Career education choices connect to measurable differences in earnings, unemployment, employment scale, and projected job growth. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that, in 2025, full-time workers age 25 and over with a doctoral degree had median usual weekly earnings of $2,307, while workers with less than a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $770. The same BLS tables also show that occupation-level prospects vary by typical entry-level education, so education decisions should be considered alongside the type of work a pathway leads to.
Contents
- Earnings by educational attainment
- Unemployment and education level
- How large are education-linked occupations?
- What BLS projects for 2035
- Projected growth by entry-level education
- Career and technical education teaching
Earnings by educational attainment
The BLS source Education pays measures median usual weekly earnings for full-time wage and salary workers age 25 and over. These are 2025 medians, not starting salaries or guarantees for an individual career.
At the graduate level, workers with a doctoral degree had median weekly earnings of $2,307. The median for workers with a professional degree was $2,294, and the median for workers with a master’s degree was $1,876. A bachelor’s degree corresponded to median weekly earnings of $1,578.
The remaining 2025 medians were $1,135 for workers with an associate’s degree, $1,062 for workers with some college but no degree, $966 for workers with a high school diploma, and $770 for workers with less than a high school diploma.
| Educational attainment | Median weekly earnings in 2025 |
|---|---|
| Doctoral degree | $2,307 |
| Professional degree | $2,294 |
| Master’s degree | $1,876 |
| Bachelor’s degree | $1,578 |
| Associate’s degree | $1,135 |
| Some college, no degree | $1,062 |
| High school diploma | $966 |
| Less than high school diploma | $770 |
The figures describe a broad relationship between educational attainment and weekly earnings across workers age 25 and over. They do not isolate the effect of education from occupation, experience, industry, location, hours, or other characteristics. For career planning, they are best read as labor-market context rather than as a personal income forecast.
Unemployment and education level
The same BLS Education pays table reports 2025 unemployment rates for workers age 25 and over. The rate was 1.8% for workers with a doctoral degree and 1.9% for workers with a professional degree. Workers with a master’s degree had a 2.6% unemployment rate, while workers with a bachelor’s degree had a 2.8% rate.
Among workers with shorter or less formal education pathways, the 2025 unemployment rates were 3.0% for an associate’s degree, 3.8% for some college but no degree, 4.3% for a high school diploma, and 6.1% for less than a high school diploma.
These measures use the same age group and year as the earnings figures, making them useful for viewing two labor-market outcomes together. They still represent population-level rates. A lower or higher rate does not mean that every occupation within an education category has the same hiring conditions.
How large are education-linked occupations?
The BLS report Employment, wages, and projected change in employment by typical entry-level education groups occupations by the education typically required for entry. In 2025, occupations typically requiring a high school diploma or equivalent for entry employed 60,319.0 thousand people, or 60.319 million. Occupations with no formal educational credential typically required employed 40,201.2 thousand people.
Occupations typically requiring a bachelor’s degree employed 42,870.1 thousand people in 2025. The group typically requiring a postsecondary nondegree award employed 10,679.1 thousand. Occupations typically requiring some college but no degree employed 4,172.9 thousand, while those typically requiring a doctoral or professional degree employed 4,543.2 thousand.
The remaining groups were occupations typically requiring a master’s degree, with 3,941.3 thousand employed people, and occupations typically requiring an associate’s degree, with 3,554.1 thousand. These totals describe the scale of occupation groups; they do not say how many openings were available in a particular occupation or location.
What BLS projects for 2035
The BLS education-summary report provides a 2025–2035 projection period. By 2035, employment in occupations typically requiring a high school diploma or equivalent is projected at 61,503.4 thousand. Employment in occupations with no formal educational credential typically required is projected at 41,139.8 thousand.
The projected 2035 employment level for occupations typically requiring a bachelor’s degree is 45,292.0 thousand. The postsecondary nondegree award group is projected at 11,284.6 thousand, and the doctoral or professional degree group is projected at 4,833.6 thousand.
For other education groups, the projected 2035 levels are 4,376.7 thousand for occupations typically requiring a master’s degree, 4,039.7 thousand for occupations typically requiring some college but no degree, and 3,728.7 thousand for occupations typically requiring an associate’s degree.
The projection is an estimate of employment by 2035, not a promise that a particular job will exist or that a particular credential will be required by every employer. The education categories describe typical entry requirements for occupation groups.
Projected growth by entry-level education
The projected percentage changes make the direction of each group easier to compare. From 2025 to 2035, occupations typically requiring a master’s degree are projected to grow 11.0%, the highest percentage in the supplied BLS education categories. The doctoral or professional degree group is projected to grow 6.4%, while the postsecondary nondegree award group is projected to grow 5.7%.
| Typical entry-level education | Projected employment change, 2025–2035 |
|---|---|
| Master’s degree | 11.0% growth |
| Doctoral or professional degree | 6.4% growth |
| Postsecondary nondegree award | 5.7% growth |
| Bachelor’s degree | 5.6% growth |
| Associate’s degree | 4.9% growth |
| No formal educational credential | 2.3% growth |
| High school diploma or equivalent | 2.0% growth |
| Some college, no degree | 3.2% decline |
Occupations typically requiring a bachelor’s degree are projected to grow 5.6% over the period, and those typically requiring an associate’s degree are projected to grow 4.9%. Occupations with no formal educational credential typically required are projected to grow 2.3%, while occupations typically requiring a high school diploma or equivalent are projected to grow 2.0%.
The one projected decline in the table is the group typically requiring some college but no degree, at 3.2% from 2025 to 2035. This is an occupation-group projection, not a forecast for every job associated with some college education. Comparing both projected percentage change and total employment helps distinguish a fast-growing smaller group from a larger group with slower growth.
Career and technical education teaching
Career and technical education (CTE) is one direct career education field with occupation-specific BLS projections. The report Occupational projections and worker characteristics counted 123.1 thousand postsecondary career/technical education teacher jobs in 2025. Employment for this group is projected at 122.7 thousand jobs in 2035, with 8.0 thousand annual openings on average from 2025 to 2035.
At the middle-school level, CTE teachers numbered 16.6 thousand jobs in 2025. The 2035 projection is also 16.6 thousand jobs, and the occupation is projected to have 1.0 thousand annual openings on average from 2025 to 2035. The unchanged projected employment level does not eliminate replacement openings.
Secondary-school CTE teachers numbered 110.5 thousand jobs in 2025. The 2035 projection is 110.1 thousand jobs, with 6.4 thousand annual openings on average during 2025–2035.
Adult basic, adult secondary, and English-as-a-second-language instructors numbered 41.1 thousand jobs in 2025. Employment for this group is projected at 35.4 thousand jobs in 2035, while annual openings are projected to average 3.8 thousand from 2025 to 2035.
These CTE figures add an occupation-level view to the broader education categories. Job counts and annual openings are separate measures: a group can have nearly flat or declining projected employment and still have openings over the projection period.