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Major · Communication & Journalism

Campaign-driven training for the strategy side of communication work

Communication Management and Strategic Communications prepares you to plan campaigns, manage media relations, and shape how organizations talk to the public and their own staff. About 1,438 degrees are awarded each year across 35 colleges, with bachelor’s completers reporting median five-year earnings near $62,267.

Schools offering
35
Annual completions
1,438
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$62k

About this major

Communication Management and Strategic Communications focuses on the analysis and applied skills behind communication strategies that advance an organization’s goals. The CIP definition lists communication management, crisis communication, communications law, digital and traditional marketing strategies, media relations, social media strategies, strategic communication, and writing for the media — and a typical semester touches most of those. Studio-style assignments dominate the upper-level coursework: campaign briefs, media plans, press releases, social calendars, and crisis-response decks built for client cases.

The major fits students who like building arguments for specific audiences, who can move between data analysis and persuasive writing without losing either, and who are comfortable working to a brief rather than expressing a personal voice. Comfort with feedback is non-negotiable. Strategy work gets edited heavily by clients, supervisors, and legal review, and graduates who treat each round as iteration rather than criticism move up faster.

On the destinations side, 1,438 degrees are awarded annually across 35 colleges, a smaller footprint than Communication, General (9,537 annual completions) because many universities classify these students under the broader category. Five-year median earnings sit at $62,227. The career packet points to Public relations managers ($138,520) and Fundraising managers ($123,480) as long-run targets, both bachelor’s-typical, both reached after years of coordinator and specialist work rather than directly out of graduation.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Public relations managers $139k +5.0% Bachelor's degree
Fundraising managers $123k +4.2% Bachelor's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$62k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$55k

Bachelor's

$62k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you already write quickly and edit yourself well, if you find audience analysis and message testing more interesting than open-ended creative writing, if the applied skill list — campaigns, media relations, crisis comms — is what attracted you rather than the broader communication theory of the General Communication major, if you’re willing to take an internship (often unpaid or low-paid) to build the campaign portfolio agencies and in-house teams ask to see, and if a five-year median around $62,227 reads as a reasonable starting point on a path toward manager-level roles.

Think twice if you’re drawn to the high manager wages — Public relations managers at $138,520, Fundraising managers at $123,480 — without recognizing those are mid-career figures earned after five to ten years in coordinator and specialist roles. Reconsider if you want a broader liberal-arts communication education, since Communication, General (9,537 annual completions) gives you more theory and elective range. And weigh other paths if your real interest is the creative production side rather than strategy and management — Advertising (3,875 completions) or Public Relations/Image Management (3,305) signal a different focus to employers, and a journalism degree communicates a reporter’s skill set more clearly than this CIP does.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Communication Management and Strategic Communications

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Fashion Institute of Technology New York, NY 316 254 570
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN 0 184 184
University of Kentucky Lexington, KY 0 123 123
Miami University-Oxford Oxford, OH 0 119 119
Elon University Elon, NC 0 117 117
Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 0 85 85
University of Vermont Burlington, VT 0 62 62
Hampton University Hampton, VA 0 31 31
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Eau Claire, WI 0 24 24
California Lutheran University Thousand Oaks, CA 0 21 21
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Communication, General

9,537 completions/yr

Advertising

3,875 completions/yr

Public Relations/Image Management

3,305 completions/yr

Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication

2,997 completions/yr

Organizational Communication, General

1,262 completions/yr

Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication, Other

1,004 completions/yr

Sports Communication

766 completions/yr

Health Communication

118 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Communication Management and Strategic Communications majors actually study day-to-day?
Coursework centers on communication management, crisis communication, communications law, digital and traditional marketing strategies, media relations, social media strategies, strategic communication, and writing for the media. Most weeks blend lectures with applied work: drafting press releases, building campaign briefs, analyzing audiences, and pitching message strategy for real or simulated clients. Many programs require an internship or capstone where you produce a portfolio of campaigns, clips, and decks that hiring managers later use to evaluate you.
Do I need a bachelor’s, or is an associate’s enough for this major?
The earnings split favors the bachelor’s. Associate’s completers report median five-year earnings of $54,879; bachelor’s completers report $62,267 — a gap of about $7,400. The associate’s figure is unusually high for a comms field, partly because Fashion Institute of Technology alone produces 316 of the 1,438 annual completions on the associate’s side and feeds a specific NYC fashion-and-beauty PR pipeline. For most students outside that niche, the bachelor’s is the credential agencies and corporate comms teams expect.
What kinds of jobs do graduates end up in?
The career packet lists Public relations managers ($138,520 median, 5% growth) and Fundraising managers ($123,480 median, 4.2% growth) — both bachelor’s-typical, both manager-level. Treat those numbers as mid-career outcomes earned after five to ten years moving through coordinator, specialist, and senior specialist roles. Entry-level destinations look more like PR account coordinator at an agency, communications associate at a nonprofit, internal comms coordinator at a corporation, or social and content strategy assistant — roles that pay closer to the major’s $62,267 five-year median.
How competitive is the entry-level market for strategic communications?
Crowded at the front door. Communication is a popular major nationally, and strategic comms graduates compete with people coming out of Communication, General (9,537 annual completions), Advertising (3,875), Public Relations/Image Management (3,305), and the broader applied communication group (2,997). Internships are the screen: most agency and in-house comms teams hire from interns they have already trained, and unpaid or low-paid internships remain common in the field. A portfolio of real campaigns, clips, and analytics dashboards moves more candidates forward than a transcript.
How is this different from a general Communication degree?
Communication, General is the survey: media studies, interpersonal and organizational communication, theory, and a wide elective spread. Strategic Communications is the applied management track: how to plan a campaign, write a crisis statement, brief an executive, manage a brand voice, and measure message reach. The 1,438 annual completions in this CIP versus 9,537 in Communication, General partly reflect that many universities roll strategic-comms students into the broader category for reporting. If you already know you want agency, PR, or in-house comms work, this CIP signals that focus to employers more clearly.
What if I like the field but not the corporate side?
Several adjacent majors keep the toolkit and shift the context. Public Relations/Image Management (3,305 completions) leans heavier on media relations and reputation work. Organizational Communication, General (1,262) focuses on internal comms, change management, and team dynamics. Health Communication (118) and Sports Communication (766) take the same campaign skills into industries with their own messaging conventions. A Communication Management bachelor’s also feeds nonprofit communications, government public affairs, and association comms — sectors that pay less than agency or corporate work but offer more direct mission connection.