Construction Management

Types of Degrees Construction Management Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many construction management graduations there were in 2018-2019 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	2,576
Master’s Degree	388
Associate’s Degree	361
Basic Certificate	144
Graduate Certificate	113
Undergraduate Certificate	76
Doctor’s Degree	6

What Construction Management Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, construction management majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Construction Management Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these 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:

• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• 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.
• Time Management - Managing one’s own time and the time of others.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

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 Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

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 2,575 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in construction management in 2019, making it rank #118 in popularity. This major attracts more men than women. About 90% of the graduates in this field are male.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

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

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	40
Black or African American	129
Hispanic or Latino	196
White	1,983
International Students	65
Other Races/Ethnicities	163

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Construction Management, too. About 2.5% 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 Construction Management Majors Make?

Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary

The median starting salary of students who graduated in 2015-2017 with a bachelor’s degree in construction management was $61,200 per year. These stats come from the U.S. Department of Education. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $57,450 (25th percentile) and $65,000 (75th percentile).

It’s important to note that just because the people reporting these salaries have a degree in construction management, it does not mean that they are working in a job related to their degree.

Salaries According to BLS

The median salary for someone in a career related to construction management is $103,110. This median refers to all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

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 Construction Management

Some degrees associated with construction management may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

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

In 2018-2019, 153 schools offered a construction management program of some type. 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)	27	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	23	1
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	64	2
Bachelor’s Degree	9	4
Post-Baccalaureate	27	0
Master’s Degree	30	11
Post-Master’s	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	1	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Construction Management 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 Construction Management

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

Major	Number of Grads
Business Administration & Management	410,147
Accounting	105,123
General Business/Commerce	58,451
Finance & Financial Management	56,186
Marketing	51,241
Human Resource Management	26,823
Management Sciences & Quantitative Methods	23,738
Business Support & Assistant Services	19,483
Hospitality Management	19,042
Management Information Systems	14,747
Entrepreneurial Studies	10,427
International Business	10,181
Business/Managerial Economics	6,345
Specialized Sales, Merchandising & Marketing	5,873
Other Business, Management & Marketing	5,834
General Sales & Marketing	5,734
Real Estate	5,700
Insurance	2,218
Taxation	1,783
Business/Corporate Communications	968
Telecommunications Management	71

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.