Public Administration

Types of Degrees Public Administration Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many public administration graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Master’s Degree	12,290
Graduate Certificate	904
Doctor’s Degree	377

What Public Administration Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to public admin were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Public Admin Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in public admin should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

Skills for Public Admin Majors

public admin majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.

Abilities for Public Admin Majors

Public Admin majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

What Can You Do With a Public Administration Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with public admin:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Compliance Managers	8.0%	$107,480
General and Operations Managers	9.1%	$100,930
Investment Fund Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Legislators	7.0%	$24,670
Logistics Managers	6.8%	$94,730
Regulatory Affairs Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Social and Community Service Managers	18.0%	$65,320
Supply Chain Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Transportation Managers	6.8%	$94,730

Who Is Getting a Master’s Degree in Public Administration?

This is one of the most frequently chosen graduate majors. It is the 19th most popular in the country with 12,290 students graduating with a master’s in public admin in 2021. This major is dominated by women with about 61% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of public admin majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	513
Black or African American	2,277
Hispanic or Latino	1,843
White	5,312
International Students	1,076
Other Races/Ethnicities	1,269

Geographic Diversity

Public Admin appeals to people across the globe. About 8.8% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• China
• South Korea
• Saudi Arabia
• India
• Nigeria

How Much Do Public Administration Majors Make?

Master’s Degree Starting Salary

Data from the U.S. Department of Education shows that public administration students who graduated in 2017-2019 with a master’s degree made a median starting salary of $51,006 per year. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $45,849 (25th percentile) and $58,024 (75th percentile).

Note that some of these people may have jobs that are not directly related to a public admin degree.

Salaries According to BLS

Public Admin majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $71,670 to $123,880 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Public Administration

Some careers associated with public admin require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to public admin have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	14.5%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	2.8%
Some College Courses	5.9%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	7.9%
Bachelor’s Degree	43.4%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	5.6%
Master’s Degree	15.4%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	3.6%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.5%
Doctoral Degree	0.8%

Online Public Administration Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 493 schools offered some type of public administration program. The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	6	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	1	1
Associate’s Degree	27	6
Bachelor’s Degree	113	25
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	371	113
Post-Master’s	18	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	48	6
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	1	1
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Public Administration Worth It?

The median salary for a public admin grad is $102,850 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 158% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $1,259,000 after 20 years!

Majors Related to Public Administration

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to public admin.

Major	Number of Grads
Social Work	33,631
Public Policy	3,737
Human Services	1,277
Community Organization & Advocacy	741
Other Public Administration	295

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By The Official CTBTO Photostream under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.