Master’s degrees are on the rise in the United States partially because of the rise of online degree programs and students being able to learn from home. That got the faculty from Olivet Nazarene wondering about the popularity of master’s degrees across the country.
Which master’s degrees are prospective students across the country searching for the most? According to new research by Olivet Nazarene University, Master of Business Administration, and Master of Public Health.
[REITs]The report, which can be seen here, includes a breakdown of the monthly search volume by degree and the three most unusually popular degrees being searched for in each state.
The analysis from Olivet Nazarene University began with a compressive list of the most popular master’s degrees from a previous study from Georgetown University. From there they narrowed the list down a bit to smaller list of degrees that had high monthly average search volume in Google. For this analysis they only looked at degrees that had a least 2,000 monthly searches in Google. From there they were able to compile a list of the most searched for master’s degrees in 2019.
See the full list below:
- Master of Business Administration (MBA) -149,210 monthly searches
- Master of Health Administration (MHA) – 27,100 monthly searches
- Master of Public Health (MPH) – 16,940 monthly searches
- Master or Education (M.ED) – 13,070 monthly searches
- Master of Social Work (MSW) – 12,550 monthly searches
- Master of Psychology (MAP/MSP) – 11,590 monthly searches
- Master of Nursing (MSN) – 8,460 monthly searches
- Master of Public Administration (MPA) – 8,320 monthly searches
- Master of Engineering (M.Eng) – 7,820 monthly searches
- Master of Computer Science (MCS) – 7,120 monthly searches
- Master of Science in Accounting (MSA) – 6,820 monthly searches
- Master of Science in Finance (MSF) – 5,880 monthly searches
- Master of Science in Economics (MSE) – 3,320 monthly searches
- Master of Science in Biology (MSB) – 3,070 monthly searches
- Master of Science in Criminal Justice (MSCJ) – 2,600 monthly searches
- Master of Mathematics (M.Math) – 2,260 monthly searches
- Master of Architecture (M.Arch) – 2,240 monthly searches
One interesting point of note with this master’s degrees list, 4 out of the top 5 most searched for degrees don’t even crack the top 25 for highest earning degrees! This shows that people on average, are more interested in continuing their education in a degree of study they are passionate as opposed to chasing a degree that will earn them the most money.
The analysis from Olivet Nazarene University also looked at the three most popular master’s degree searches in each U.S. state. The data was analyzed over a period from June-July of this year. The full breakdown can be seen in the graphic below.