---
title: "What can you do with a biology degree?"
description: "14 careers biology graduates commonly move into, with BLS median pay, projected growth and entry requirements for each."
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/majors/biology"
last-updated: "2026-08-23T07:20:09.337Z"
---

# What can you do with a biology degree?

**What the degree involves:** Cell biology, genetics, ecology, and long lab sessions with careful protocols.

Biology is the standard pre-health major, so a large share of its graduates are aiming past the degree at medical, dental or physician assistant school. The graduates who stop at the bachelor most often land in laboratory, technical and field roles; the research careers below need a doctorate.

14 common destinations, ordered most common first rather than highest paid first. 4 of 14 have a master's or a doctoral or professional degree as their BLS typical entry education, and 13 of 14 are projected to grow. A major is a body of study, not a job assignment: these are destinations of people who took the degree, not what the degree entitles anyone to.

| # | Occupation | Median annual wage | Projected change | Openings a year | Typical entry education |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Biological Technician | $57,510 | +3.5% | 9,100 | Bachelor's |
| 2 | [Medical and Clinical Laboratory Technologist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-and-clinical-laboratory-technologist) | $62,930 | +1.7% | 22,600 | Bachelor's |
| 3 | [High School Teacher](https://nuecareer.com/careers/high-school-teacher) | $72,040 | -1.6% | 66,200 | Bachelor's |
| 4 | [Sales Representative, Wholesale and Manufacturing, Technical and Scientific Product](https://nuecareer.com/careers/sales-representative-wholesale-and-manufacturing-technical-and-scientific-product) | $104,920 | +1.9% | 27,200 | Bachelor's |
| 5 | Environmental Scientist and Specialist, Including Health | $82,220 | +4.4% | 8,500 | Bachelor's |
| 6 | Microbiologist | $87,990 | +4.1% | 1,700 | Bachelor's |
| 7 | [Physician Assistant](https://nuecareer.com/careers/physician-assistant) | $135,880 | +20.4% | 12,000 | Master's (graduate study) |
| 8 | Biologist | $98,920 | +1.2% | 4,800 | Bachelor's |
| 9 | Wildlife Biologist | $76,780 | +1.6% | 1,400 | Bachelor's |
| 10 | Molecular and Cellular Biologist | $98,920 | +1.2% | 4,800 | Bachelor's |
| 11 | Biochemist and Biophysicist | $127,410 | +5.8% | 2,900 | Doctorate (graduate study) |
| 12 | Geneticist | $98,920 | +1.2% | 4,800 | Bachelor's |
| 13 | [Medical Scientist, Except Epidemiologists](https://nuecareer.com/careers/medical-scientist) | $103,410 | +8.7% | 9,600 | Doctorate (graduate study) |
| 14 | Biological Science Teacher, Postsecondary | $84,620 | +7.3% | 5,400 | Doctorate (graduate study) |

Wages are BLS OEWS, May 2025. Projected change, annual openings and typical entry education are BLS Employment Projections. Occupation descriptions are O\*NET. Nothing on this page is estimated and no figure is generated by an AI model.

Full record for any row, including wage percentiles and state-level pay: https://nuecareer.com/careers/{slug} or https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/{slug}. Other majors: https://nuecareer.com/careers/majors

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This bank includes information from the O\*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology