What Can You Do With an Economics Degree?

Below are 15 occupations that economics graduates commonly move into, most common first. Financial and Investment Analyst leads at $102,740 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025); across the whole list the middle occupation pays $105,650 and 3 of 15 typically need a graduate degree. A major is a body of study, not a job assignment, so treat every entry as a common destination rather than a promise.

What the degree actually involves: Micro and macro theory, econometrics, and modelling with real data sets.

Economics is far more quantitative than its reputation suggests, and almost none of its graduates become economists — that title is a doctoral destination. What the degree reliably buys is entry to the analyst roles across finance, consulting, government and market research, and the econometrics classes are what make that entry real.

Common destinations: 15
Median pay range: $78,760–$166,570
Projected to grow: 14 of 15
Need a graduate degree: 3 of 15

How this list was built

The destinations are the occupations economics graduates commonly move into. They are ordered by how common the destination is, not by what it pays, so the ordinary outcomes sit at the top where they belong rather than being buried under the flattering ones.
Every destination is matched to a real occupation in the 923-occupation NueCareer career bank. A destination that does not resolve to a bank occupation is dropped rather than shown without data.
All pay, growth, openings and education figures come from that bank: BLS OEWS May 2025 for wages, BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034 for projected change, annual openings and the typical education needed for entry, and O*NET 30.3 Database for what the work involves. Nothing is estimated and no figure here is generated by an AI model.
Destinations whose BLS typical entry education is a master’s or a doctoral or professional degree are marked Graduate study on the list. That flag is read from the federal data, not asserted by us.
What this list is not: a ranking of which destination you should pick, a statement of how many graduates reach each one, or a promise that the degree entitles you to any of them. Read the full methodology.

15 careers an economics degree commonly leads to

Most common destination first. Every card carries the national median annual wage, projected employment change and openings over 2024–2034, and the typical education people already in the job hold.

1. Financial and Investment Analyst
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$102,740
Growth
+5.7%
Openings/yr
25,100
Education
Bachelor's
Conduct quantitative analyses of information involving investment programs or financial data of public or private institutions, including valuation of businesses.
Financial and Investment Analyst salary & outlook →
2. Market Research Analyst and Marketing Specialist
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$78,760
Growth
+6.7%
Openings/yr
87,200
Education
Bachelor's
Research conditions in local, regional, national, or online markets.
Market Research Analyst and Marketing Specialist salary & outlook →
3. Management Analyst
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$101,860
Growth
+8.8%
Openings/yr
98,100
Education
Bachelor's
Conduct organizational studies and evaluations, design systems and procedures, conduct work simplification and measurement studies, and prepare operations and procedures manuals to assist management in operating more…
Management Analyst salary & outlook →
4. Budget Analyst
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$91,640
Growth
+1.0%
Openings/yr
3,100
Education
Bachelor's
Examine budget estimates for completeness, accuracy, and conformance with procedures and regulations.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
5. Credit Analyst
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$83,510
Growth
-4.4%
Openings/yr
3,700
Education
Bachelor's
Analyze credit data and financial statements of individuals or firms to determine the degree of risk involved in extending credit or lending money.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
6. Business Intelligence Analyst
Computer and Mathematical
Median pay
$120,230
Growth
+33.5%
Openings/yr
23,400
Education
Bachelor's
Produce financial and market intelligence by querying data repositories and generating periodic reports.
Business Intelligence Analyst salary & outlook →
7. Operations Research Analyst
Computer and Mathematical
Median pay
$88,940
Growth
+21.5%
Openings/yr
9,600
Education
Bachelor's
Formulate and apply mathematical modeling and other optimizing methods to develop and interpret information that assists management with decisionmaking, policy formulation, or other managerial functions.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
8. Financial Manager
Management
Median pay
$166,570
Growth
+14.8%
Openings/yr
74,600
Education
Bachelor's
Plan, direct, or coordinate accounting, investing, banking, insurance, securities, and other financial activities of a branch, office, or department of an establishment.
Financial Manager salary & outlook →
9. Data Scientist
Computer and Mathematical
Median pay
$120,230
Growth
+33.5%
Openings/yr
23,400
Education
Bachelor's
Develop and implement a set of techniques or analytics applications to transform raw data into meaningful information using data-oriented programming languages and visualization software.
Data Scientist salary & outlook →
10. Statistician
Computer and Mathematical
Graduate study
Median pay
$105,650
Growth
+8.5%
Openings/yr
2,000
Education
Master's
Develop or apply mathematical or statistical theory and methods to collect, organize, interpret, and summarize numerical data to provide usable information.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
11. Financial Quantitative Analyst
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$81,100
Growth
+3.1%
Openings/yr
10,300
Education
Bachelor's
Develop quantitative techniques to inform securities investing, equities investing, pricing, or valuation of financial instruments.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
12. Financial Risk Specialist
Business and Financial Operations
Median pay
$117,330
Growth
+6.5%
Openings/yr
4,800
Education
Bachelor's
Analyze and measure exposure to credit and market risk threatening the assets, earning capacity, or economic state of an organization.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
13. Actuary
Computer and Mathematical
Median pay
$130,000
Growth
+21.8%
Openings/yr
2,400
Education
Bachelor's
Analyze statistical data, such as mortality, accident, sickness, disability, and retirement rates and construct probability tables to forecast risk and liability for payment of future benefits.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
14. Economist
Life, Physical, and Social Science
Graduate study
Median pay
$124,720
Growth
+1.2%
Openings/yr
900
Education
Master's
Conduct research, prepare reports, or formulate plans to address economic problems related to the production and distribution of goods and services or monetary and fiscal policy.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.
15. Economics Teacher, Postsecondary
Educational Instruction and Library
Graduate study
Median pay
$123,920
Growth
+2.1%
Openings/yr
1,200
Education
Doctorate
Teach courses in economics.
Full page coming in the next tranche. Data shown here is from the same bank.

