undergradly.
Major · Computing

Designing the systems where business data lives

Data Modeling, Warehousing and Database Administration (CIP 11.0802) trains you to design databases, warehouses, and analytical pipelines. About 573 students complete it across 67 colleges each year — a small national footprint because most universities roll these students into broader Computer Science or IT majors. Bachelor’s grads in this CIP report median five-year earnings near $65,856.

Schools offering
67
Annual completions
573
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$57k

About this major

Data Modeling, Warehousing and Database Administration prepares you to design and manage the systems where organizational data actually lives. The CIP definition covers database theory, logic, and semantics, with explicit focus on operational and warehouse modeling, dimensionality, attributes and hierarchies, data definition, technical architecture, access and security design, integration, and index design. In practice, that translates to coursework on relational and dimensional modeling, ETL and integration patterns, query performance and indexing, governance and access control, and increasingly the cloud data-platform stack — warehouses, orchestration, and pipeline tooling that have reshaped what database work looks like in the past decade.

The major rewards a particular kind of thinking. You need to be patient with structure, comfortable holding many entities and relationships in your head, and willing to write the schema before the application. Students who enjoy taking a messy business question and reducing it to a clean, queryable model tend to fit. The work is less about novel algorithms than about discipline — naming things well, modeling for the future, and keeping data trustworthy at scale.

Nationally, this CIP records about 573 completions across 67 colleges, which is small for a computing major. The scarcity is largely an artifact of administrative grouping — most universities roll these students into broader Computer Science or Information Technology majors rather than offering a dedicated data-modeling track. Among the named career destinations are database architects at $135,980 and database administrators at $104,620; both list a bachelor’s as the typical entry credential, and both sit inside a labor market where the modern cloud-data stack increasingly defines who is hireable.

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
Computer and information systems managers $171k +15.2% Bachelor's degree
Data scientists $113k +33.5% Bachelor's degree
Career/technical education teachers, postsecondary $61k +0.7% Bachelor's degree
Database administrators $105k -0.7% Bachelor's degree
Database architects $136k +8.7% 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

$57k

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

Associate's

$44k

Bachelor's

$66k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if the cleanest part of any project is the data model — if you find yourself drawn to entity-relationship diagrams, normalized schemas, and the long argument about what a row actually represents. This path serves you well if you are comfortable with SQL as a primary tool, curious about the difference between operational and analytical workloads, and patient with the dimensional modeling that warehouse design requires. It also fits a working-adult or career-changer profile unusually well — more than half of the top-10 institutions’ bachelor’s completions in this CIP come from Western Governors University and Northeastern, both of which serve students with prior IT or BI experience who want to formalize the data side.

Think twice if you want the broadest possible computing degree — Computer Science (50,272 completions) or Information Technology (20,296 completions) will give you more general optionality. Reconsider this route also if your real interest is statistics and machine learning rather than schema design; Data Science General (2,068 completions) targets that work more directly. Pay attention to the labor signal embedded in the data: database administrator is projected at -0.7% growth — the only negative-growth occupation named for this major. The architect, data-engineer, and governance directions are growing; pure on-prem DBA is not.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Data Modeling/Warehousing and Database Administration

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

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Western Governors University Salt Lake City, UT 0 210 210
Northeastern University Boston, MA 0 108 108
Ivy Tech Community College Indianapolis, IN 43 0 43
Bellevue College Bellevue, WA 0 36 36
University of St Thomas Saint Paul, MN 0 16 16
University of Minnesota-Duluth Duluth, MN 0 13 13
George Washington University Washington, DC 0 13 13
Utah State University Logan, UT 0 12 12
DePaul University Chicago, IL 0 10 10
Atlanta Technical College Atlanta, GA 8 0 8
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Computer Science

50,272 completions/yr

Computer and Information Sciences, General

34,556 completions/yr

Information Technology

20,296 completions/yr

Computer and Information Systems Security/Auditing/Information Assurance

17,632 completions/yr

Information Science/Studies

10,334 completions/yr

Management Information Systems, General

7,648 completions/yr

Web Page, Digital/Multimedia and Information Resources Design

2,356 completions/yr

Data Science, General

2,068 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Data Modeling and Database Administration majors actually study day-to-day?
Coursework centers on database theory, logic, and semantics — how data is modeled, normalized, and indexed for performance. You spend time on operational and warehouse modeling, dimensional design, attributes and hierarchies, ETL and integration, access and security design, and the planning side of database projects. Compared with Computer Science, less of the program is spent on algorithms or compilers; compared with IT, more of it is spent on the data layer specifically. Modern programs also expose you to cloud data platforms — warehouses like Snowflake, BigQuery, or Redshift — and orchestration tools that have replaced much of classic on-prem DBA work.
Do I need a bachelor’s, or is an associate’s enough for this field?
Both degree levels exist, but they open meaningfully different doors. Associate’s completers in this CIP report median five-year earnings around $44,323 and typically enter as junior database analysts, data-warehouse technicians, or BI support staff. Bachelor’s completers report about $65,856 — a gap of roughly $21,500 — and are the credential most named SOCs in this field treat as typical entry: database administrators, database architects, and data scientists all list a bachelor’s as the typical entry credential. An associate’s plus a cloud platform certification can substitute in some employer markets, but the long-term ceiling on raw degree alone is lower.
What kinds of jobs do graduates actually end up in?
Database administrators are the most direct destination, with a $104,620 median wage but a notable -0.7% projected growth — the only negative-growth occupation listed for this major. Database architects, the more design-and-strategy-oriented role, earn $135,980 with 8.7% projected growth. Data scientists are an adjacent destination at $112,590 and 33.5% growth, though that path leans more on statistics and machine learning than this CIP’s curriculum emphasizes. The senior, mid-career destination is computer and information systems manager at $171,200 with 15.2% growth — reached after years of industry experience, not directly out of school.
What does the AI-disruption read look like for database work?
The Database Administrator occupation is the only negative-growth career named in this CIP’s data — projected at -0.7%, against double-digit growth for most adjacent computing occupations. That tracks with what is happening in the field: GenAI tooling and AI SQL assistants compress junior query-tuning, schema-drafting, and routine maintenance work. The judgment-heavy parts of the major — data modeling decisions, warehouse architecture, governance, lineage, and data-quality engineering — are the parts that hold value and tend to migrate to better-paid architect, data-engineer, or analytics-engineering titles. Pure on-prem DBA is shrinking; cloud data-platform engineering is where the demand is moving.
How is this different from Computer Science, IT, or Data Science?
Computer Science (CIP 11.0701, 50,272 completions) is the much larger, more theoretical sibling — heavy on algorithms, systems, and software engineering. Information Technology (CIP 11.0103, 20,296 completions) is the broader applied-computing major covering networks, systems, and databases as one piece among many. Data Science General (CIP 30.7001, 2,068 completions) leans on statistics and machine learning rather than transactional database design. Information Science (CIP 11.0401, 10,334 completions) is closer in spirit but more research- and library-flavored. CIP 11.0802 sits narrower than all of these, focused specifically on the data layer and its modeling.
Why does the top-institutions list look so different from a typical computing major?
More than half of the bachelor’s completions in the top-10 institutions come from Western Governors University (210) and Northeastern University (108) — a competency-based online university and a co-op-heavy private. That mix signals a working-adult and career-changer modal student rather than a traditional 18-year-old residential cohort. The community-college side of the list — Ivy Tech, Bellevue College, Atlanta Technical College — confirms the same read at the associate’s level. If you are a current IT or BI worker looking to formalize database skills, this CIP and these schools are unusually well-aligned.