Most popular college majors by race and gender
Find Most popular college majors by race and gender
Below Most Popular Majors by Race and EthnicityAsian Black
Major Percent Major Percent
Business Administ 8.2 Business Administration 10.3
Biology 8.2 Psychology 7.2
Nursing 5.7 Nursing 5.8
Psychology 5.5 Criminal Justice/Safety Studies 3.5
Accounting 3.8 Biology 3.3
Economics 3.7 Sociology 3.2
Finance 2.6 Social Work 2.3
Political Science 2.1 Accounting 2.3
Sociology 1.7 Political Science 2.2
Electrical Engineering 1.7 Criminal Justice/Law Enforce 2.0
Hispanic White
Major Percent Major Percent
Business Administration 7.7 Business Administration 6.5
Psychology 7.6 Psychology 6.0
Nursing 4.9 Nursing 5.9
Biology 3.5 Biology 3.5
Sociology 2.9 Accounting 2.8
Criminal Justice/Safety Studies 2.8 English 2.8
Accounting 2.7 Elementary Education 2.6
Political Science 2.6 History 2.4
English 2.2 Political Science 2.3
Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies 2.0 Marketing 2.0
Source: Author’s calculations from Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data for July 1, 2012 – June 30, 2013.
There are large differences in the average earnings of people who choose different college majors. Majors in computer science, mathematics, and in a variety of engineering fields are associated with high earnings, while majors such as counseling psychology, early childhood education, and social work are associated with low earnings. A recent report finds the median annual earnings for full-time, full-year workers with a terminal bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering are $120,000, whereas the comparable figure for those who had majored in counseling psychology is only $29,000 (What’s It Worth? The Economic Value of College Majors).
It is not clear to what extent these earnings disparities reflect a true causal effect of college major on earnings and to what extent they reflect differences in the characteristics of students who choose to major in different subjects. But it seems safe to say that the choice of a college major has at least some effect on economic outcomes for students. And if college majors affect outcomes for individuals, they may also affect differences in outcomes across demographic groups, such as the lower incomes of blacks and Hispanics relative to whites and Asians. If this is the case, then studying differences in college major choice across groups may help in understanding economic disparities between groups. Much attention has been paid, for example, to gender differences in the propensity to major in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) subjects. Here I consider differences in college major choice by race and ethnicity.
The data come from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), a survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics in the US Department of Education. Completing the IPEDS survey is required of all colleges and universities that participate in federal financial aid programs. The survey can thus roughly be thought of as a census of institutions of higher education. I use information on the number of bachelor’s degrees received by members of four mutually exclusive groups, Asians, blacks, Hispanics, and whites, in different majors between July 1, 2012, and June 30, 2013. IPEDS categorizes majors using six-digit codes from the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP), which standardizes majors across institutions but still allows for fine detail on majors.
Looking at the most popular majors by racial and ethnic group, one feature that is apparent is the great deal of similarity across groups. For example, business administration, psychology, nursing, and biology are four of the top five majors for all four of the groups shown. There are some differences, however. For example, economics, finance, and electrical engineering appear on the top-ten list only for Asian students, whereas social work appears on the list only for black students. Elementary education, history, and marketing are unique to the top-ten list for white students.
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