| See notes below the table for guidance on interpreting the data | Annual job openings | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro area | Occupational group | Credentials-to-jobs ratio†1 | Annual credential shortage†2 |
Annual credentials awarded Click on metro area for detail by program |
Total | In high-paying occupations | In lower-paying occupations |
†2 Values are only reported when the credentials-to-jobs ratio within the occupational group is less than 1.
| See notes below the table for guidance on interpreting the data | Annual job openings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro area | Occupational group | Credentials-to-jobs ratio†1 |
Annual credentials awarded Click on metro area for detail by program |
Total | In high-paying occupations | In lower-paying occupations |
| Annual credentials awarded | Annual credentials aligned with high-paying occupations Click on provider for detail by program |
See notes below the table for guidance on interpreting the data | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro area | Occupational group | Provider | Provider sector | Certificates | Associate's degrees | All middle-skills credentials | Certificates | Associate's degrees | All | Provider’s production share of credentials aligned with high-paying occupations |
Provider’s potential contribution to addressing credential shortage†1 |
| Annual credentials awarded | Annual credentials aligned with high-paying occupations Click on provider for detail by program |
See notes below the table for guidance on interpreting the data | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro area | Occupational group | Provider | Provider sector | Certificates | Associate's degrees | All middle-skills credentials | Certificates | Associate's degrees | All | Provider’s production share of credentials aligned with high-paying occupations†1 |
This tool examines how well local middle-skills providers are keeping up with future workforce demand in 55 US metro areas by comparing
- the current production of middle-skills credentials that lead to high-paying occupations for middle-skills workers in each metro area to
- the projected local labor-market demand for workers in these occupations.
The tool allows users to identify where metro areas will need to increase their middle-skills credential production to meet projected local workforce demand. It also provides information about how many more credentials each provider would need to produce to address local shortages.
This tool is based on Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce analysis of data from the US Department of Labor, Employment Projections, 2023; the US Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS), 2010–22; and the US Department of Education, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), 2019–21.
In some occupations, the typical early-career worker with a middle-skills credential (certificate or associate’s degree) earns more than the national median for young workers with bachelor’s degrees. The demand for workers in these occupations differs across local labor markets, as does local education and training providers’ success in preparing middle-skills workers for available jobs.
High-paying jobs for early-career middle-skills workers are those that boast annual earnings above $53,000 (in 2022 dollars), exceeding the median annual earnings of young workers with a bachelor’s degree.
Using data from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, we identified 107 high-paying middle-skills occupations — that is, occupations in which more than half of early-career middle-skills workers have a high-paying job. These high-paying occupations are found in five occupational groups: management, STEM, healthcare, protective services, and blue-collar jobs.
View a complete list of high-paying middle-skills occupations here.
The alignment metrics displayed in the tool are based on the program of study-to-occupation (CIP-SOC) crosswalk developed by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and US Department of Education. Using the crosswalk to measure alignment is complicated by the fact that each program can align to multiple occupations and each occupation can align to multiple programs. Thus, in many instances, multiple programs lead to a specific occupation, and each of these programs also offers pathways to a variety of high-paying and lower-paying occupations.
Consider the following example:
- The set of high-paying middle-skills STEM occupations includes hydrologic technicians.
- Four programs of study provide a pathway to this occupation — hydrology and water resource science; science technologies and technicians, general; science technologies and technicians, other; and physical science technologies and technicians, other.
- These programs also provide pathways to six other occupations. Two of those occupations are also high-paying middle-skills STEM occupations (other geologic technicians and environmental science and protection technicians), two are lower-paying middle-skills STEM occupations (hydrologists and other science technicians), one is a high-paying middle-skills management occupation (natural science managers), and one is a lower-paying middle-skills education occupation (postsecondary science teachers).
To determine if a local labor market faces a credential shortage in programs leading to high-paying middle-skills occupations, one needs to account for the projected number of job openings available in all occupations for workers with those credentials. In the example above, this means comparing the total annual number of middle-skills credentials awarded across the four programs to the projected annual number of job openings available to middle-skills workers across all seven occupations.
View a complete list of high-paying middle-skills occupations and aligned programs (sorted by occupation) here.
View a complete list of aligned programs and all high-paying and lower-paying occupations available to workers with those credentials (sorted by program of study) here.