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Ranked: The Most Underemployed College Degrees in America
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Key Takeaways
- Five out of the top 10 most underemployed degrees among recent college graduates are in Humanities and Arts.
- Various science-related degrees also have high rates like Medical Technicians, Biology, and Animal and Plant Sciences.
- The average U.S. underemployment rate for new grads is 38.3%, indicating a potentially broken education and career system.
Today, nursing grads have the lowest underemployment rate in the country at 9.7%.
The underemployment rate provides nuance to the job market, reflecting the share of grads working jobs that typically do not require a degree. For perspective, across nearly 20 majors, underemployment rates exceed 50% this year.
The above graphic shows the college majors with the highest underemployment rates in the U.S., using data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Underemployed in 2025: College Grads Face a Tough Job Market
Below, we show the degrees with the highest underemployment rates for new grads:
| Major | Underemployment Rate (%) |
|---|---|
| Criminal Justice | 67.2 |
| Performing Arts | 62.3 |
| Medical Technicians | 57.9 |
| Liberal Arts | 56.5 |
| Anthropology | 55.9 |
| Leisure and Hospitality | 54.5 |
| Sociology | 54.4 |
| General Social Sciences | 54.1 |
| Public Policy and Law | 53.9 |
| Fine Arts | 53.4 |
| Animal and Plant Sciences | 53.2 |
| General Business | 52.8 |
| Communications | 52.3 |
| Business Management | 51.3 |
| History | 51.2 |
| Foreign Language | 51.1 |
| Political Science | 50.6 |
| Environmental Studies | 49 |
| English Language | 48.6 |
| Interdisciplinary Studies | 48.4 |
| Ethnic Studies | 47.7 |
| Mass Media | 47.3 |
| Art History | 46.9 |
| Nutrition Sciences | 46.8 |
| Biology | 45.6 |
| Psychology | 45.4 |
| Marketing | 44.8 |
| Biochemistry | 44.4 |
| Theology and Religion | 42.9 |
| Health Services | 42.7 |
| Agriculture | 42.4 |
| Philosophy | 41.2 |
| Chemistry | 40.6 |
| Earth Sciences | 40.5 |
| Engineering Technologies | 40.1 |
| Family and Consumer Sciences | 39.8 |
| Miscellaneous Physical Sciences | 39.7 |
| Geography | 38.7 |
| International Affairs | 38.5 |
| Overall | 38.3 |
As we can see, Criminal Justice grads have the highest underemployment rates overall, at 67.2%.
Among the primary reasons for this significant share is that jobs in law enforcement and private security typically don’t require a college degree. Going further, landing a job in the CIA or FBI is highly competitive, and typically require years of professional work experience.
Performing Arts (63.2%) and Medical Technicians (57.9%) degrees rank next in line, following a similar trend. For instance, cardiovascular technicians typically only require an associate’s degree.
Interestingly, General Business degrees have a 52.8% underemployment rate, far higher than Accounting (17.9%), Mathematics (24.3%), and Business Analytics (27.2%). This highlights how there is currently higher demand for specialized degrees in the finance industry.
Learn More on the Voronoi App
To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the top universities outside of America.