Degree to Occupation Map
Occupations related to a finance degree
NCES and BLS publish a crosswalk relating instructional programs to occupations. This page lists every occupation that crosswalk relates to finance, with the BLS typical entry education, 2025 median wage and projected growth for each, and links to the RoleSprint page covering the role where one exists.
What occupations does the official crosswalk relate to a finance degree?
The CIP 2020-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk published by NCES and BLS relates 9 CIP 2020 programs in finance to 19 occupations. That maps a field of study to lines of work; it is not a statement that a finance degree qualifies someone for any of them, and the crosswalk carries no figure for how many graduates enter each. Across the 18 with a published 2025 BLS wage the median is $79,880, ranging from $43,030 for Tellers to $213,990 for Chief Executives. BLS typical entry-level education splits 5 at high school diploma or equivalent, 12 at bachelor's degree, 1 at doctoral or professional degree: 17 at or below a bachelor's degree and 1 above it. Financial Managers is projected to grow fastest at +9.7% over 2025-35. The highest-paid are Chief Executives ($213,990), Financial Managers ($166,570) and General and Operations Managers ($105,770).
- Related occupations
- 19, from 9 CIP 2020 programs in finance (a further 2 related occupations have no BLS or O*NET row on this site and are not listed)
- What the mapping means
- NCES states only that it "crosswalks 2020 CIP Codes to 2018 SOC Codes". It relates a program to an occupation. It does not establish qualification, hiring, or how many graduates take that path.
- BLS typical entry-level education
- High school diploma or equivalent: 5; Bachelor's degree: 12; Doctoral or professional degree: 1
- Median wage across these occupations
- $79,880 (2025); 18 of 19 have a published BLS wage
- Next step
- 7 of the 19 occupations have a dedicated RoleSprint page covering what the role requires and how the work is performed.
Source and method
2020 CIP / 2018 SOC Crosswalk, National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Labor Statistics, and BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2. Verified 2026-09-06. Program-to-occupation relationships are reproduced from the NCES/BLS crosswalk exactly as published; RoleSprint groups CIP programs into the field of study a person would search for and lists the union of their related occupations, showing every member CIP code. Wage, typical entry education and outlook are reproduced from BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2 for the matching SOC code. Working-condition figures are O*NET 30.3 means. No relationship strength, employment share or qualification judgement is published, because no source supplies one.
What this list is, and what it is not
The crosswalk's own description of itself is one sentence: “This file crosswalks 2020 CIP Codes to 2018 SOC Codes in ascending order by CIP Code.” It relates a field of study to lines of work.
It does not say a finance degree qualifies anyone for these occupations, that graduates usually enter them, or what share do: the crosswalk publishes no such figure. The wage and education columns come from a separate source, BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, and describe the occupation rather than the degree. Typical entry education is what BLS observes most often among people already doing the work; it is not a rule about who may be hired.
The 19 related occupations
Ordered by BLS median wage, highest first. 18 of 19 have a published wage.
| Occupation | BLS typical entry-level education | Median wage | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|
Chief Executives SOC 11-1011 Contact with others 4.6 · Time pressure 4.2 · Sitting 4.2 · Outdoors, all weather 2.1 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $213,990 2025 median | +3.2% 2025-35 · 19.1 openings/yr |
Financial Managers SOC 11-3031 Contact with others 4.2 · Time pressure 4.5 · Sitting 4.4 · Outdoors, all weather 1.4 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $166,570 2025 median | +9.7% 2025-35 · 65.6 openings/yr |
General and Operations Managers SOC 11-1021 Contact with others 4.6 · Time pressure 4.1 · Sitting 3.1 · Outdoors, all weather 2.9 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $105,770 2025 median | +5% 2025-35 · 285 openings/yr |
Personal Financial Advisors SOC 13-2052 Contact with others 3.9 · Time pressure 3.7 · Sitting 4.4 · Outdoors, all weather 1.1 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $105,070 2025 median | +1.4% 2025-35 · 17.1 openings/yr |
Business Teachers, Postsecondary SOC 25-1011 Contact with others 4.1 · Time pressure 3.7 · Sitting 3.8 · Outdoors, all weather 1.2 of 5 | Doctoral or professional degree Above bachelor's | $99,080 2025 median | +5.9% 2025-35 · 7.6 openings/yr |
Budget Analysts SOC 13-2031 Contact with others 4.4 · Time pressure 4.3 · Sitting 4.8 · Outdoors, all weather 1.1 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $91,640 2025 median | +1.9% 2025-35 · 2.9 openings/yr |
Credit Analysts SOC 13-2041 Contact with others 3.7 · Time pressure 4.2 · Sitting 4.8 · Outdoors, all weather 1.2 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $83,510 2025 median | -4.3% 2025-35 · 3.1 openings/yr |
