Construction Management

Types of Degrees Construction Management 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	2,911
Associate Degree	477
Master’s Degree	299
Basic Certificate	296
Graduate Certificate	106
Undergraduate Certificate	68
Doctor’s Degree	1

What Construction Management 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

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to construction management:

• 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 Construction Management Major?

People with a construction management degree often go into the following careers:

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

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Construction Management?

This is a less frequently chosen undergraduate major. Only 2,770 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in construction management in 2021, making it rank #111 in popularity. 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	57
Black or African American	114
Hispanic or Latino	265
White	2,286
International Students	36
Other Races/Ethnicities	153

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Construction Management, too. About 1.2% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Construction Management

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.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to construction management have obtained the following education levels.

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 Construction Management 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)	24	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	68	6
Bachelor’s Degree	13	5
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	32	10
Post-Master’s	2	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	2	1
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Construction Management

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

Major	Number of Grads
Business Administration & Management	395,227
Accounting	84,760
Finance & Financial Management	58,013
General Business/Commerce	57,204
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	56,747
Marketing	52,820
Human Resource Management	25,350
Business Support & Assistant Services	16,604
Hospitality Management	14,076
Entrepreneurial Studies	12,707
Management Information Systems	11,695
Real Estate	7,783
International Business	7,505
General Sales & Marketing	5,965
Other Business, Management & Marketing	4,903
Business/Managerial Economics	4,885
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing	4,322
Insurance	2,334
Taxation	1,257
Business/Corporate Communications	837
Telecommunications Management	58

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.