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Major · Psychology

A child-and-lifespan focused bachelor’s with a graduate-credential ceiling

Developmental and Child Psychology (CIP 42.2703) studies how cognition, emotion, and behavior change from infancy through adolescence. About 489 students complete this major across 34 institutions, and bachelor’s graduates earn a median of $58,880 in five-year tracked wages — a figure shaped by who self-selects into early-childhood and case-management work after graduation.

Schools offering
34
Annual completions
489
Typical degree level
Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$59k

About this major

Developmental and Child Psychology (CIP 42.2703) trains you in how cognition, emotion, and behavior change from infancy through adolescence. The CIP definition centers on the unique stages of psychological growth — cognitive and perceptual development, emotional and personality development, the effects of biological maturation on behavior, theories of cognitive growth, and age-appropriate testing and assessment methods. Coursework spans research methods and statistics, child and adolescent behavior therapy, and the psychology of aging across the lifespan. Day-to-day, you’re reading primary research on attachment, language acquisition, and adolescent identity formation, learning to design observational studies, and getting hands-on with structured assessment in lab and field settings.

Students who fit the major typically come in curious about why children develop the way they do and willing to treat that curiosity as a research question rather than an intuition. Strong candidates enjoy primary-source reading, are comfortable with statistics as a core tool, and want to apply behavioral science to children, adolescents, and families. The training is more research-grounded than a Family and Child Studies degree (CIP 19.0706, in the Family and Consumer Sciences tradition) and more focused on lifespan questions than Psychology, General. It rewards patience with longitudinal thinking — outcomes in this field unfold over years, not weeks.

Across the country, 489 students complete this CIP annually at 34 institutions, with bachelor’s graduates earning a median of $58,880 in five-year tracked wages. The named labor-market destinations split between bachelor’s-accessible roles like child, family, and school social workers ($58,570) and graduate-credentialed roles like clinical and counseling psychologists ($95,830, doctoral typical) and psychology teachers, postsecondary ($80,330, doctoral typical). Top completers concentrate at research universities — University of Minnesota-Twin Cities (108), UC San Diego (42), Maryland-College Park (33), and Vanderbilt (26) — reflecting the major’s research orientation and proximity to nationally recognized child-development labs.

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
Child, family, and school social workers $59k +3.4% Bachelor's degree
Clinical and counseling psychologists $96k +11.2% Doctoral or professional degree
Psychology teachers, postsecondary $80k +3.6% 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

$59k

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

Associate's

$49k

Bachelor's

$59k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you’re curious about how children actually develop and willing to treat that curiosity as a research question rather than an intuition, comfortable with statistics and research methods as a core part of your coursework rather than an obstacle to be tolerated, drawn to the bachelor’s-accessible destinations in this field — child, family, and school social work ($58,570), case management in CPS or community agencies, behavior-technician work in ABA settings, or research-assistant and lab-manager roles at universities like Minnesota-Twin Cities or UC San Diego — and open to graduate study, since the named developmental-psychologist roles in this packet sit behind a doctorate. The path also fits you if you want to work directly with children and adolescents in helping or research roles and prefer a research-grounded psychology track over the Family and Consumer Sciences framing of Family and Child Studies (CIP 19.0706).

Reconsider this route if your goal is to practice clinical psychology and you’re unwilling to plan for a doctoral program — clinical and counseling psychologists ($95,830) require a PhD or PsyD, and clinical doctoral programs often prefer Psychology, General (133,179 completions) or Clinical-Child applicants with strong research-method coursework. Pause if you want to teach young children directly and quickly; Early Childhood Education (CIP 13.1209) is the licensure-aligned path, not this major. Reconsider also if you’re hoping the $136,550 ‘managers, all other’ wage in the careers table represents an early-career destination — that figure reflects long-term, mid-career outcomes after years of industry experience, not what bachelor’s graduates earn out of school. The $58,880 five-year tracked median is the more honest near-term signal, and it reflects the entry-level case-management and human-services mix that absorbs most bachelor’s holders before they decide whether to pursue graduate credentials.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Developmental and Child Psychology

