Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many construction management graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	2,938
Associate Degree	408
Master’s Degree	368
Basic Certificate	202
Graduate Certificate	123
Undergraduate Certificate	115
Doctor’s Degree	4

What Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to construction management and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Construction Management Majors

Construction Management majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

Skills for Construction Management Majors

When studying construction management, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.

Abilities for Construction Management Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a construction management student include the following:

• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

What Can You Do With a Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with construction management:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Construction Managers	11.1%	$93,370

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in ?

This is one of the most frequently chosen business majors. It is the 18th most popular in the country with 2,770 students graduating with a bachelor’s in construction management in 2021. This major tends to be male dominated. About 88% of recent graduates are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of construction management majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	42
Black or African American	129
Hispanic or Latino	305
White	2,253
International Students	50
Other Races/Ethnicities	159

Geographic Diversity

Construction Management appeals to people across the globe. About 1.7% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• Saudi Arabia
• India
• China
• Canada
• Mexico

How Much Do Majors Make?

Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary

Salaries According to BLS

Construction Management majors often go into careers with median salaries of $103,110. This median refers to all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to

Some careers associated with construction management require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for construction management careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	4.0%
Some College Courses	12.0%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	4.0%
Bachelor’s Degree	76.0%
Master’s Degree	4.0%

Online Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	29	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	68	5
Bachelor’s Degree	12	5
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	33	9
Post-Master’s	2	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	4	1
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Worth It?

The median salary for a construction management grad is $103,110 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 158% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $1,264,200 after 20 years!

Majors Related to

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to construction management.

Major	Number of Grads
Business Administration & Management	403,753
Accounting	93,982
General Business/Commerce	56,779
Finance & Financial Management	54,690
Marketing	52,078
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	48,037
Human Resource Management	27,074
Business Support & Assistant Services	19,686
Hospitality Management	16,015
Management Information Systems	12,429
Entrepreneurial Studies	12,241
International Business	8,014
Real Estate	7,448
General Sales & Marketing	5,450
Business/Managerial Economics	5,151
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing	4,668
Other Business, Management & Marketing	4,606
Insurance	1,737
Taxation	1,447
Business/Corporate Communications	897
Telecommunications Management	68

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By RudolfSimon under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.