Insurance Underwriters SOC 13-2053 Contact with others 4.5 · Time pressure 4.6 · Sitting 4.9 · Outdoors, all weather 1.2 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $81,370 2025 median | -3.8% 2025-35 · 6.8 openings/yr |
Financial Quantitative Analysts SOC 13-2099 Contact with others 3.6 · Time pressure 3.8 · Sitting 4.7 · Outdoors, all weather 1.0 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $81,100 2025 median | +4.1% 2025-35 · 9.4 openings/yr |
Securities, Commodities, and Financial Services Sales Agents SOC 41-3031 Contact with others 4.7 · Time pressure 3.9 · Sitting 4.3 · Outdoors, all weather 1.2 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $78,660 2025 median | +1.4% 2025-35 · 35.1 openings/yr |
Compensation, Benefits, and Job Analysis Specialists SOC 13-1141 Contact with others 4.4 · Time pressure 3.9 · Sitting 4.7 · Outdoors, all weather 1.2 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $78,210 2025 median | +6% 2025-35 · 9 openings/yr |
Loan Officers SOC 13-2072 Contact with others 4.8 · Time pressure 4.1 · Sitting 4.6 · Outdoors, all weather 1.9 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $76,690 2025 median | +1.1% 2025-35 · 17.1 openings/yr |
Credit Counselors SOC 13-2071 Contact with others 4.5 · Time pressure 3.8 · Sitting 4.6 · Outdoors, all weather 1.4 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $52,230 2025 median | +3.3% 2025-35 · 2 openings/yr |
Credit Authorizers, Checkers, and Clerks SOC 43-4041 Contact with others 4.9 · Time pressure 4.7 · Sitting 4.7 · Outdoors, all weather 1.1 of 5 | High school diploma or equivalent At or below bachelor's | $50,080 2025 median | -7.4% 2025-35 · 0.9 openings/yr |
Loan Interviewers and Clerks SOC 43-4131 Contact with others 5.0 · Time pressure 4.5 · Sitting 4.7 · Outdoors, all weather 1.1 of 5 | High school diploma or equivalent At or below bachelor's | $50,020 2025 median | -2.4% 2025-35 · 10.5 openings/yr |
New Accounts Clerks SOC 43-4141 Contact with others 4.9 · Time pressure 4.0 · Sitting 3.4 · Outdoors, all weather 1.5 of 5 | High school diploma or equivalent At or below bachelor's | $47,670 2025 median | -6.5% 2025-35 · 2.3 openings/yr |
Bill and Account Collectors SOC 43-3011 Contact with others 4.9 · Time pressure 3.9 · Sitting 4.6 · Outdoors, all weather 1.2 of 5 | High school diploma or equivalent At or below bachelor's | $47,030 2025 median | -10.4% 2025-35 · 11.2 openings/yr |
Tellers SOC 43-3071 Contact with others 5.0 · Time pressure 3.5 · Sitting 3.1 · Outdoors, all weather 1.2 of 5 | High school diploma or equivalent At or below bachelor's | $43,030 2025 median | -13.2% 2025-35 · 26.8 openings/yr |
Appraisers of Personal and Business Property SOC 13-2022 Contact with others 4.1 · Time pressure 3.9 · Sitting 3.8 · Outdoors, all weather 2.4 of 5 | Not published | Not published | Not published |
The crosswalk relates 2 further occupations to this field (13-2051, 13-2054) for which BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2 publishes no line item on this site. They are counted here rather than listed, because there would be nothing to show beside the name.
BLS typical entry-level education for these occupations
17 of the 19 have a BLS typical entry-level education at or below a bachelor's degree; 1 are above it. "Typical" is BLS's word: it describes the workers already in the occupation.
- High school diploma or equivalent
- 5
- Bachelor's degree
- 12
- Doctoral or professional degree
- 1
This is BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2's description of the education most workers in each occupation typically hold when they enter it. It is not a list of requirements, and it says nothing about licences, certifications or experience, which BLS records separately and this page does not show.
Which programs this covers
“Finance” groups 9 CIP 2020 instructional programs. The occupation list above is the union of everything the crosswalk relates to them.
- 52.0801 Finance, General
- 52.0803 Banking and Financial Support Services
- 52.0804 Financial Planning and Services
- 52.0806 International Finance
- 52.0807 Investments and Securities
- 52.0808 Public Finance
- 52.0809 Credit Management
- 52.0810 Financial Risk Management
- 52.0899 Finance and Financial Management Services, Other
Grouping is RoleSprint's, and it is printed here so it can be checked. CIP's own grain is finer than the phrase anyone searches; the alternative is one page per code, which would put near-identical lists in front of the same question. How this map is built.
Working out which of these is realistic
A related occupation is a starting point, not a verdict. Three different questions decide whether one is worth pursuing, and each has its own page.
Program-to-occupation relationships from the 2020 CIP / 2018 SOC Crosswalk, National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wage, typical entry education and outlook from BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2. Working-condition figures from the O*NET 30.3 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license; O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA and RoleSprint has modified some of this information.
What to do next
A crosswalk relates a field of study to lines of work. Whether one specific opening is worth your time depends on what you can actually show, which is a different question and the one RoleSprint answers.