Decline in English Bachelor’s Degrees
English bachelor’s degrees fell 40.3% from 2014–15 to 2025–26, while the available sources do not establish why.
Explain the decline in English bachelor’s degrees using only what the combined public data can establish. Use IPEDS trends, College Scorecard earnings, ACS and NSCG degree-to-job alignment, CIP–SOC links, BLS wages and projections, job requirements, and both AI-use datasets. Show the breadth of careers connected to English without inventing causes for the degree decline. Create one chart and cite every release.
The decline is clear, but its cause is not
Colleges reported 40,131 English bachelor’s degrees in 2014–15. They reported 23,952 in 2025–26, a 40.3% decline.
These IPEDS records count first-major bachelor’s degrees. They do not establish why the number declined.
English has several structural career connections
The federal field-to-career crosswalk links general English with postsecondary teaching, proofreading, and secondary teaching.
These links represent preparation paths. They do not measure graduate placement or employment probability.
- Postsecondary English teachers: The May 2025 median wage was $78,760. BLS projects no employment change from 2024 to 2034.
- Proofreaders and copy markers: The May 2025 median wage was $51,120. BLS projects a 0.6% decline from 2024 to 2034.
- Secondary school teachers: The May 2025 median wage was $72,040. BLS projects a 1.6% decline from 2024 to 2034.
Postsecondary English teaching typically requires a doctoral or professional degree.
Proofreading and secondary teaching typically require a bachelor’s degree.
These national occupation measures do not describe outcomes specifically for English graduates.
Observed AI use differs across the connected careers
The June 26, 2026 Anthropic release reports occupation-level AI exposure scores of 0.3618 for postsecondary English teachers.
It reports 0.1781 for proofreaders and copy markers, and 0.2901 for secondary school teachers.
From May 1 through June 1, 2026, Claude.ai usage was 17% for postsecondary English teachers. First-party API usage was 3%.
For proofreaders and copy markers, Claude.ai usage was 41%. First-party API usage was 38%.
Both measures were 0% for secondary school teachers during that period.
The detailed data provides first-party API observations, not a separately labeled Cowork series.
Neither AI-use dataset measures displacement, replacement, employment effects, or causes of the degree decline.
English bachelor’s degrees declined 40% from 2014–15 to 2025–26
A faceted line chart shows English Language and Literature, General declining from 40,131 bachelor’s degrees in 2014–15 to 23,952 in 2025–26. Each downloadable row contains the field of study, IPEDS collection cycle, and bachelor’s degree count.
| Field of study | IPEDS collection cycle | Bachelor’s degrees | Cip6 |
|---|---|---|---|
| English Language and Literature, General. | 2014-15 | 40,131 | 23.0101 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | 2015-16 | 37,256 | 23.0101 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | 2016-17 | 34,745 | 23.0101 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | 2017-18 | 33,342 | 23.0101 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | 2018-19 | 32,212 | 23.0101 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | 2019-20 | 31,631 | 23.0101 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | 2020-21 | 30,745 | 23.0101 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | 2021-22 | 28,978 | 23.0101 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | 2022-23 | 26,639 | 23.0101 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | 2023-24 | 25,172 | 23.0101 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | 2024-25 | 24,279 | 23.0101 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | 2025-26 | 23,952 | 23.0101 |