Is an Architecture Degree Worth It? $84K Pay, $19K Debt
Where architecture graduates actually land
Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO)
Earnings by credential level
College Scorecard field-level earnings (years 1–4 post-grad, aggregated across institutions)
The credential paths that actually produce graduates
Scorecard field-level earnings + completions_by_program (most recent year) aggregated by credential tier
Associate's
- Completions / yr 102
- Year-1 earnings —
- Year-4 earnings $36,438
- Median debt $19,174
- % women 51.0%
- Schools 21
Bachelor's
- Completions / yr 3,623
- Year-1 earnings $46,119
- Year-4 earnings $67,453
- Median debt $25,766
- % women 52.2%
- Schools 130
Master's
- Completions / yr 665
- Year-1 earnings $57,148
- Year-4 earnings $73,621
- Median debt $43,447
- % women 46.3%
- Schools 115
Doctoral
- Completions / yr 77
- Year-1 earnings —
- Year-4 earnings —
- Median debt $19,174
- % women 61.0%
- Schools 27
Who completes these degrees
IPEDS completions_by_program, most recent year, first-major only
- 2023 4,770
- 2024 4,568
Where graduates land professionally
BLS 2024–2034 Employment Projections via CIP-to-SOC crosswalk
| SOC | Occupation | Employed '24 | Growth | Openings/yr | Median wage | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11-9041 | Architectural and engineering managers | 213k | +3.8% | 15k | $167,740 | Bachelor's degree |
| 17-1011 | Architects, except landscape and naval | 124k | +3.9% | 7.8k | $96,690 | Bachelor's degree |
| 25-1031 | Architecture teachers, postsecondary | 12k | +2.0% | 0.9k | $101,480 | Doctoral or professional degree |
Where demand is growing
State workforce agencies publish their own 10-year projections for architectural and engineering managers — growth varies sharply by state, and where you plan to live changes the calculus.
| Utah | +31.5% | 240 openings/yr |
| Texas | +17.6% | 1,550 openings/yr |
| Montana | +17.1% | 40 openings/yr |
| GU | +16.7% | 10 openings/yr |
| Idaho | +16.7% | 120 openings/yr |
| Florida | +14.6% | 560 openings/yr |
| Oregon | +13.9% | 370 openings/yr |
| South Carolina | +13.4% | 220 openings/yr |
| California | 2,660/yr | +9.6% growth |
| Texas | 1,550/yr | +17.6% growth |
| Michigan | 840/yr | +3.7% growth |
| Illinois | 610/yr | +3.4% growth |
| Pennsylvania | 580/yr | +4.4% growth |
Where architectural and engineering managers need a license
2 states and territories license architectural and engineering managers. The degree alone isn't the finish line — plan for the credential your state requires before you can practice.
Schools producing the most graduates
Volume, not quality — completion counts across all credentials. See our rankings pages for outcome-weighted school scores.
- 237
- 168
- 148
- 139
- 133
- 125
- 122
- 117
- 108
- 107
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