Doctoral education in the United States spans more than 58,000 research doctorates a year, with science and engineering accounting for most awards. The latest figures also show how citizenship, field, financial support, time to degree, employment sector, and expected salary shape the doctorate experience.
Contents
- Research doctorate awards and fields
- Citizenship and international participation
- Sex, race, ethnicity, and family background
- Time to doctorate and financial support
- Education-related debt
- Postgraduation commitments and employment
- Expected salaries after the doctorate
Research doctorate awards and fields
U.S. institutions awarded 58,131 research doctorates in 2024, compared with 57,806 in 2023. Science and engineering fields accounted for 45,929 of the 2024 awards. These figures come from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics report Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities: 2024 (NSF 26-315).
The composition of doctoral education has shifted substantially since 2004. Science and engineering represented 66% of all U.S. research doctorates in 2004 and 79% in 2024. Over that period, science and engineering doctorate awards increased 65%, while awards in non-science-and-engineering fields decreased 15%.
Engineering’s share of all research doctorates rose from 14% in 2004 to 19% in 2024. Computer and information sciences also expanded, from 2% of all research doctorates in 2004 to 5% in 2024. In the most recent year, computer and information sciences doctorate awards grew by 296, or 11%, from 2023 to 2024. Psychology awards increased by 200, or 5%, over the same period.
| Measure | Earlier period | Later period |
|---|---|---|
| All U.S. research doctorates | 57,806 in 2023 | 58,131 in 2024 |
| Science and engineering share | 66% in 2004 | 79% in 2024 |
| Engineering share | 14% in 2004 | 19% in 2024 |
| Computer and information sciences share | 2% in 2004 | 5% in 2024 |
The report’s long-term comparisons describe changes in awards and shares across 2004 and 2024; they do not by themselves measure changes in the quality, content, or labor-market value of individual programs.
Citizenship and international participation
Citizenship status is a major part of the U.S. doctoral education picture, especially in science and engineering. In 2024, U.S. institutions awarded 27,204 science and engineering doctorates to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Temporary visa holders earned 16,738 science and engineering doctorates, representing 38% of recipients who reported citizenship.
Both groups grew between 2004 and 2024, but at different rates. Science and engineering doctorates awarded to temporary visa holders increased 76%, while awards to U.S. citizens and permanent residents increased 61%.
Temporary visa holders accounted for a majority of doctorates in several fields in 2024. They earned 61% of computer and information sciences doctorates, 54% of engineering doctorates, and 51% of mathematics and statistics doctorates. These percentages describe the recipient groups reported for those fields and year, rather than the citizenship composition of every doctoral student currently enrolled.
Postgraduation plans also varied over time. Among science and engineering temporary visa holders with definite commitments, 85% expected to stay in the United States in 2024, compared with 75% in 2004. The measure applies only to recipients with definite commitments, so it should not be read as a forecast for every temporary visa holder or every graduate.
Sex, race, ethnicity, and family background
Women earned 48% of all U.S. research doctorates in 2024, while men earned 52%. The pattern differed by citizenship status: among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, women earned 54% of doctorates, while among temporary visa holders, men earned 62% and women earned 38%.
Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, the share of doctorate recipients who were women rose from 51% in 2004 to 54% in 2024. In science and engineering specifically, 2024 U.S. citizen and permanent-resident recipients were 63% White, 13% Asian, 10% Hispanic or Latino, and 6% Black or African American.
The counts for some groups also changed over the two-decade period. Hispanic or Latino science and engineering doctorate recipients who were U.S. citizens or permanent residents increased from 757 in 2004 to 2,823 in 2024. Black or African American recipients in the same population increased from 812 to 1,754.
Family educational background provides another perspective on access to research doctorates. In 2024, 11.9% of research doctorate recipients reported that a parent’s highest educational attainment was a research doctorate. This statistic comes from NCSES Table 1-14, “Highest educational attainment of either parent of research doctorate recipients: 1970–2024”.
