Compared with doctorate recipients in other fields, those in the physical sciences finished their degrees in the shortest period of time and at the youngest median age. Of all doctorate recipients with definite employment plans, those with advanced degrees in the humanities and arts were among the most likely to have secured jobs in academe. Their overall expected median basic salary fell below anticipated earnings of doctorate recipients in other fields, but if they took jobs in government, their pay was comparable to that of doctorate recipients in the life sciences and physical sciences.
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All doctorate recipients
| Number of recipients | 55,006 | 12,520 | 5,924 | 3,825 | 9,095 | 9,897 | 5,117 | 5,600 | 3,028 |
| Percentage of all recipients | 100.0% | 22.8% | 10.8% | 7.0% | 16.5% | 18.0% | 9.3% | 10.2% | 5.5% |
| Median age at award | 31.6 | 30.9 | 29.6 | 30.3 | 32.3 | 30.0 | 38.6 | 34.2 | 34.7 |
| Median number of years from bachelor’s degree to doctorate | 8.7 | 8.2 | 7.0 | 7.8 | 9.3 | 7.3 | 14.8 | 11.0 | 11.2 |
| Median number of years from start of graduate school to doctorate | 7.3 | 6.7 | 6.2 | 6.7 | 7.7 | 6.7 | 11.7 | 9.2 | 8.9 |
| Percentage with bachelor’s degree in same field as doctorate | 54.3% | 49.4% | 68.3% | 60.8% | 48.9% | 76.4% | 24.0% | 52.9% | 36.5% |
| Percentage with a master’s degree in any field | 68.4% | 48.8% | 50.6% | 71.5% | 80.3% | 70.6% | 86.4% | 82.7% | 80.5% |
| Male | 53.8% | 44.6% | 66.4% | 75.3% | 41.4% | 76.8% | 31.5% | 49.4% | 48.3% |
| Female | 46.2% | 55.4% | 33.6% | 24.7% | 58.6% | 23.2% | 68.4% | 50.6% | 51.7% |
| U.S. citizen or permanent resident | 63.8% | 67.8% | 58.8% | 43.4% | 73.6% | 42.7% | 82.3% | 80.0% | 62.1% |
| Temporary visa holder | 29.4% | 26.1% | 35.5% | 50.3% | 17.9% | 51.8% | 10.5% | 12.7% | 28.6% |
| Citizenship status unknown | 6.8% | 6.2% | 5.7% | 6.3% | 8.5% | 5.6% | 7.2% | 7.3% | 9.3% |
Marital status
| Never married | 30.9% | 31.9% | 38.6% | 37.3% | 26.8% | 39.0% | 18.5% | 24.0% | 23.2% |
| Married | 45.1% | 45.3% | 38.3% | 42.0% | 44.0% | 41.5% | 55.8% | 48.2% | 51.9% |
| Marriagelike relationship | 8.2% | 9.4% | 9.9% | 5.8% | 10.3% | 6.4% | 5.1% | 10.4% | 4.5% |
| Separated, divorced, widowed | 3.3% | 3.1% | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3.7% | 1.5% | 7.0% | 4.7% | 4.8% |
| Unknown | 12.5% | 10.4% | 11.3% | 13.1% | 15.2% | 11.5% | 13.5% | 12.7% | 15.6% |
Race/ethnicity of the 35,117 U.S. citizens and permanent residents
| American Indian or Alaska Native | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.5% | 0.2% | 0.7% | 0.6% | 0.4% |
| Asian | 8.7% | 10.9% | 7.8% | 12.3% | 6.6% | 15.4% | 4.6% | 4.4% | 10.3% |
| Black/African-American | 6.5% | 5.3% | 2.9% | 3.2% | 8.0% | 3.9% | 15.1% | 3.1% | 10.6% |
| Hispanic | 7.0% | 7.4% | 5.2% | 4.5% | 7.4% | 7.0% | 7.5% | 8.1% | 4.9% |
| White, non-Hispanic | 72.3% | 71.3% | 79.1% | 73.1% | 71.9% | 67.9% | 67.9% | 78.9% | 69.8% |
| 2 or more races | 2.6% | 2.8% | 2.6% | 2.1% | 2.9% | 2.6% | 2.1% | 2.5% | 2.1% |
| Other/unknown | 2.5% | 2.0% | 2.2% | 4.7% | 2.7% | 3.1% | 2.1% | 2.4% | 1.8% |
Postdoctoral plans among the 46,440 people who reported definite plans
| Definite postdoctoral study | 23.8% | 35.9% | 38.4% | 23.1% | 24.9% | 20.0% | 5.4% | 10.4% | 6.0% |
