary and Middl...Postsecondary Teache...Environmental Scient...Management AnalystsCompliance OfficersGeoscientists and Hy...Lawyers, and judges,...Project Management S...First-Line Superviso...All othersThis degreeTop 10 Careers
What careers hire environmental science majors as one of their top 10?
To the left of this diagram, see all careers that hire environmental science majors as one of their top 10 majors, and on the right, see what proportion of openings for the jobs on the left are filled by environmental science majors.
Environmental ScienceAll other degreesEnvironmental Scientists ...Geoscientists and Hydrolo...Conservation scientists a...Environmental EngineersOccupational Health and S...Urban and Regional Planne...Biological ScientistsBiological TechniciansSpecialized Life, Physica...All other careersDegreeDegree in top 10 employed
Where can I complete this degree
Explore schools that offer environmental studies degrees and certificates
You can use this table to find schools that offer this program based on location and program level offered. Each entry goes to a school page similar to this one with all our information about that school.
Understanding the columns

The school list includes a few facts about each school that give you an idea of the educational quality each school might offer:

  • Student-Faculty Ratio: A small number of students per full-time instructor suggests individual attention for each student and an up-to-date curriculum.

  • Satisfaction Rate: A high percentage of returning first-year students should correlate with satisfaction (schools call this their retention rate).

  • Repayment Rate: A high repayment rate means most alumni earn enough to make progress repaying loans within 7 years of leaving.

We also show the total enrollment for the school as measured by full-time-equivalent (FTE) students enrolled annually.

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AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
Related Programs
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Careers for environmental science majors
environmental science is part of a larger collection of programs: Natural Resources & Conservation. Is there a different program that's close to environmental science that might be a better match for your interests? You can use this table to see a little about the programs that fall under this umbrella. If you click on any of the table headers, that will sort the table by that column, or click on a row and see Ididio's profile for that program.
Gender
Gender of recent graduates
Of all people with any degree in environmental studies earned in the last academic year, 60% were women.
Gender
Men
Women
SOURCES:
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Completions over time
Have completions by gender changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
02K4K6K8K10KNumber of graduates200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Women
Men
Context: Gender representation
How does the gender distribution in this major compare to all other majors?
44%56%0%20%40%60%80%100%WomenMen
Context: Percentage women
This major has a lower percentage of women than 43% other programs.
Distribution: salaries by gender
Does gender greatly influence your salary with this degree? The closer the bar are, the less discrepancy there is.
$62K$52K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K$250KWomenMen
Context: Salary inequity
For environmental science graduates, men have a 19% higher median salary than women, This is near the middle of salary differentials within each program's graduates.
19%19%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race/Origin of recent graduates
Here is an overview of race/origin for all environmental studies graduates from this last academic year. We found a higher percentage of international graduates in this program than in 62% of other programs.
Race/Origin
White
Black
Pacific Islander
Hispanic
Asian
American Indian
Multiracial
Not Reported
International
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Completions over time
Have completions by race/origin changed over time, or at specific levels of education?
Award level
All levels
02K4K6K8K10KNumber of graduates200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
International
Not Reported
Multiracial
American Indian
Asian
Hispanic
Pacific Islander
Black
White
Context: Percentage of Minority Graduates
Minority students comprise a lower percentage of graduates than in 75% of other programs.