Graphic Communications

Types of Degrees Graphic Communications Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many graphic communications graduations there were in 2020-2021 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	3,201
Associate Degree	1,757
Basic Certificate	1,205
Undergraduate Certificate	895
Master’s Degree	410
Graduate Certificate	50

What Graphic Communications Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, graphic communication 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 Graphic Communication Majors

Graphic Communication majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
• Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

Skills for Graphic Communication Majors

When studying graphic communication, 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:

• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• 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.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Abilities for Graphic Communication Majors

A major in graphic communication will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• 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).
• Visualization - The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.

What Can You Do With a Graphic Communications Major?

People with a graphic communication degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Multimedia Artists and Animators	8.4%	$72,520

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Graphic Communications?

This is a less frequently chosen undergraduate major. Only 3,201 students graduated with a bachelor’s degree in graphic communications in 2021, making it rank #99 in popularity. This major is dominated by women with about 56% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of graphic communication majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	292
Black or African American	243
Hispanic or Latino	498
White	1,538
International Students	300
Other Races/Ethnicities	330

Geographic Diversity

Students from other countries are interested in Graphic Communication, too. About 9.4% of those with this major are international students. The most popular countries for students from outside the country are:

• China
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• India
• Singapore

How Much Do Graphic Communications Majors Make?

Bachelor’s Degree Starting Salary

The median starting salary of students who graduated in 2017-2019 with a bachelor’s degree in graphic communication was $26,669 per year. These stats come from the U.S. Department of Education. During this timeframe, most salaries fell between $21,058 (25th percentile) and $35,591 (75th percentile).

We don’t know for sure if all of these people took jobs related to graphic communication so take that into consideration.

Salaries According to BLS

Graphic Communication majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $34,550 to $46,750 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes 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 Graphic Communications

Some careers associated with graphic communication require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for graphic communication careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	6.7%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	38.6%
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)	9.2%
Some College Courses	17.3%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	14.0%
Bachelor’s Degree	13.0%
Master’s Degree	0.0%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	1.4%

Online Graphic Communications Programs

In the 2020-2021 academic year, 431 schools offered some type of graphic communications program. 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)	201	7
Certificate (2-4 Years)	11	1
Associate’s Degree	235	10
Bachelor’s Degree	4	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	23	2
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Graphic Communications Worth It?

The median salary for a graphic communication grad is $38,470 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

Majors Related to Graphic Communications

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to graphic communication.

Major	Number of Grads
Audiovisual Communications	6,229
Communications Technology	915
Other Communication Technology	164

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 Auburn University College of Architecture, Design and Construction under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.