Construction Trades, General: earnings, debt, and careers

CIP 46.00. Official graduate outcomes from the U.S. Department of Education across 175 programs, and the careers this field is linked to.

Graduate earnings by credential level

National earnings of Construction Trades, General graduates who were working and not enrolled one year after completing, by credential. Undergraduate certificate: median $39,348; Associate's degree: median $74,049. The bar spans the 25th to 75th percentile, the thin line spans the 10th to 90th percentile, and the red mark is the median.

Credential	Programs	Graduates (recent year)	Median earnings, 1 yr	Median earnings, 4 yrs	Typical program median debt
Undergraduate certificate	105	2,236	$39,348	$41,529	$7,892 5 programs
Associate's degree	69	519	$74,049	$83,283	$12,000 3 programs
Graduate certificate	1	6	Data unavailable	Data unavailable	Data unavailable

National earnings are published by the Department of Education for each field and credential level Verified data. Typical program median debt is ConnectPrep's calculation: the median across programs of each program's median federal debt Calculated estimate. It covers federal loans only.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most Recent Field of Study Data. Varies by measure; see measure definitions. Published October 15, 2026. Retrieved October 18, 2026. Methodology.

Undergraduate certificate programs with the highest early earnings

School	Median earnings, 1 yr	Median earnings, 4 yrs	Median debt
Mountain Empire Community College VA · Public · 32 graduates measured	$59,787	Data unavailable	Data unavailable
Great Oaks Career Campuses OH · Public · 18 graduates measured	$41,561	$44,703	Data unavailable
Summit Academy Opportunities Industrialization Center MN · Private, nonprofit · 291 graduates measured	$39,675	$40,154	$8,841
Apex Technical School NY · Private, nonprofit · 123 graduates measured	$37,881	$38,062	$9,500
Perry Technical Institute WA · Private, nonprofit · 31 graduates measured	$36,295	$60,617	$7,892
Onondaga Cortland Madison BOCES NY · Public · 17 graduates measured	$21,375	$37,884	$4,766

Ranked by published median earnings one year after completion. Programs with suppressed earnings do not appear, so this is not a ranking of program quality.

Associate's degree programs with the highest early earnings

School	Median earnings, 1 yr	Median earnings, 4 yrs	Median debt
Honolulu Community College HI · Public · 126 graduates measured	$83,217	$95,028	$9,677
Charter College AK · Private, for-profit · 16 graduates measured	$55,372	Data unavailable	$20,000
State Technical College of Missouri MO · Public · 23 graduates measured	$49,259	Data unavailable	$12,000

Ranked by published median earnings one year after completion. Programs with suppressed earnings do not appear, so this is not a ranking of program quality.

Careers linked to Construction Trades, General

Occupation	Median wage, all workers	Change 2025 to 2035	Typical entry education
First-line supervisors of construction trades and extraction workers	$79,920	+5.0%	High school diploma or equivalent

Occupations mapped to this field in the NCES and BLS CIP to SOC crosswalk. Occupation wages describe all workers, not recent graduates.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk. CIP 2020 and SOC 2018 taxonomies. Published April 30, 2020. Retrieved October 18, 2026. Methodology.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, National. May 2025 reference period. Published April 30, 2026. Retrieved October 18, 2026. Methodology.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, Table 1.2: Occupational projections, 2025-35, and worker characteristics, 2025. Base year 2025, projected year 2035. Published August 27, 2026. Retrieved October 18, 2026. Methodology.

Detailed CIP codes in this field (1)

46.0000 Construction Trades, General