undergradly.
Major · Liberal Arts & Humanities

Explore language, thought, and culture across disciplines

Humanities/Humanistic Studies is an interdisciplinary program drawing on literature, philosophy, art, music, history, and religion as an integrated field rather than separate departments. About 21,500 degrees are awarded annually across 432 colleges, with the large majority at the associate's level — making this one of the most common transfer-pathway credentials in the country.

Schools offering
432
Annual completions
21,472
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$47k

About this major

Humanities/Humanistic Studies sits at the intersection of the disciplines that study human expression and thought: literature, philosophy, art history, music, world religions, and the intellectual traditions linking them. The CIP definition frames it as a program focused on combined study of the humanities as distinguished from the social and physical sciences — meaning the emphasis lands on language, ideas, aesthetics, and culture rather than data, systems, or behavior. Coursework typically asks students to read primary texts critically, trace ideas across historical periods, and write argumentatively about meaning, value, and human experience.

The program tends to attract students who engage readily with ambiguity and abstract reasoning — who find themselves drawn to understanding why people think and create differently across time and cultures, not just cataloguing that they do. Comfort with close reading and sustained writing matters more here than quantitative skill. The field rewards the kind of mind that enjoys sitting with a complex text or argument longer than most people would.

A notable structural feature of this major is where it lives: the top ten completers by volume are all California community colleges, and total bachelor's completions among them are zero. Santa Monica College alone accounts for 2,535 completions. This tells you something real about the major's function: for most students, it operates as a transfer-pathway credential — a structured humanities foundation that satisfies lower-division requirements before moving into a bachelor's program in English, philosophy, history, or a related field. At 21,472 total completions across 432 colleges, the program is broadly available, but its career pipeline is limited. The only career destination mapped directly to this field is postsecondary teaching, which requires a doctoral degree.

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
Postsecondary teachers, all other $78k +1.8% Doctoral or professional 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

$47k

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

Associate's

$43k

Bachelor's

$54k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you are drawn to ideas more than technical systems — if literature, philosophy, or the history of art feel like genuine intellectual homes rather than electives to get through. You may also fit well here if your near-term goal is to transfer to a four-year institution: this credential is well-suited for community college students building a foundation in the liberal arts before entering a UC, CSU, or comparable bachelor's program. And if your career path runs through law school, graduate study in the humanities, or fields like publishing, nonprofit work, or education, this is a coherent early credential — though its value will depend significantly on what comes after it.

Think twice if you want a clear, direct line between your degree and a specific job. The only career directly mapped to this major requires a doctoral degree, and five-year median earnings across degree levels sit around $46,704 — the real earning trajectory depends on the credential you build on top. Think twice also if a broad interdisciplinary credential is what you want: Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies (255,855 completions nationally) and General Studies (103,103 completions) give you more flexibility across departments, including social and physical sciences, and are substantially larger programs with wider transfer applicability.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Humanities/Humanistic Studies

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

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Santa Monica College Santa Monica, CA 2,535 0 2,535
Shasta College Redding, CA 1,459 0 1,459
San Joaquin Delta College Stockton, CA 1,191 0 1,191
Pasadena City College Pasadena, CA 908 0 908
Eastern Gateway Community College Steubenville, OH 865 0 865
Riverside City College Riverside, CA 791 0 791
Nassau Community College Garden City, NY 713 0 713
Norco College Norco, CA 631 0 631
Santa Ana College Santa Ana, CA 623 0 623
Moreno Valley College Moreno Valley, CA 543 0 543
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies

255,855 completions/yr

General Studies

103,103 completions/yr

Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities, Other

19,655 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Humanities/Humanistic Studies majors actually study day-to-day?
Coursework draws from literature, philosophy, art history, music, world religions, and the intellectual traditions connecting them. Rather than specializing in one discipline, you study how these fields speak to each other — reading primary texts alongside critical analysis, discussing ideas across historical periods, and writing argumentatively about human thought and culture. Programs vary in depth: at community colleges, the curriculum often emphasizes broad exposure and critical thinking; at four-year schools, expect more intensive engagement with original-language sources and theoretical frameworks.
Is this major primarily a transfer vehicle, or does it lead directly to a career?
Largely a transfer vehicle, based on the data. The top completers of this major are California community colleges — Santa Monica College, Shasta College, San Joaquin Delta College — where the associate's degree functions as a stepping stone to a UC or CSU bachelor's program in a related field. The only career destination mapped directly to this major is postsecondary teaching, which requires a doctoral degree and has only 1.8% projected job growth. Most students who complete this credential are not finishing their education here — they're using it to transfer.
What kinds of jobs do Humanities/Humanistic Studies graduates end up in?
The only career mapped directly to this program is postsecondary teacher — all other categories — at a $78,490 median wage, but that role requires a doctoral or professional degree and projects only 1.8% growth. In practice, humanities graduates enter a wide range of fields — writing, communications, law, public service, education, nonprofit work — but through paths that depend on what they do after the associate's or bachelor's degree, not the credential itself. If you want a direct career connection, this major's value comes through what you build on top of it.
Do I need a bachelor's, or does an associate's stand on its own here?
The earnings data suggests the associate's is primarily a stepping stone. Associate's completers in this major report median five-year earnings around $43,213, while bachelor's completers reach about $53,600 — a gap of roughly $10,400. Neither figure is high relative to other majors, which reflects the reality that the degree's value is largely what you do after it: transferring into law, graduate programs in the humanities, communications, or education. The associate's has real credential value for transfer admission purposes, but it's difficult to point to a clear direct-employment case.
How does this compare to General Studies or Liberal Arts/Liberal Studies?
Humanities/Humanistic Studies (21,472 completions) is much smaller than its closest relatives — Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies (255,855 completions) and General Studies (103,103 completions). The distinction is scope: Liberal Studies and General Studies pull from social and physical sciences alongside the humanities; Humanities specifically centers language, literature, philosophy, art, music, and religion. If your goal is maximum transfer flexibility across academic departments, Liberal Studies is the larger and often more versatile credential. Humanities makes sense if you specifically want to emphasize the humanistic disciplines rather than a broader interdisciplinary mix.
What's a realistic picture of earnings after this degree?
Median five-year earnings across both degree levels sit around $46,704 — below the median for most other majors. Bachelor's completers land at about $53,600, and associate's completers at about $43,213. Those numbers reflect the reality that this credential is often a waypoint, not a destination. Students who go on to law school, graduate programs, or careers in communications or education will see very different earnings trajectories than these medians suggest. The honest framing: the degree's ROI depends almost entirely on the next credential or career path built on top of it.