History
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Overview
History is a program that focuses on the general study and interpretation of the past, including the gathering, recording, synthesizing and criticizing of evidence and theories about past events. includes instruction in historiography; historical research methods; studies of specific periods, issues and cultures; and applications to areas such as historic preservation, public policy, and records administration.
Highlights
School with the highest reported median starting salary ($57K) with a Bachelor's Degree: Yale University
Career with the highest median salary ($96K) where most workers have a Bachelor's Degree: Detectives and Criminal Investigators
Explore Pathways
Careers for program graduates
History 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.
Lawyers, and judges, magistrat...Elementary and Middle School S...Specialized ManagersPostsecondary TeachersSecondary School TeachersEducation and childcare admini...Chief executives and legislato...First-Line Supervisors of Reta...Wholesale and Manufacturing Sa...Management AnalystsFinancial ManagersFirst-Line Supervisors of Non-...Customer Service Representativ...Retail SalespersonsAccountants and AuditorsPhysiciansLibrarians and Media Collectio...Secretaries and Administrative...ClergyLabor Relations Specialists
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Current completions
What level of degree do most graduates achieve, and do they match what your goals?
010K20K30K40K0-1 Year CertificateAssociate's DegreeBachelor's DegreePostbaccalaureate CertMaster's DegreeResearch Doctorate
SOURCES:
Completions over time
Have completions for history 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
010,00020,00030,00040,00050,000200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Research Doctorate
Professional Degree
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 history doing?
Below is the distribution of starting salaries along with accumulated federal and private education loans across schools that offer the degree.
Median starting salaries
$30K$40K$0$20K$40K$60KMaster'sBachelor's
Median cumulative loan amount
$23K$36K$0$20K$40K$60KMaster'sBachelor's
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Context: median salaries
How does the median (middle) salary for history majors compare to the median salaries for other college majors?
$61K$0$20K$40K$60K$80K$100K
Distribution: history majors' salaries by education level
What is the salary distribution for graduates with a bachelor's inhistory by the level of their highest degree (Graduate degrees may not be in the same field as the bachelor’s)
$65K$52K$77K$89K$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 history
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 history. 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 49% of history majors chose to also earn a graduate degree (possibly of a different major). The percentage of history majors who also earned a graduate degree is higher than about 83% of other fields.
49%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.
24%47%70%0%20%40%60%80%Bachelor's to Master'sBachelor's to DoctorateBachelor's to Professional
Careers
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Careers for history majors
Where do history 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 history
Take a minute to interact with this sankey diagram. Follow the top ten jobs held by history 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
Lawyers, and judges,...Elementary and Middl...Specialized ManagersPostsecondary Teache...Secondary School Tea...Education and childc...Chief executives and...First-Line Superviso...Wholesale and Manufa...Management AnalystsAll othersThis degreeTop 10 Careers
What careers hire history majors as one of their top 10?
To the left of this diagram, see all careers that hire history 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 history majors.
HistoryAll other degreesArchivists, curators, and...Librarians and Media Coll...Specialized Social Scient...Military officer special ...Tour and travel guidesClerical Library Assistan...Athletes and Sports Compe...Umpires, Referees, and Ot...Proofreaders and Copy Mar...Paralegals and Legal Assi...FundraisersSpecialized Legal Support...Secondary School TeachersEmergency Management Dire...Coaches and ScoutsEditorsNews Analysts, Reporters,...Operations Research Analy...Writers and AuthorsClergyEducation and childcare a...Public relations and fund...Specialized Media and Com...Compensation and Benefits...Postsecondary TeachersAppraisers and Assessors ...Technical WritersTraining and Development ...Government Programs Eligi...TutorsSocial and Community Serv...Natural Sciences ManagersLogisticiansSpecialized Educational I...Public Relations Speciali...Insurance UnderwritersSecurities, Commodities, ...Training and Development ...Lodging ManagersAircraft pilots and fligh...Detectives and Criminal I...Surveyors, cartographers,...EconomistsUrban and Regional Planne...First-Line Supervisors of...First-Line Supervisors of...Elementary and Middle Sch...Personal Financial Adviso...Loan OfficersBudget AnalystsFinancial and Investment ...Healthcare Social WorkersProbation Officers and Co...All other careersDegreeDegree in top 10 employed
Where can I complete this degree
Explore schools that offer history 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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Offering this program at this level
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AKMEWIVTNHWAIDMTNDMNILMINYMAORUTWYSDIAINOHPANJCTRICANVCONEMOKYWVVAMDDEAZNMKSARTNNCSCDCOKLAMSALGAHITXFLPR
Related Programs
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Careers for history majors
history is part of a larger collection of programs: History. Is there a different program that's close to history 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 history earned in the last academic year, 42% 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
010K20K30K40K50KNumber of graduates200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Women
Men
Context: Gender representation
How does the gender distribution in this major compare to all other majors?
34%66%0%20%40%60%80%100%WomenMen
Context: Percentage women
This major has a lower percentage of women than 64% 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.
$64K$55K$0$50K$100K$150K$200K$250KWomenMen
Context: Salary inequity
For history graduates, men have a 17% higher median salary than women, This is near the middle of salary differentials within each program's graduates.
17%17%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Race/Origin
Race/Origin of recent graduates
Here is an overview of race/origin for all history graduates from this last academic year. We found a lower percentage of international graduates than in 55% 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
010K20K30K40K50KNumber 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 78% of other programs.