Physics
What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Physics
Physics is tracked across 199 U.S. postsecondary institutions in the College Scorecard field-of-study file, which links CIP code classifications from IPEDS to Treasury earnings records. This profile covers the doctoral credential level specifically, because the Department of Education reports program-level outcomes separately for associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral awards. The CIP (Classification of Instructional Programs) taxonomy lets analysts roll up specialties into broader families, which is why earnings medians across schools can be compared on a common basis.
Across all reporting institutions, the mean of school-level medians is $157,288, calculated from 7 schools with published earnings data. The earnings distribution stretches from $132,984 at the low end to $178,137 at the top, with a 25th-75th percentile band between $141,034 and $177,589 around a median of $163,024. The top-reporting institution in this program is University of California-Los Angeles at $178,137. These numbers reflect Treasury-derived wages, deferred compensation, and positive self-employment earnings four years after completion for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled.
Variation across schools matters more than a single national figure. Completer counts and earnings cohort counts are distinct source fields, so the displayed completer count should not be assumed to be the earnings denominator. PlainCollege's debt-to-earnings ratio divides median federal debt by annual median earnings as a descriptive comparison; it is not the Department's formal gainful-employment test. Use the school-by-school table to compare reported outcomes while accounting for cohort size, suppression, program mix, and location.
Earnings Distribution
Top Schools for This Program
| School Name | State | Awards (latest year) | Median Earnings (4 yrs after completion) | Median Debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of California-Los Angeles | CA | 23 | $178,137 | - |
| University of California-Berkeley | CA | 34 | $177,589 | - |
| University of California-San Diego | CA | 16 | $166,997 | - |
| University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | IL | 34 | $163,024 | - |
| University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MI | 42 | $141,253 | - |
| University of California-Davis | CA | 28 | $141,034 | - |
| Ohio State University-Main Campus | OH | 38 | $132,984 | - |
| University of Arizona | AZ | 32 | $123,527 at 2 yrs | - |
| University of California-Irvine | CA | 24 | $92,632 at 2 yrs | - |
| University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | 17 | $95,688 at 2 yrs | - |
| Florida State University | FL | 21 | $72,482 at 2 yrs | - |
| University of Maryland-College Park | MD | 35 | $72,899 at 2 yrs | - |
| Michigan State University | MI | 23 | $80,184 at 1 yr | - |
| University of Pennsylvania | PA | 17 | $69,338 at 2 yrs | - |
| The University of Texas at Austin | TX | 31 | $89,305 at 2 yrs | - |
| University of Washington-Seattle Campus | WA | 17 | $64,493 at 2 yrs | - |
Earnings trajectory. For the 6 schools reporting both horizons, median earnings are 75% higher four years after completion than one year after. That is the same graduates measured twice, not two different groups, so it describes how pay develops early in the career rather than a difference between schools. A school missing from this count reports only one horizon.
Awards and earnings come from different reference periods, so they are not a count and an average of the same people. Awards is the number of credentials the school reported for the latest IPEDS year; median earnings is measured four years after completion, for a separate pooled cohort of earlier graduates. A school can therefore report zero awards in the latest year and still have earnings on record. The earnings figure is not the awards figure’s average, and the awards count is not the earnings sample size. Schools are ranked on the four-year earnings figure only, so every row is compared on the same basis.
Compare beyond the CIP family
Nationwide peers by school count & four-year earnings
Cross-field programs at the same credential level nearest Physics on school-count breadth (199 schools) and mean four-year median earnings ($157,288). Peers exclude the same two-digit CIP family so neighborhoods are not CIP-containment siblings. School-count peers include Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions, Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology, Psychology, General. Earnings peers include Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing, Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration, Educational Administration and Supervision. Neighborhoods are forced disjoint so each axis surfaces a different set of programs.
Similar school count
Nearest programs (≥50 schools) by absolute school-count breadth, outside this CIP family.
Similar four-year earnings
Nearest programs by mean four-year median earnings (deduped against the school-count neighborhood).
- Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing CIP 5138 · 278 schools $146,215 mean 4-yr
- Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration CIP 5120 · 105 schools $139,113 mean 4-yr
- Educational Administration and Supervision CIP 1304 · 408 schools $106,428 mean 4-yr
- Education, General CIP 1301 · 109 schools $97,305 mean 4-yr
Frequently Asked Questions
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Top Schools for Physics
Closest schools offering this program – compare earnings side by side
About This Data
Earnings data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field of Study file retrieved in March 2026. The program metric displayed here represents federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled four years after credential completion, using Treasury-derived records published through the Scorecard. Completer counts and debt figures come from the same field-of-study snapshot; the Department refreshes components on schedules documented in its changelog, not one fixed annual date.
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Earnings data sourced from IRS records via the U.S. Treasury–Department of Education matching protocol used by the College Scorecard.