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| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,751 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 1,741 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 1,846 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 2,886 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 2,772 | 0.00% |
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $68,159 | $32.77 | +2.6% |
| 2024 | $66,414 | $31.93 | +1.7% |
| 2023 | $65,325 | $31.41 | +1.6% |
| 2022 | $64,288 | $30.91 | +3.1% |
| 2021 | $62,351 | $29.98 | +1.8% |
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 350 | 50% |
| 2 | Delaware | 961,939 | 209 | 22% |
| 3 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,453 | 21% |
| 4 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,643 | 19% |
| 5 | Maryland | 6,052,177 | 1,105 | 18% |
| 6 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 552 | 18% |
| 7 | North Dakota | 755,393 | 139 | 18% |
| 8 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 953 | 17% |
| 9 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 100 | 17% |
| 10 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 912 | 16% |
| 11 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 1,871 | 15% |
| 12 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 1,124 | 15% |
| 13 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 547 | 15% |
| 14 | Alaska | 739,795 | 110 | 15% |
| 15 | Vermont | 623,657 | 92 | 15% |
| 16 | Wisconsin | 5,795,483 | 800 | 14% |
| 17 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 1,325 | 13% |
| 18 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 141 | 13% |
| 19 | California | 39,536,653 | 4,554 | 12% |
| 20 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 162 | 12% |
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Annapolis | 1 | 3% | $65,318 |
| 2 | Fort Lauderdale | 2 | 1% | $51,757 |
| 3 | Lansing | 1 | 1% | $58,506 |
| 4 | Little Rock | 1 | 1% | $50,095 |
| 5 | West Palm Beach | 1 | 1% | $51,652 |
| 6 | Arlington | 1 | 0% | $82,490 |
| 7 | Des Moines | 1 | 0% | $57,846 |
| 8 | Phoenix | 1 | 0% | $61,857 |
| 9 | Sacramento | 1 | 0% | $85,802 |
| 10 | Tampa | 1 | 0% | $51,986 |

UMass Lowell
Merrimack College
University of Cincinnati Clermont College
University of Washington
University of Southern Maine
Western Kentucky University
John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York
University of California, Santa Cruz
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Manhattan College
Coastal Carolina University
Drexel University
Molloy College
New Jersey Institute of Technology
St. Mary's College of Maryland
Fairfield University
Siena College

UMass Lowell
Department of Marketing, Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Michael Ciuchta Ph.D.: Remember that your first job does not define your career. You may build a career around that first job or you may use it as a valuable learning experience to change careers at some point. Eventually, what we call our careers are only really seen in hindsight. They are part of a narrative we construct about ourselves. So, don't worry to much about whether you are on the 'right path'. The right path is the one you chose at the time given the constraints and alternatives before you. But make the most of every opportunity you can to learn more about yourself - what you like, what you don't like, and what you find fulfilling about your work.
Michael Ciuchta Ph.D.: Obviously we are seeing a tremendous increase in AI and other digital technologies. These will become a more crucial skill set for many careers going forward. But I wouldn't downplay the role of what are traditionally seen as soft skills like empathy, communications, and judgment. Not only can these distinguish you from robots but from your human competitors as well.
Michael Ciuchta Ph.D.: If all you want is the highest potential starting salary, then you should aim for careers that offer them. But that is a shortsighted way to view things. For example, many careers that have tournament-like pay structures (think entertainment) often have very low starting salaries but the so-called winners enjoy outsized financial gains. If you are thinking about a more traditional career, I think it's important to make sure you are more valuable to your employer than they are to you. This means you have to market yourself, both to your current employer as well as to potential ones. Of course, this approach may not be for everyone and maximizing your salary potential is only one thing you should be considering when assessing job and career opportunities.
Renee Robinson Ph.D.: How can you maximize your salary potential when starting your career in your field?
Keith Kerr Prof.: There are two approaches to maximizing your salary potential, but only one approach that is completely under our control. While we can learn the best ways to approach employers to advocate for raises and promotions, the outcome of this is dependent on many external factors. What you can control, however, is how you manage the money that you do make. Taking the time to make a detailed budget of your income, expenses and debts allows one to find ways to control their spending, thus generating extra cash for saving and investing each month.
Keith Kerr Prof.: There are two basic ways that most people in the US find financial success: Either find a job that pays a high salary, or find a career that you love, regardless of the salary, and make a habit of saving and investing part of your income each month starting with your first paycheck.
