What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Physics
Physics is tracked across 254 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 master's 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 $103,603, calculated from 13 schools with published earnings data. The earnings distribution stretches from $52,107 at the low end to $179,750 at the top, with a 25th-75th percentile band between $65,563 and $127,533 around a median of $106,130. The top-reporting institution in this program is University of Arizona at $179,750. These numbers reflect earnings measured roughly a year after completion, using Social Security Administration tax records linked to federal financial aid applicants.
Variation across schools matters more than a single national figure. Completers counts reported per school indicate how many graduates’ earnings feed the median, which means small programs produce more volatile numbers. Median debt at the program level, when paired with earnings, yields a debt-to-earnings ratio that is the College Scorecard’s standard affordability signal — ratios under 1.0 indicate earnings exceed cumulative debt. Use the school-by-school table to spot institutions where Physics graduates out-earn peers at comparable cost, and to surface gainful-employment patterns that only become visible at the CIP-code level.
University of Arizona accounts for 17.5% of all Physics master's credential graduates
That concentration — well above the 5% national median for largest-entity share — means Physics-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. That school produced 70 graduates in the most recent cohort, anchoring a meaningful slice of national supply for this field. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Physics master's credential median earnings varies 3.4× across entities
Physics master's credential median earnings ranges from $52,107 (lowest) to $179,750 (highest), a spread of $127,643. That spread reflects typical sectoral variation between selective research institutions and broader access institutions. Earnings are measured roughly one year after completion using IRS records linked to federal aid recipients (see https://www.irs.gov/) — not all completers are captured, but the school-level medians correlate strongly with longer-term earnings trajectories.
Physics debt-to-earnings ratio is 1.73 — high (typically associated with graduates carry debt that exceeds annual earnings, a signal of debt stress — ratios above 1.5 trigger gainful-employment scrutiny under federal regulation)
debt-to-earnings ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: this ratio uses federal loan principal, not all education debt — private loans, parent PLUS loans not in the borrower’s name, and institutional debt are excluded Higher values may reflect larger urban scale or recent resource constraints that have widened the gap.
Earnings data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field of Study file. Median earnings represent graduates who received federal financial aid, drawn from U.S. Treasury tax records linked to federal student aid applicants. Completers count and debt figures reflect program-level data reported through IPEDS. Data is updated annually.