Time to doctorate and financial support
The time required to reach a research doctorate depends on the starting point used for measurement. In 2024, the median time was 8.6 years from a bachelor’s degree to the doctorate, 7.3 years from graduate-school entry, and 5.7 years from doctoral-program entry across all fields. These are medians, so they describe the midpoint of each group rather than a standard timetable for every student. See NCSES Table 1-12, “Median years to research doctorate.”
Science and engineering doctorates had a 2024 median of 8.0 years from bachelor’s degree to doctorate, compared with 12.6 years in non-science and engineering. From doctoral-program entry, the corresponding medians were 5.6 years and 5.9 years.
Field-level differences were also substantial. Education doctorate recipients had a median of 15.6 years from bachelor’s degree to doctorate, health sciences recipients had a median of 11.0 years, and engineering recipients had a median of 7.4 years.
Financial support was most often tied to research work or formal awards. Among 2024 research doctorate recipients reporting support, research assistantships or traineeships were the primary source for 36.1%, compared with 24.2% whose primary source was fellowships, scholarships, or dissertation grants. Own resources were the primary source for 15.0%.
The mix differed by field. Research assistantships or traineeships were the primary support source for 60.6% of engineering doctorate recipients and 57.7% of computer and information sciences recipients. Fellowships, scholarships, or dissertation grants were the primary source for 35.2% of biological and biomedical sciences recipients. These support figures are reported in NCSES Table 4-1.
Education-related debt
Debt patterns differed by citizenship status and sex among 2024 research doctorate recipients reporting undergraduate debt information. Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, 64.1% had no undergraduate debt; among those with debt, the median was $25,000. Among temporary visa holders, 90.4% had no undergraduate debt, and the median among those with debt was $15,000.
There was also a difference by sex in the share reporting no undergraduate debt. Among female research doctorate recipients, 70.7% had no undergraduate debt, compared with 75.7% of male recipients. The debt measures and population definitions are from NCSES Table 4-5; the medians apply to recipients with debt, not to the entire recipient population.
Postgraduation commitments and employment
Of the 58,131 research doctorate recipients in 2024, 36,718 reported definite postgraduation commitments. A total of 33,765 had definite commitments located in the United States. Among science and engineering doctorate recipients, 29,438 reported definite commitments, including 12,363 U.S. postdoctoral-study commitments and 7,647 U.S. industry-employment commitments. The underlying field totals are in NCSES Table 6-1.
The longer-term distribution of U.S. non-postdoctoral employment commitments has moved toward industry or business. The number of such commitments rose from 14,870 in 2004 to 20,469 in 2024. Industry or business accounted for 40.4% in 2024, up from 18.9% in 2004, while academe accounted for 39.6% in 2024, down from 56.1% in 2004.
Field made a large difference in 2024:
| Field group and U.S. non-postdoc sector | Share of commitments |
|---|---|
| Science and engineering: industry or business | 52.4% |
| Science and engineering: academe | 30.1% |
| Non-science and engineering: academe | 62.6% |
| Non-science and engineering: industry or business | 10.9% |
These employment-sector figures describe recipients with definite commitments for non-postdoc employment in the United States. They do not represent all doctorate recipients or all jobs held after graduation. The source is NCSES Table 2-6.
Expected salaries after the doctorate
Salary figures for 2024 refer to median basic annual salaries reported for research doctorate recipients with definite U.S. postgraduation plans. Across employment and postdoctoral study, the median was $75,000. For science and engineering doctorate recipients, the median was $104,000 for employment and $63,000 for postdoctoral study.
Among recipients with definite U.S. employment plans, median salaries varied by broad field. Computer and information sciences had a median of $156,000, engineering $120,000, business $140,000, and humanities $63,000. These are field-level medians, not offers guaranteed to every graduate. See NCSES Table 6-6.
Employment sector added another layer to the differences. Across all fields, the 2024 median salary for definite non-postdoc U.S. employment commitments was $125,000 in industry or business and $75,000 in academe. For computer and information sciences doctorates, the medians were $180,000 in industry or business and $100,000 in academe. For mathematics and statistics, they were $150,000 and $68,000. For education, they were $91,500 and $75,000, respectively. These comparisons come from NCSES Table 6-7 and apply to definite non-postdoctoral employment commitments in the United States during 2024.