| Definite employment | 36.1% | 20.8% | 21.3% | 45.1% | 41.6% | 36.2% | 56.4% | 41.3% | 61.9% |
| Seeking employment or study | 35.5% | 36.1% | 37.2% | 27.3% | 30.1% | 39.6% | 33.9% | 44.7% | 27.9% |
| Other | 4.6% | 7.3% | 3.1% | 4.4% | 3.4% | 4.2% | 4.2% | 3.7% | 4.1% |
For the 11,035 people planning definite postdoctoral study, what type
| Postdoc fellowship | 53.2% | 55.6% | 38.8% | 50.7% | 73.7% | 35.2% | 51.3% | 82.2% | 56.6% |
| Postdoc research associateship | 44.2% | 41.2% | 60.5% | 48.4% | 22.1% | 63.2% | 43.5% | 16.1% | 37.1% |
| Other | 2.5% | 3.2% | 0.8% | 0.9% | 4.2% | 1.6% | 5.2% | 1.7% | 6.3% |
For the 16,752 people planning definite employment, what type
| Academe | 49.8% | 45.9% | 24.1% | 33.7% | 61.0% | 17.2% | 60.5% | 79.1% | 80.0% |
| Government | 7.6% | 10.5% | 6.9% | 5.3% | 12.2% | 10.1% | 3.7% | 2.1% | 4.7% |
| Industry/business | 31.0% | 31.7% | 64.4% | 56.7% | 15.1% | 68.7% | 4.5% | 5.6% | 10.5% |
| Nonprofit organization | 6.0% | 9.5% | 2.8% | 2.9% | 8.5% | 3.1% | 5.9% | 8.7% | 3.7% |
| Other/unknown | 5.5% | 2.4% | 1.8% | 1.4% | 3.2% | 0.9% | 25.4% | 4.5% | 1.1% |
Primary employment activity
| Research and development | 43.3% | 46.3% | 64.5% | 66.7% | 37.8% | 74.6% | 12.5% | 10.8% | 37.6% |
| Teaching | 33.7% | 26.6% | 18.6% | 23.0% | 37.8% | 8.3% | 41.2% | 73.2% | 46.3% |
| Management or administration | 11.0% | 10.4% | 5.2% | 2.8% | 9.0% | 4.6% | 33.8% | 7.8% | 9.9% |
| Professional services | 9.4% | 13.6% | 7.3% | 3.3% | 13.7% | 8.7% | 11.0% | 5.3% | 5.3% |
| Other | 2.7% | 3.0% | 4.4% | 4.2% | 1.7% | 3.7% | 1.4% | 2.8% | 0.9% |
Median basic salary
| Academe | $60,000 | $63,000 | $52,000 | $65,000 | $60,000 | $75,000 | $61,000 | $50,000 | $90,000 |
| Government | $85,000 | $75,000 | $75,000 | $100,000 | $85,000 | $90,000 | $78,500 | $75,000 | $92,000 |
| Industry/business | $100,000 | $86,200 | $97,000 | $120,000 | $90,000 | $100,000 | $81,000 | $50,000 | $105,000 |
| Nonprofit organization | $75,000 | $85,000 | $77,000 | $101,501 | $70,000 | $100,000 | $78,000 | $55,000 | $75,000 |
| Other/unknown | $70,000 | $52,000 | $49,950 | $68,000 | $75,500 | — | $75,000 | $50,000 | $74,000 |
| All definite employment | $75,000 | $72,000 | $82,500 | $100,000 | $67,000 | $95,000 | $65,000 | $50,200 | $90,000 |
Note: “Life sciences” includes agricultural sciences and natural resources, biological and biomedical sciences, and health sciences. “Psychology and social sciences” includes economics. The column labeled “Other” includes business management and administration and other nonscience and nonengineering fields not shown elsewhere. People who identified themselves as Hispanic may be of any race. Asians do not include Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders; they are reported in the race/ethnicity category “Other/unknown.” A bachelor’s degree is counted as being in the same field as the doctorate if both degrees are in the same major field categories. The employment sector “Industry/business” includes self-employment. The employment sector “Other/unknown” consists mainly of elementary and secondary schools. A dash indicates information that was omitted to protect confidentiality. Percentages may not add up to 100 because of rounding or because a small share of unknowns was excluded.
Source: Chronicle analysis of “Survey of Earned Doctorates” by National Science Foundation and five other federal agencies