When people discuss the value of a liberal arts degree, one stereotype often emerges: the humanities graduate working at a coffee shop. This trope is widely used, but it does not reflect the evidence. In reality, graduates with liberal arts degrees, as we define them, are employed across nearly every sector of the economy, and in jobs at all levels of earnings. Thanks to the US Census Bureau’s Postsecondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) dataset, we can examine liberal arts graduates’ industries and earnings more closely. These data provide essential context in thinking about education-to-workforce alignment, showing how degree programs connect to industry outcomes. In this post, we explore both degree award trends for liberal arts graduates from IPEDS and from PSEO, and the industries they are employed in five years after graduation.

This analysis concentrates on seven states with the most robust PSEO coverage: Indiana, Montana, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, and Wyoming. Together, these states reflect a wide range of US regional economies.

How we define liberal arts

For this analysis, we classify a bachelor’s program as liberal arts if its primary Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code begins with one of the following 11 prefixes: 05, 09, 16, 23, 24, 30, 38, 42, 45, 50, or 54. These include area and ethnic studies, journalism, foreign languages, English, general liberal studies, interdisciplinary programs, philosophy, psychology, social sciences, visual arts, and history.

It is important to note that this definition may differ from how some states or institutions categorize liberal arts programs, which can affect how different actors report and interpret graduates’ outcomes. There are many ways to define a liberal arts education. In this analysis, we focused on students’ majors based on the available level of data, which is specific to the analysis in this blog post. One of the benefits of PSEO is that states and researchers using it can adjust the categories as they see fit.

Degree awards trends and industry connections

National patterns in liberal arts programs can be tracked using the US Department of Education’s Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data, which reports the number of degrees awarded. Ithaka S+R’s analysis of IPEDS completions data shows that between 2013 and 2023, the number of liberal arts bachelor’s degrees, as we define them, declined from approximately 619,000 to 553,000. During the same period, the overall number of bachelor’s degrees earned in all fields increased from about 3.9 million to 4.2 million. As a result, the liberal arts’ share of all bachelor’s degrees fell from 15.8 percent in 2013 to 13.3 percent in 2023. These national statistics are essential for understanding the overall supply of liberal arts graduates.

The picture is similar in the seven focus states examined in this analysis. In aggregate across these focus states, their institutions awarded about 86,600 liberal arts bachelor’s degrees in 2013 and about 77,600 in 2023. Overall, bachelor’s degree awards in the group rose from 530,000 to more than 600,000 during this period, which means that the share of liberal arts degrees declined from 16.3 percent to 12.9 percent. Thus, both the national and focus state data reveal a shrinking pipeline of liberal arts graduates.

However, IPEDS data do not include links between degree completions and the labor market. That is where PSEO data create new opportunities: by linking transcripts and wage records, PSEO reveals the industries in which graduates are employed.

What the PSEO data show

PSEO merges student records with state wage data, enabling us to see where graduates work in the seven focus states. Looking across the group, the evidence is straightforward: five years after graduation, liberal arts graduates are employed across a broad range of NAICS industries. The most common categories include Educational Services (61); Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (54); Health Care and Social Assistance (62); and Public Administration (92). Liberal‑arts graduates also appear in Finance and Insurance (52), Manufacturing (31–33), Retail Trade (44–45), and other sectors. This breadth directly counters the perception that a liberal‑arts degree leads to narrow or uniform career paths. Instead, the distributions underscore that liberal-arts majors contribute to both public- and private-sector roles across the state economies included here.

Data note (scope and limits). Public PSEO tables report industries (NAICS), median earnings at one, five, and 10 years, and graduate counts that meet disclosure thresholds. They do not report occupations or job titles, gig/self‑employment, military pay, or fine‑grained metro/city detail. All industry statements in this post are drawn directly from the NAICS categories shown in PSEO’s public products.

Why state‑level perspectives matter

Labor markets differ by state, and PSEO enables us to observe these differences. Figure 1 shows, for each focus state, the distribution of liberal‑arts bachelor’s degree holders across NAICS industries five years after graduation. The top categories vary by state, but in each case, the distribution spans multiple industries rather than concentrating in a single sector.

For a more nuanced understanding of the variation in industry outcomes across states, more context is required, both from the states themselves and other data sources. However, for this brief analysis in this blog post, the key takeaway is that, regardless of regional economic characteristics, liberal arts graduates establish careers across a wide range of industries in their respective states.

Why this matters

Employers consistently report that they value problem-solving, teamwork, and written communication skills, the very skills that liberal arts programs cultivate. For example, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found in 2024 that these attributes are among the most important qualities employers seek in college graduates. Similarly, Hart Research Associates (2018) found, in a survey conducted for the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), that employers strongly value critical thinking, communication, and the ability to apply knowledge in real-world settings.

In this analysis, PSEO data demonstrate that graduates are applying those skills across a wide range of industries. While it is true that fewer students are completing liberal arts degrees than a decade ago, the data indicate that demand for these graduates remains strong.

Conclusion

This analysis shows that liberal arts graduates, as we define them, are employed across a wide range of industries in the seven focus states. We can see in the PSEO data that these graduates’ careers extend beyond narrow stereotypes, with concentrations employed in educational services, professional and technical fields, and healthcare, as well as many other sectors.

Together, the IPEDS and PSEO data provide complementary perspectives: analysis of IPEDS data helps document trends in degree production, while PSEO shows the industries in which graduates are employed. These data are instrumental in thinking about education-to-workforce alignment. Future analyses could also use PSEO to examine earnings outcomes and geographic mobility of liberal arts graduates, offering additional insight into how these degrees connect to careers and communities.

* Source: Ithaka S+R analysis using the PSEO Explorer, US Census Bureau, available at https://lehd.ces.census.gov/applications/pseo/?type=earnings&compare=postgrad&specificity=2&state=08&institution=08&degreelevel=05&gradcohort=0000-3&filter=50&program=52,45.
Note: “All Other” industries include Information Management; Wholesale Trade; Other Services (except Public Administration); Construction; Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation; Transportation and Warehousing; Real Estate and Rental and Leasing; Management; Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction; Utilities; and Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and Hunting.