IPEDS 2023 completions · bachelor's degrees · first majors

College majors by the numbers

1,594,778 students earned a bachelor's degree at the 1,082 colleges CollegeCalcAI tracks in 2023. Business, Management and Marketing was the largest field (18.1%), and the five largest fields together were 49% of every degree. Pick a field to see which colleges graduate the most students in it, where it dominates campus, and how selective those colleges are.

Fields

with 10+ colleges

Colleges

1,082

four-year, tracked

Graduates

1,594,778

bachelor's, 2023

Largest field

18.1%

Business, Management and Marketing

Every field

Ranked by bachelor's degrees awarded at tracked colleges. National share covers every U.S. institution reporting to IPEDS.

#	Field	Degrees (2023)	Share	National	Colleges	Median accept.	Women
1	Business, Management and Marketing	288,974	18.1%	18.64%	1011	76%	44%
2	Health Professions and Related Programs	159,095	10%	12.8%	797	78%	85%
3	Biological and Biomedical Sciences	116,148	7.3%	6.62%	910	75%	67%
4	Psychology	115,728	7.3%	6.94%	938	76%	80%
5	Social Sciences	109,093	6.8%	6.11%	737	76%	55%
6	Engineering	107,842	6.8%	5.94%	432	77%	26%
7	Computer and Information Sciences	90,607	5.7%	6.22%	725	76%	24%
8	Education	70,593	4.4%	4.5%	776	78%	83%
9	Visual and Performing Arts	69,142	4.3%	4.63%	751	77%	64%
10	Communication and Journalism	68,326	4.3%	3.87%	649	78%	64%
11	Parks, Recreation, Leisure and Fitness Studies	46,451	2.9%	2.61%	659	78%	49%
12	Multi and Interdisciplinary Studies	44,065	2.8%	2.75%	477	76%	62%
13	Homeland Security, Law Enforcement and Firefighting	37,728	2.4%	2.68%	517	79%	59%
14	Liberal Arts and General Studies	29,746	1.9%	1.9%	386	81%	64%
15	English Language and Literature	25,167	1.6%	1.55%	582	76%	73%
16	Public Administration and Social Service	23,636	1.5%	1.52%	449	79%	84%
17	Physical Sciences	21,955	1.4%	1.29%	485	76%	45%
18	Mathematics and Statistics	19,932	1.2%	1.18%	384	73%	38%
19	Agriculture and Agricultural Operations	19,160	1.2%	1.05%	144	78%	63%
20	Natural Resources and Conservation	17,862	1.1%	1.07%	359	76%	60%
21	History	16,614	1%	1.06%	482	76%	40%
22	Family and Consumer Sciences	14,568	0.9%	0.87%	202	79%	88%
23	Engineering Technologies	12,791	0.8%	0.9%	193	83%	18%
24	Foreign Languages and Linguistics	9,959	0.6%	0.62%	284	74%	69%
25	Architecture	8,794	0.6%	0.53%	135	73%	53%
26	Transportation and Materials Moving	5,550	0.3%	0.37%	58	81%	15%
27	Philosophy and Religious Studies	4,984	0.3%	0.54%	186	58%	43%
28	Area, Ethnic, Cultural and Gender Studies	4,373	0.3%	0.3%	148	58%	74%
29	Legal Professions and Studies	3,054	0.2%	0.22%	75	79%	69%
30	Theology and Religious Vocations	2,778	0.2%	0.3%	62	74%	44%
31	Communications Technologies	2,346	0.1%	0.26%	56	82%	49%
32	Military Technologies	960	0.1%	0.09%	18	80%	18%
33	Science Technologies	269	0%	0.02%	10	87%	58%

Questions

What is the most common college major?

Business, Management and Marketing is the largest field: 288,974 bachelor's degrees at the 1,082 colleges tracked in 2023, 18.1% of all degrees. The five largest fields (Business, Management and Marketing, Health Professions and Related Programs, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Psychology, Social Sciences) together account for 49% of bachelor's degrees.

How do I find the best colleges for my major?

Open the field below. Each hub ranks every tracked college by degrees awarded in that field, shows where the field is the biggest part of campus, and lists the most selective and most accessible programs. Each college row opens a page with that school's degree count, share of graduates, gender split, and admissions bar for the major.

Where does this data come from?

IPEDS 2023 Completions (U.S. Department of Education): bachelor's degrees awarded by 2-digit CIP field, first majors, for 2,440 institutions, joined to CollegeCalcAI's admissions dataset of 1,082 four-year colleges. Built 2026-09-19.

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Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS 2023 Completions (bachelor's degrees, first majors, CIP 2-digit series), joined to CollegeCalcAI's admissions dataset. Built 2026-09-19. Download: CSV of every field. Also see the admissions guides for specific majors.