If you invest only $90 a month starting at 21 and ending at retirement, you would have a bit over 1 million dollars (assuming a 10% annual gain). Wait just 5 years and start doing this at 26 and your 5 years of time will have cost you $400,000 by retirement. This is the power of compounding. Start early and even with a lower salary, you still can find financial success while pursuing careers that are meaningful to you.
Keith Kerr Prof.: Grant writing is perhaps the most important skill for sociology majors to acquire. Not all sociology programs offer such skills (luckily my department at Quinnipiac does), but all sociology programs offer courses in research methodology. These skills are all skills that are needed to successfully write grants.
More so, with the research skills and practice in grant writing, one is in a position to approach potential employers as a hire that will more than pay for itself in the grant money that the potential employee can bring into the organization.
Melissa Zimdars: To remember that you're going to learn a lot on the job and that failure is part of the learning process. It's okay to ask questions and to not know things, but you must be willing to take feedback, adjust, and grow.
Melissa Zimdars: Recognize that your first career opportunity won't be your last. If the job you land after college does not have opportunities for growth or advancement, it's imperative that you keep an eye out for them elsewhere as you continue to gain experience in your field.
University of Cincinnati Clermont College
Communication Disorders Sciences And Services
Fawen Zhang PhD: This is perfect! Thank you so much. We will be sure to feature your response in the article and send a draft over for your review before we promote it.
Fawen Zhang PhD: This is perfect! Thank you so much. We will be sure to feature your response in the article and send a draft over for your review before we promote it.
Victor Menaldo: Learn, learn and learn some more. Adopt a growth mindset where you never stop learning. Gain economic literacy and financial literacy and historical literacy and statistical literacy. This will allow you to complement AI: ask it good questions, contextualize and evaluate its answers, and ask good follow up questions.
Victor Menaldo: Interacting with AI and knowing how to best exploit it to get the most out of it: increase productivity and value added in whatever field one is in.
Victor Menaldo: Develop oral communication skills that allow you to speak in an articulate manner and organize your thoughts to signal your competence, knowledge, work ethic, and willingness to keep learning and improving.
University of Southern Maine
Specialized Sales, Merchandising And Marketing Operations
Tove Rasmussen: Tove Rasmussen advises graduates beginning their career in the field to...
Tove Rasmussen: Tove Rasmussen believes that the skills that will become more important and prevalent in the field in the next 3-5 years are...
Timothy Rich PhD: Think about the types of jobs that interest you and the skills necessary for those jobs early. So many students start thinking about post-graduation life spring their senior year, when it should be an incremental process much earlier. Another pieces of advice would be to talk to faculty and alum about your interests, find internship or research opportunities when possible, and try to figure out early your strengths and weaknesses. It's easy for students, especially high performing ones, to not fully consider what their weaknesses are. I encourage students to jot down what they see as their skills too and to share them with others. It helps them to identify what's a common skill versus something that might make them stick out.
John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York
Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, And Group Studies
Professor Shonna Trinch Ph.D.: Being able to negotiate a salary is also a skill that students need to learn and one that is rarely taught in college. Students need to be able to ask for more than they are offered, but also take jobs at entry levels, prove themselves and then ask for an increase in pay six months into the job after they have shown that they are doing the work and achieving their goals.
Professor Shonna Trinch Ph.D.: Analysis and critical thinking, writing and making strong arguments are indispensable job market skills. Concepts such as 'ethnicity,' 'gender' and 'minority' are constructed in social and historical spaces and times, and students with college degrees can help de-naturalize these categories to make others understand how policy, programming and marketing might not be achieving their stated goals.
Professor Shonna Trinch Ph.D.: My advice to anyone graduating in any field is to think about the skills they have acquired in college and to represent them well on their resume. If students have been trained in quantitative or qualitative research methods, they should be able to talk cogently about the types of analysis they can do for businesses, policymakers and the like. They should also be open to any field when they are first starting out. Today, businesses are interested in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and because many of these programs are not perfect, well-trained students in Ethnic, Gender And Minority Studies--as well as related fields like Cultural Anthropology-- are well positioned to take entry level jobs and critically analyze programs and implement them in justice-oriented ways.
Stephanie Lain Ph.D.: Look for a unionized job, preferably in a large institution where there is room for job growth. For students trained in linguistics, there are also often opportunities to work in tech, so this might be something to explore.