Does an economics degree decide your career?

For most people, no. Federal survey data has consistently found that only a minority of US graduates work in a job closely related to their degree field, and that share falls further with each year after graduation. The exceptions are the fields where a licence sits at the end of the degree, and they are exceptions precisely because the route is fixed.

The practical reading of the list above is this: 12 of the 15 destinations are typically entered with a bachelor's degree or less, and 3 typically need a master's or a doctoral or professional degree (BLS Employment Projections, 2024–2034). If the destination you want is in the second group, the extra years are part of the decision from day one, not a detail to sort out later.

Not sure this is the right major in the first place? Take the free college major quiz — fifteen questions that score what you like doing against what each major actually asks of you, and show the same real occupations underneath every match.

Economics degrees: FAQ

Do you need a master's degree after an economics degree?

For 12 of the 15 destinations on this page, no: BLS Employment Projections (2024–2034) list a bachelor's degree or less as the typical entry requirement. The other 3 typically need a master's or a doctoral or professional degree, and each is marked on the list below. "Typical" describes what people already in the job hold, not an admissions rule.

What is the highest-paying career an economics degree leads to?

Of the 15 destinations on this page, Financial Manager has the highest national median wage at $166,570 a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025), against $50,980 for all US occupations. Typical entry education for it is bachelor's. A median is the midpoint of everyone in the job today, so a first salary normally sits well below it.

Which of these careers hires the most people each year?

Management Analyst, with about 98,100 projected openings a year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024–2034). Across all 15 destinations on this page the combined figure is roughly 369,800 openings a year. Openings include replacing people who leave, not just new jobs, which is why a slow-growing occupation can still hire heavily.

Is an economics degree worth it?

That depends on the price you pay for it, which this page cannot know. What it can tell you is where the destinations sit: the middle occupation on this list pays $105,650 a year against $50,980 for all US occupations, the range runs $78,760–$166,570, and 14 of the 15 are projected to grow over 2024–2034 (BLS OEWS May 2025, BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034).

How was this list of careers put together?

The destinations were curated as the occupations economics graduates commonly move into, ordered by how common rather than by pay, then matched against the 923-occupation NueCareer career bank. Every figure shown comes from that bank: wages from BLS OEWS May 2025, projected change and annual openings and typical entry education from BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034, and occupation descriptions from O*NET 30.3 Database. Nothing is estimated, and no figure on this page is generated by an AI model.

How this list was built

15 careers an economics degree commonly leads to

1. Financial and Investment Analyst

2. Market Research Analyst and Marketing Specialist

3. Management Analyst

4. Budget Analyst

5. Credit Analyst

6. Business Intelligence Analyst

7. Operations Research Analyst

8. Financial Manager

9. Data Scientist

10. Statistician

11. Financial Quantitative Analyst

12. Financial Risk Specialist

13. Actuary

14. Economist

15. Economics Teacher, Postsecondary