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Major · History

Study the past, understand how the present got here

History, General is the study and interpretation of the past — gathering evidence, weighing competing narratives, and constructing arguments about what happened and why. About 22,600 degrees are awarded annually across 1,462 colleges. Most destinations for graduates involve writing, analysis, teaching, or graduate-level study.

Schools offering
1,462
Annual completions
22,597
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$52k

About this major

History as a formal major focuses on interpreting the past through evidence — gathering primary and secondary sources, weighing competing accounts, and constructing arguments about what happened, why, and what it meant. The CIP definition frames it as studying the gathering, recording, synthesizing, and criticizing of evidence and theories about past events. In practice, that means coursework organized around periods, regions, and themes: political and social history, economic history, intellectual history, and historiography — the study of how historical methods and interpretive frameworks have evolved. Research and writing are central throughout.

The major covers a wide range of possible concentrations. Some students focus narrowly on one region or era; others move through thematic questions that cut across time. What holds the curriculum together is the analytical method: identifying a question, finding evidence, assessing its reliability, and making an argument. That skill set — rigorous reading, clear writing, the ability to hold competing interpretations in tension — transfers across many fields, which is part of why history graduates end up in law, policy, publishing, communications, and management as often as in explicitly historical careers.

The career destinations most directly tied to this major are secondary school teaching at a $64,580 median wage and the historian occupation at $74,050 — though historians typically require a master's degree, and postsecondary teaching ($81,500) requires a doctorate. About 22,597 degrees are awarded annually across 1,462 colleges. Bachelor's completers in this field show five-year median earnings around $52,288 — modest relative to many four-year credentials, with the higher-earning paths in this field generally requiring additional credentials or a lateral move into adjacent sectors.

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
Managers, all other $137k +4.5% Bachelor's degree
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education $65k -1.6% Bachelor's degree
History teachers, postsecondary $82k -0.2% Doctoral or professional degree
Historians $74k +2.2% Master'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

$52k

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

Associate's

$43k

Bachelor's

$52k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you find yourself more interested in the question behind the source than the source itself — if reading a primary document makes you want to know who wrote it, for whom, and what they left out. The major rewards people who are comfortable with ambiguity, who find sustained argument-building satisfying rather than frustrating, and who can write clearly under pressure. If your goal is secondary school teaching, this is one of the most direct undergraduate paths: teachers earn a $64,580 median wage and history is among the most commonly sought subject-area credentials at that level.

Think twice if you're expecting the degree to function as a direct professional credential in the way that accounting, nursing, or computer science do — it doesn't. The five-year median for bachelor's completers runs about $52,288, and the major's highest-earning direct destinations require a master's or doctorate. Think twice also if you want quantitative tools or a tighter pipeline into specific industries: political science and economics share many of the analytical strengths of history but come with more structured professional pathways. And if you're drawn to history specifically as a step toward law school or graduate study in public policy, the degree works well — but that's a plan to make explicitly, not assume.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for History, General

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

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Southern New Hampshire University Manchester, NH 0 353 353
Liberty University Lynchburg, VA 14 223 237
University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 0 197 197
Grand Canyon University Phoenix, AZ 0 167 167
Arizona State University Digital Immersion Scottsdale, AZ 0 146 146
University of North Texas Denton, TX 0 131 131
University of Maryland Global Campus Adelphi, MD 0 130 130
California State University-Sacramento Sacramento, CA 0 129 129
California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA 0 127 127
California State University-Fullerton Fullerton, CA 0 126 126
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Political Science and Government, General

36,654 completions/yr

Economics, General

18,920 completions/yr

Social Sciences, General

14,846 completions/yr

Political Science and Government, Other

769 completions/yr

History Teacher Education

591 completions/yr

History and Language/Literature

317 completions/yr

History, Other

294 completions/yr

American Government and Politics (United States)

168 completions/yr

Considering this direction?

We've taken a hard look at the debt, earnings trajectory, and degree-level tradeoffs for the History, General field. Read our verdict before you commit.

Is History, General worth it? Read verdict
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do History majors actually study day-to-day?
The core of the major is reading, research, and argument. You'll study specific periods, regions, and thematic questions — political history, social history, economic history, the history of ideas. Primary source analysis is central: you learn to find evidence, assess its limits, and build a case. Writing is constant and gets more rigorous each year. Upper-division work often focuses on a thesis-style project where you develop an original argument over a semester from archival or secondary sources.
What kinds of jobs do History graduates end up in?
The most direct destination is secondary school teaching, where the median wage is $64,580 and the job market shows a -1.6% projected change — modest decline. Historians as an occupation earn a $74,050 median wage with 2.2% projected growth, but the typical credential is a master's degree, not a bachelor's. Postsecondary history teachers earn $81,500 but typically require a doctorate. Many history graduates end up in roles that use their analytical and writing skills without the 'historian' title — law, policy, communications, publishing, and management.
What are realistic earnings after a History bachelor's degree?
Five-year median earnings for bachelor's completers in this field run about $52,288. That's a modest number relative to other four-year degrees, and the associate-to-bachelor's earnings gap here is only about $9,000 — smaller than in most technical fields. The earnings ceiling for this major at the bachelor's level is real. Higher wages are possible, but they typically come either from graduate credentials (law, public administration, library science) or from moving into a field like management or consulting where the degree functions as a credential rather than a direct qualification.
Do I need a bachelor's, or is an associate's enough for History?
An associate's in history leads to very few direct employment paths — most occupations in this field list a bachelor's as the minimum, and the higher-paying ones require graduate degrees. The earnings gap between associate's and bachelor's completers in this major is about $9,000 ($43,261 vs. $52,288 at five years), which is smaller than in many fields. If your goal is any of the specific careers listed for this major, a bachelor's is the practical floor, but it's rarely the ceiling.
Is History the right fit, or should I look at a related major?
History overlaps most closely with political science (36,654 completions per year) and economics (18,920 completions), both of which share career destinations and analytical methods but open somewhat different doors. If government, law, or policy is your target, political science is more directly aligned. If you want quantitative tools alongside the analytical ones, economics gives you more direct access to finance and policy roles. Social Sciences, General (14,846 completions) is a broader option if you want to stay flexible across history, sociology, and political science. The honest comparison: history's strength is argument and narrative; the related majors tend to have either more quantitative rigor or tighter professional pipelines.
What's the job market like for History graduates?
The direct job market for graduates using a history degree as a credential is narrow. Secondary school teaching shows a -1.6% projected change, meaning mild job losses in the sector. Historians as a formal occupation show 2.2% projected growth but are a small field requiring graduate credentials. The larger opportunity for history graduates is in adjacent roles — law, communications, nonprofit work, public policy — where the analytical and writing skills translate but the degree title is less important. This major confers transferable skills more than it confers a direct occupational pipeline.