Stephanie Lain Ph.D.: I would advise graduates to be open to considering jobs in lots of different fields. The skills acquired through their major- such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and writing- are ones that transfer well to a variety of situations.
Dr. Paige Novak P.E. (Minnesota), BCEE: Ask questions, stay curious and open minded, take opportunities to learn and develop new skills.
Dr. Paige Novak P.E. (Minnesota), BCEE: Get experience on a lot of different projects, say 'yes' to learning and development opportunities, and take the PE when you are able.
Dr. Natalia Boliari PhD: First, learn everything about the company you just started working for - its historical path, management, the way it's dealt with crises, etc. Second, learn everything about the specific industry the company belongs to and see how the company has developed relative to the development of the industry domestically and internationally. Third, always be extremely alert to notice new opportunities and be prepared to take calculated risks. That is, actively look for opportunities to complete as many and diverse tasks as possible, and volunteer to complete any type of work regardless of whether it seems relevant to your assigned job or not. Opportunities to learn, grow, and improve and thus to maximize your income, will only come up if you are exposed to diverse situations.
Dr. Natalia Boliari PhD: Be open minded. Finance is the broad definition of an industry which provides opportunities for careers in financial consultancy, financial analysis, stock brokerage, foreign investment, modeling, exchange rate forecasts, and many more. While most of those careers are attributed to the banking industry, you can find those and others in other sectors of the economy, such as insurance, technology, health care/medical, government, and so on. So, be open and look beyond the banking sector, examine the current and predicted trends in the economy to hunt for exciting career options.
Dr. Natalia Boliari PhD: Skills in research, programming, and modeling. Research skills are difficult to develop and many students don't have the patience or even the desire to acquire them. But they are critical for careers in finance and remain a top set of skills for employers. Programming and modeling helps with decision making by reducing (potentially) the degree of economic and market uncertainties as well as with forecasts. So definitely invest time in learning and continuously developing research and programming skills in the career niche you are pursuing.
Coastal Carolina University
Intelligence, Command Control And Information Operations
Mark Chandler: First, focus on being good at your job. Focus on learning your specific assigned area. Get the basics down – analytic skills, communication skills. Build a strong work ethic and professional foundation. If you can find a good mentor, link up with them. Be willing to go the “extra mile” in being a team player and doing things to help others on the team, and put in the hours. In intelligence, you will not always like what policy makers do or say. It’s not our job to agree or disagree with the policy, our job is to study the situation, present the facts and then present a fact-based analytic assessment. Keep opinion, bias, and politics out of our work. This will be a challenge, but it’s one you have to recognize in order to not succumb to it.
Mark Chandler: If you go into the government, you will be limited to the standard government salary. If you go into the private sector, you will start on a lower pay scale (without experience), but have the potential to exceed the government pay structure a few years into you career. Higher education will provide assistance a few years after graduation (with a BA), but won’t result in significant salary bumps. The more experience you gain, the more marketable you become.
Mark Stehr PhD: Having skill in programming, data manipulation, prediction, and causal inference will set you apart from many other economics majors.
Develop good people skills. Moving into higher level roles as your career progresses requires working with, motivating, and managing professional relationships.
Mark Stehr PhD: At the start of your career, it's very important to land a role where you learn a lot and find good mentors. The additional skills will pay dividends as your career progresses.
Michael Rosino PhD: One thing that I always emphasize to students is to confidently craft your story when applying for jobs and preparing materials. While it may feel uncomfortable to come off as confident, it is important not to downplay your skills and experience. So, my advice is to think deeply about why you would be a good fit for each job and to highlight the concrete skills and experiences you have gained - especially in terms of topical background, technical acumen with specific software or methodologies or research/writing skills. Secondly, I suggest looking at which fields are in high demand. While it is not always possible because people may have geographic constraints, considering as many wide opportunities in all kinds of places can also be beneficial. Two other pieces of advice which may be more relevant to those a bit further on would be to negotiate when you are offered a mid-level or professional job and to ask for benefits and salary and to consider going back to gain additional education such as a Master's degree to qualify for higher-paying and more prestigious jobs.
Mary Rodena-Krasan Ph.D.: A degree in German Studies is extraordinarily flexible, giving you a skill set that makes you suitable to a variety of fields. Be open to every opportunity and never underestimate the skill sets learning a new language has afforded you - cross-cultural competence, interlinguistic technological adeptness, problem solving, information analysis, and critical thinking. Employers want someone they don't have to hand-hold. Studying a foreign language requires a lot of self-initiative - apply that to every assignment at the job and don't be afraid to suggest approaches! Your ability to undertake something new and be successful has already been proven by your German studies degree!
