Degree to Occupation Map
Occupations related to a pharmacy degree
NCES and BLS publish a crosswalk relating instructional programs to occupations. This page lists every occupation that crosswalk relates to pharmacy, 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 pharmacy degree?
The CIP 2020-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk published by NCES and BLS relates 12 CIP 2020 programs in pharmacy to 14 occupations. That maps a field of study to lines of work; it is not a statement that a pharmacy degree qualifies someone for any of them, and the crosswalk carries no figure for how many graduates enter each. Across the 14 with a published 2025 BLS wage the median is $125,390, ranging from $91,240 for Chemists to $167,220 for Natural Sciences Managers. BLS typical entry-level education splits 7 at bachelor's degree, 1 at master's degree, 6 at doctoral or professional degree: 7 at or below a bachelor's degree and 7 above it. Medical and Health Services Managers is projected to grow fastest at +24.2% over 2025-35. The highest-paid are Natural Sciences Managers ($167,220), Marketing Managers ($166,790) and Sales Managers ($148,270).
- Related occupations
- 14, from 12 CIP 2020 programs in pharmacy
- 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
- Bachelor's degree: 7; Master's degree: 1; Doctoral or professional degree: 6
- Median wage across these occupations
- $125,390 (2025); 14 of 14 have a published BLS wage
- Next step
- 7 of the 14 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 pharmacy 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 14 related occupations
Ordered by BLS median wage, highest first. 14 of 14 have a published wage.
| Occupation | BLS typical entry-level education | Median wage | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|
Natural Sciences Managers SOC 11-9121 Contact with others 4.0 · Time pressure 3.3 · Sitting 4.1 · Outdoors, all weather 1.5 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $167,220 2025 median | +8.2% 2025-35 · 9.2 openings/yr |
Marketing Managers SOC 11-2021 Contact with others 4.6 · Time pressure 4.2 · Sitting 4.4 · Outdoors, all weather 1.4 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $166,790 2025 median | +6.9% 2025-35 · 34 openings/yr |
Sales Managers SOC 11-2022 Contact with others 4.9 · Time pressure 3.9 · Sitting 4.1 · Outdoors, all weather 1.9 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $148,270 2025 median | +4.5% 2025-35 · 47.3 openings/yr |
Regulatory Affairs Managers SOC 11-9199 Contact with others 4.2 · Time pressure 3.6 · Sitting 4.6 · Outdoors, all weather 1.1 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $141,900 2025 median | +4.9% 2025-35 · 100.9 openings/yr |
Pharmacists SOC 29-1051 Contact with others 4.9 · Time pressure 4.7 · Sitting 1.8 · Outdoors, all weather 1.0 of 5 | Doctoral or professional degree Above bachelor's | $140,910 2025 median | +5.2% 2025-35 · 12.5 openings/yr |
Biochemists and Biophysicists SOC 19-1021 Contact with others 3.8 · Time pressure 3.3 · Sitting 3.6 · Outdoors, all weather 1.1 of 5 | Doctoral or professional degree Above bachelor's | $127,410 2025 median | +12.3% 2025-35 · 2.9 openings/yr |
Industrial Production Managers SOC 11-3051 Contact with others 4.7 · Time pressure 4.2 · Sitting 2.7 · Outdoors, all weather 2.3 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $126,060 2025 median | +2.6% 2025-35 · 17 openings/yr |
Economists SOC 19-3011 Contact with others 3.5 · Time pressure 3.6 · Sitting 4.7 · Outdoors, all weather 1.1 of 5 | Master's degree Above bachelor's | $124,720 2025 median | +4.7% 2025-35 · 1.1 openings/yr |
Economics Teachers, Postsecondary SOC 25-1063 Contact with others 4.2 · Time pressure 3.4 · Sitting 4.3 · Outdoors, all weather 1.1 of 5 | Doctoral or professional degree Above bachelor's | $123,920 2025 median | +2.4% 2025-35 · 1 openings/yr |
Medical and Health Services Managers SOC 11-9111 Contact with others 4.8 · Time pressure 3.9 · Sitting 4.3 · Outdoors, all weather 1.0 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $123,860 2025 median | +24.2% 2025-35 · 62.3 openings/yr |
Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary SOC 25-1071 Contact with others 4.8 · Time pressure 3.8 · Sitting 3.9 · Outdoors, all weather 1.3 of 5 | Doctoral or professional degree Above bachelor's | $107,310 2025 median | +17.9% 2025-35 · 24.9 openings/yr |
Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists SOC 19-1042 Contact with others 4.7 · Time pressure 3.7 · Sitting 3.3 · Outdoors, all weather 1.1 of 5 | Doctoral or professional degree Above bachelor's | $103,410 2025 median | +12.6% 2025-35 · 10.5 openings/yr |
Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary SOC 25-1052 Contact with others 4.3 · Time pressure 3.8 · Sitting 3.9 · Outdoors, all weather 1.1 of 5 | Doctoral or professional degree Above bachelor's | $93,250 2025 median | +2.3% 2025-35 · 1.7 openings/yr |
Chemists SOC 19-2031 Contact with others 3.8 · Time pressure 3.8 · Sitting 3.1 · Outdoors, all weather 1.1 of 5 | Bachelor's degree At or below bachelor's | $91,240 2025 median | +6.4% 2025-35 · 5.9 openings/yr |
BLS typical entry-level education for these occupations
7 of the 14 have a BLS typical entry-level education at or below a bachelor's degree; 7 are above it. "Typical" is BLS's word: it describes the workers already in the occupation.
- Bachelor's degree
- 7
- Master's degree
- 1
- Doctoral or professional degree
- 6
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
“Pharmacy” groups 12 CIP 2020 instructional programs. The occupation list above is the union of everything the crosswalk relates to them.
- 51.2001 Pharmacy
- 51.2002 Pharmacy Administration and Pharmacy Policy and Regulatory Affairs
- 51.2003 Pharmaceutics and Drug Design
- 51.2004 Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry
- 51.2005 Natural Products Chemistry and Pharmacognosy
- 51.2006 Clinical and Industrial Drug Development
- 51.2007 Pharmacoeconomics/Pharmaceutical Economics
- 51.2008 Clinical, Hospital, and Managed Care Pharmacy
- 51.2009 Industrial and Physical Pharmacy and Cosmetic Sciences
- 51.2010 Pharmaceutical Sciences
- 51.2011 Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management
- 51.2099 Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration, 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.