How we source our data
Every number in the USA Edition comes from an official or primary source, is copied as published, and shows its data period. This page lists every source in one place.
WagesBLS, May 2025Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
Job outlookBLS, 2025–35Employment Projections
Work lifeO*NETSurveys of people in each job
Sources listed82each with the date it was checked
Our rules
Official sources only
Government statistics (BLS, O*NET, NCES, USCIS), exam owners (College Board, ACT, AAMC, NCBE, NCEES, NBME/FSMB) and licensing or accrediting bodies. Blogs and forums are never the source of a fact.
Copied, not calculated
Pay, outlook and counts are shown exactly as the source publishes them. We do not estimate places or years a source does not publish; those show as "Not published".
Dated and reviewed
Every figure carries its data period (for example, wages for May 2025). Rules that change often — immigration, exam formats, loan limits — are re-checked on a schedule.
Advice such as "Stand out" tips is Margdarshan's own guidance and is labelled that way. It is based on the data, but it is not a source fact.
How to read the numbers
- Median payHalf of workers earned more and half earned less. It is less affected by a few very high salaries than the average (mean).
- 10th / 25th / 75th / 90th percentile10% of workers earned less than the 10th percentile; 10% earned more than the 90th. The middle half sits between the 25th and 75th.
- Job outlookBLS projection of the change in employment from 2025 to 2035. All jobs together are projected to grow 3.5%.
- BLS group figuresSome BLS profiles cover several occupations (for example, software developers with QA analysts and testers). When the outlook or openings belong to the group, the page says so.
- Jobs: two different countsSalary pages use OEWS, a survey of employers (May 2025). Outlook figures use the BLS projections, which also count self-employed workers. They are never mixed in one number.
- Very high wagesWhen BLS shows a wage only as "equal to or greater than" a cap, we show it with a "+" sign.
Every source
Grouped as they are stored in the site's data. "Checked" is the date we last confirmed the figures against the source.
| Source | Publisher | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Occupational Outlook Handbook | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | 2026-10-07 |
| Employment Projections: 2025–2035 Summary | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | 2026-10-07 |
| O*NET OnLine | U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development | 2026-10-07 |
| IPEDS Glossary | National Center for Education Statistics | 2026-10-07 |
| State course credit requirements for high school graduation (Table 2.13) | National Center for Education Statistics | 2026-10-07 |
| How Are Scores Calculated? — SAT Suite | College Board | 2026-10-07 |
| Score Structure — SAT Suite | College Board | 2026-10-07 |
| About AP Scores | College Board | 2026-10-07 |
| Getting Credit and Placement | College Board | 2026-10-07 |
| The Enhanced ACT | ACT | 2026-10-07 |
| Diploma Programme passing criteria Site blocks automated readers; content taken from IB's own published pages as indexed by search on the accessed date. Re-check by hand. | International Baccalaureate | 2026-10-07 |
| The MCAT Exam Score Scale | Association of American Medical Colleges | 2026-10-07 |
| Dental Admission Test (DAT) | American Dental Association | 2026-10-07 |
| Pharmacy College Admission Test (retired) | American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy | 2026-10-07 |
| Legal ed council extends test-optional admissions variance | ABA Journal (American Bar Association) | 2026-10-07 |
| About the USMLE | USMLE (FSMB and NBME) | 2026-10-07 |
| COMLEX-USA | National Board of Osteopathic Medical Examiners | 2026-10-07 |
| NextGen Bar Exam | National Conference of Bar Examiners | 2026-10-07 |
| Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE) | National Conference of Bar Examiners | 2026-10-07 |
| New CPA Licensure Pathways and CPA Mobility | NASBA | 2026-10-07 |
| What is the Uniform CPA Examination? | NASBA | 2026-10-07 |
| Exploring the CPA Exam disciplines | AICPA (This Way to CPA) | 2026-10-07 |