Michael Smullen: Make yourself uncomfortable. Early graduates find success later on by seeking out numerous challenges: how to respectfully ask questions in a business setting, how to cultivate personal and professional confidence, how to create or expand their professional network, how to chart a course for their career and personal aspirations, and how to maintain a healthy work-life balance. Each of these demands stepping beyond one's comfort zone and engaging in unfamiliar actions. It's not merely about setting intentions; it entails embracing novel experiences solely for the sake of growth. Whether it's attending a seminar on home-buying or participating in a networking event, reaching out to a manager for guidance on enhancing value, or reflecting deeply on personal fulfillment, pushing oneself through discomfort will foster mental agility and resilience. Recent graduates should pay close attention to the danger complacency may signify overlooking crucial opportunities that could lead to future regret.
Dr. Kristina Howansky: Framing is everything! You likely have 'project management' experience if you worked as a research assistant. If you received a grant for your senior thesis, that's 'managing a budget.' Consider your experiences in an academic or research setting and how they might be reframed to fit the context of a corporate environment. Get as close as you can to the position you ultimately want to obtain. If you want to be a therapist, volunteer in the wellness center. If you want to be a professor, TA for a course or work as a research assistant. If you want to work in a corporate setting, get an internship in market research. This will allow you to determine whether you would enjoy the actual day-to-day of those positions and will get you mentors/recommendation letters from folks who know the right terminology to use.
John McDermott Ph.D.: To maximize your salary potential, keep learning, investing in your human capital, and expanding your capabilities. Learn as much as you can about your new position and industry, work with a variety of people at your firm, and seek opportunities outside your comfort zone. Your salary potential will increase as you are recognized as a capable and hard working colleague.
John McDermott Ph.D.: Be enthusiastic, work hard, and treat every assignment as a chance to learn and showcase your abilities. Seek out new and exciting opportunities, this will provide you the opportunity to expand your skill set and above all to help your company move forward.
John McDermott Ph.D.: I believe communication, technical, and interpersonal skills will always be important to young graduates in finance. Over the next few years, being able to harness the power of new technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Large-Language Models will become increasingly important.
Siena College
Finance And Financial Management Services
Feng Dong: First of all, it’s challenging to be a finance analyst now. The increasing complexity of the financial markets has raised a high demand for finance analysts, and the integration of advanced data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning in finance creates new opportunities for finance analysts who are proficient with these technologies. However, this requires much more effort than before to gain those skills, especially since much of the knowledge is not fully included in the current finance major curriculums. Second, finance analysts have various career options in many different areas in the future, such as investment analysis, risk management, corporate finance, or financial planning, and there are clear career progression paths from entry-level roles to senior positions, such as finance manager, director of finance, and CFO.
Feng Dong: As an entry level job, a junior finance analyst’s work primarily involves supporting senior analysts and managers through various tasks. This includes gathering and organizing financial data from multiple sources, conducting preliminary analyses based on the financial tools and software, and preparing the reports and presenting them to the senior analysts. Meanwhile, the job also requires some administrative tasks such as organizing financial documents and routine works such as maintaining some basic financial models. The main purpose of this position is to help the junior analysts develop their knowledge and skills within some specific industries/areas, get familiar with the financial regulations and market trends, and generate enough practical experiences.
Feng Dong: Finance analysts often appreciate the clear career growth and opportunities in the field. There are well-defined paths for advancing to senior roles like Finance Manager, Director of Finance, or CFO. You can work in different industries and specialize in specific areas, which opens up a wide range of career options. You get to shape your career based on your interests and strengths. Plus, the pay is quite competitive. Finance analysts usually receive high salaries, benefits, and performance-based bonuses. Also, finance analysts are getting to work with advanced financial software, data analytics tools, and cutting-edge technologies like AI and machine learning. It keeps the work interesting and innovative. However, the pressure can be intense, with tight deadlines and the huge impact financial decisions can have on a company's performance. It can be especially tough for newcomers. And the long hours are a common complaint. During critical financial reporting periods, work-life balance can take a hit with extra hours, including evenings and weekends. Some roles and industries are particularly demanding during budgeting and auditing seasons. On top of that, technical issues with financial software and tools can be a major headache. And with technology constantly evolving, you need to keep up and keep learning, which can be demanding.