Largest Bachelor’s Fields and Careers
Registered Nursing was the largest field and Computer Science grew fastest; degree movement and connected-career growth did not always match.
Build a publishable national analysis of the 20 largest bachelor's fields by 2023–24 reported degrees. Compare each field's 2014–15 to 2023–24 change with the careers connected through the CIP–SOC crosswalk. For those careers, include May 2025 employment and median wages, projected 2024–34 growth and annual openings, and observed AI-use measures from both Anthropic and Microsoft where available. Keep structural career links separate from observed outcomes. Show coverage for unmatched fields and careers. Identify the clearest patterns, create one chart that helps a college leader compare them, and cite every dataset and release. Use a normal chat answer and chart only. Do not create a report file.
Computer fields show the clearest expansion
Registered Nursing was the largest field, with 146,679 reported bachelor’s degrees in the 2023–24 collection cycle.
Business Administration followed with 134,295 degrees. Psychology ranked third with 112,343.
Computer Science grew fastest among the 20 fields. Degrees increased from 13,420 to 42,083, or 213.6%.
Its connected careers had employment-weighted projected growth of 14.8% for 2024–34.
Computer and Information Sciences also expanded strongly. Degrees rose 113.6%, while connected-career growth was 8.8%.
English had the largest degree decline, falling 37.3%. Its connected-career growth measure was negative 1.5%.
Degree movement did not always match career growth. Accounting degrees fell 23.5%, but connected careers had projected growth of 4.6%.
Nursing combined large degree production with a large employment base. Its connected careers represented 1.73 million weighted May 2025 jobs.
Career links provide context, not graduate outcomes
The 20 fields produced 146 structural field-to-career links. Every field had at least one connected career.
Each career record includes May 2025 employment and median wages when published.
It also includes projected 2024–34 growth and average annual openings when published.
The field summaries give each connected career an equal structural share. Employment then weights the projected-growth calculation.
These links show careers for which a field can provide preparation. They do not show graduate placement or entry probabilities.
Bubble size is crosswalk-weighted May 2025 employment context. It is not the number of jobs held by graduates.
AI-use coverage is broad but not complete
Anthropic observations were available for 134 of 146 career links.
Microsoft observations were available for 139 links.
Four links lacked the combined employment and growth measures required for the chart. These unavailable values were not treated as zero.
Anthropic and Microsoft studied different products, populations, periods, and measures. Their numbers are not one comparable AI index.
These observations describe documented AI use. They do not predict job replacement or future employment effects.
Sources and releases
- Degrees: Revised IPEDS completions releases dated January 13, 2017, and December 30, 2025.
- Degree comparability: Earlier field codes were mapped into the current CIP framework. These are two comparable endpoints, not a sustained trend.
- Career connections: NCES CIP 2020–SOC 2018 structural crosswalk.
- Employment and wages: Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
- Growth and openings: Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024–34.
- Anthropic: Economic Index occupation release dated June 26, 2026.
- Microsoft: Working with AI v1.1, released December 22, 2025. Its observations cover January through September 2024.
Computer science led degree growth among the 20 largest bachelor’s fields, 2014–15 to 2023–24
Bubble scatterplot of 20 fields. Computer Science is farthest right, with a 213.6% degree increase and 14.8% employment-weighted projected career growth. Computer and Information Sciences, General is also far right at 113.6% degree growth. Several humanities and social science fields have declining degree counts and lower projected career growth. Bubble size represents crosswalk-weighted May 2025 occupational employment context. It does not represent jobs held by graduates.
| Cip Title | Change in reported bachelor’s degrees, 2014–15 to 2023–24 | Employment-weighted projected growth in connected careers, 2024–34 | Crosswalk-weighted employment context, May 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered Nursing/Registered Nurse. | 28.7% | 5.2% | 1,728,840 |
| Business Administration and Management, General. | -0.9% | 5.2% | 496,445 |
| Psychology, General. | 2% | 5.1% | 131,660 |
| Biology/Biological Sciences, General. | 10.1% | -0.2% | 156,208 |
| Finance, General. | 33.9% | 6% | 458,019 |
| Computer Science. | 213.6% | 14.8% | 307,340 |
| Marketing/Marketing Management, General. | 32.6% | 5.8% | 312,196 |
| Accounting. | -23.5% | 4.6% | 211,997 |
| Political Science and Government, General. | -2.8% | 0.7% | 348,110 |
| Mechanical Engineering. | 36.5% | 3.9% | 169,854 |
| Elementary Education and Teaching. | -8.9% | -1.8% | 724,610 |
| Criminal Justice/Safety Studies. | -10.1% | 2% | 73,763 |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | 113.6% | 8.8% | 239,039 |
| Exercise Science and Kinesiology. | 27% | 9.5% | 8,560 |
| English Language and Literature, General. | -37.3% | -1.5% | 375,837 |
| Speech Communication and Rhetoric. | -22% | 4% | 79,403 |
| Business/Commerce, General. | 5.8% | 5% | 515,509 |
| Sociology, General. | -23.9% | 4.4% | 166,735 |
| History, General. | -31.5% | 0.6% | 341,928 |
| Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies. | -17.2% | 1.8% | 149,840 |