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

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN 0 108 108
Metropolitan State University of Denver Denver, CO 0 45 45
University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA 0 42 42
Utica University Utica, NY 0 39 39
University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD 0 33 33
Texas Christian University Fort Worth, TX 0 30 30
The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX 0 30 30
Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN 0 26 26
Eastern Washington University Cheney, WA 0 26 26
Bay Path University Longmeadow, MA 0 20 20
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Psychology, General

133,179 completions/yr

Research and Experimental Psychology, Other

11,877 completions/yr

Experimental Psychology

3,493 completions/yr

Applied Psychology

1,583 completions/yr

Behavioral Neuroscience

1,302 completions/yr

Forensic Psychology

877 completions/yr

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

520 completions/yr

Applied Behavior Analysis

492 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Developmental and Child Psychology majors actually study day-to-day?
The CIP definition centers on the unique stages of psychological growth from infancy through childhood — cognitive and perceptual development, emotional and personality development, the effects of biological maturation on behavior, and theories of cognitive growth. Coursework spans research methods and statistics, age-appropriate testing and assessment, child and adolescent behavior therapy, and lifespan development. Day-to-day, you read primary research on how children learn and form attachments, design or assist on observation studies, and learn to interpret behavioral data. The training is more research-oriented than a Family and Child Studies degree (CIP 19.0706), which lives in a Family and Consumer Sciences tradition rather than a psychology department.
Do I need a graduate degree to become a developmental psychologist?
Yes. The career titles this CIP maps to that carry the word ‘psychologist’ — clinical and counseling psychologists ($95,830) and psychology teachers, postsecondary ($80,330) — both require a doctoral or professional degree. The bachelor’s in Developmental and Child Psychology is the floor that lets you enter the field; the ceiling for psychologist-titled and academic roles sits behind a PhD or PsyD. Bachelor’s holders typically work 1-3 years as research assistants or lab managers in child-development labs before applying to doctoral programs, since admissions weigh research experience heavily.
What jobs land at the bachelor’s level?
Realistic bachelor’s destinations include child, family, and school social worker roles ($58,570, bachelor’s typical), case management in child protective services or community mental-health agencies, behavior technician work (RBT) in applied-behavior-analysis settings, child-life-specialist track positions (which require additional certification and a clinical practicum), Head Start and pre-K paraprofessional roles, and research-assistant or lab-manager positions in child-development centers. The $58,880 five-year tracked wage reflects this entry-level mix — case-management and human-services pay rather than psychologist-titled wages. The $136,550 ‘managers, all other’ figure in the careers table is a long-term, mid-career outcome reached after years of industry experience, not an entry-level destination.
How does this differ from Psychology, General?
Psychology, General (CIP 42.0101) is the dominant institutional offering, with 133,179 annual completions across most US colleges. Developmental and Child Psychology is a narrower research focus on lifespan development, with only 489 completions at 34 institutions. The substantive difference is depth versus breadth: a general psychology bachelor’s gives wider coverage of clinical, social, cognitive, and biological subfields, while this CIP commits earlier to child and lifespan questions. For doctoral admissions in clinical or counseling psychology, programs typically prefer Psychology, General or Clinical-Child majors with strong research-method coursework; Developmental and Child Psychology applicants are competitive when they show research-method fit and lab experience.
How does the associate’s compare with the bachelor’s?
The earnings split shows a $9,812 gap: associate’s graduates earn a median of $49,186, while bachelor’s graduates earn $58,998 in five-year tracked wages. The bachelor’s also dominates volume — every institution in the top-10 completers list reports zero associate’s graduates, and the major itself is registered as bachelor’s-level only. If you’re weighing the credential, the bachelor’s is the standard stopping point for this CIP and a near-requirement for any further graduate study in psychology.
Where do most students complete this major?
Completions concentrate at large research universities and a handful of regional institutions: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities leads with 108 bachelor’s graduates, followed by Metropolitan State University of Denver (45), University of California-San Diego (42), Utica University (39), and University of Maryland-College Park (33). Vanderbilt University (26), Texas Christian University (30), and University of Texas at Dallas (30) round out the top contributors. The presence of Minnesota, UC San Diego, and Maryland — each home to nationally recognized child-development research centers — reflects the major’s research orientation. Across the country, only 34 institutions offer this CIP, so geographic options are limited; many students interested in child and lifespan psychology enroll in Psychology, General programs that house developmental concentrations within a broader department.