| FE exam | NCEES | 2026-10-07 |
| PE exam | NCEES | 2026-10-07 |
| What Programs Does ABET Accredit? | ABET | 2026-10-07 |
| Next Generation NCLEX | NCSBN | 2026-10-07 |
| NABP Pharmacy Exams (NAPLEX, MPJE) Site blocks automated readers; content taken from NABP's own published pages as indexed by search on the accessed date. Re-check by hand. | National Association of Boards of Pharmacy | 2026-10-07 |
| INBDE | Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations | 2026-10-07 |
| State Licensure & NPTE Information | Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy | 2026-10-07 |
| Examination for Professional Practice in Psychology (EPPP) | ASPPB | 2026-10-07 |
| Optional Practical Training (OPT) for F-1 Students | U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services | 2026-10-07 |
| Optional Practical Training Extension for STEM Students (STEM OPT) | U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services | 2026-10-07 |
| H-1B Specialty Occupations | U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services | 2026-10-07 |
| Presidential Proclamation on Restriction on Entry of Certain Nonimmigrant Workers | U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services | 2026-10-07 |
| Weighted Selection Process for Registrants and Petitioners Seeking To File Cap-Subject H-1B Petitions (final rule) | Federal Register (DHS) | 2026-10-07 |
| Factors in the Admission Decision (Fall 2023 survey of 185 four-year colleges) | National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) | 2026-10-07 |
| Facts About Applying Early Decision or Early Action | College Board (BigFuture) | 2026-10-07 |
| How to Calculate Your GPA on a 4.0 Scale | College Board (BigFuture) | 2026-10-07 |
| How long will the digital SAT be? | College Board | 2026-10-07 |
| ACT vs. SAT: Which Test Should You Take? | ACT | 2026-10-07 |
| 2027 AP Exam Fees | College Board | 2026-10-07 |
| AP Courses and Exams | College Board | 2026-10-07 |
| Tests & scores — MIT Admissions | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 2026-10-07 |
| Standardized Testing — Yale Undergraduate Admissions | Yale University | 2026-10-07 |
| Standardized Testing — Princeton Admission | Princeton University | 2026-10-07 |
| First-year requirements — UC Admissions | University of California | 2026-10-07 |
| Trends in College Pricing 2025 — Highlights | College Board | 2026-10-07 |
| 2026–27 Federal Pell Grant Maximum and Minimum Award Amounts | U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid | 2026-10-07 |
| U.S. Department of Education Announces Earliest FAFSA Launch in Program History for the Second Consecutive Year ed.gov blocks automated readers; facts taken from the Department's own release as indexed by search. Re-check by hand. | U.S. Department of Education | 2026-10-07 |
| Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans | U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid | 2026-10-07 |
| U.S. Department of Education Concludes Negotiated Rulemaking Session to Implement the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's Loan Provisions ed.gov blocks automated readers; figures taken from the Department's own release as indexed by search, and the FSA training session confirms Grad PLUS elimination and new caps. Re-check by hand. | U.S. Department of Education | 2026-10-07 |
| Tracking Transfer (fall 2018 cohort, updated March 18, 2026) | National Student Clearinghouse Research Center | 2026-10-07 |
| High School Dual Enrollment Reaches a New High: 3.1 Million Students (IPEDS data, Sept 28, 2026) | Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University | 2026-10-07 |
| Mental Health, Stress Top Reasons Students Consider Leaving (Lumina–Gallup 2024 study) | Gallup | 2026-10-07 |
| AI Is Routine for College Students, Despite Campus Limits (Lumina–Gallup 2026 study) | Gallup | 2026-10-07 |
| College Students Weigh AI's Impact on Majors and Careers (Lumina–Gallup 2026 study) | Gallup | 2026-10-07 |
| Students and the Form I-20 | Study in the States (U.S. Department of Homeland Security) | 2026-10-07 |
| I-901 SEVIS Fee | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement | 2026-10-07 |
| Employment — SEVIS | U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement | 2026-10-07 |
| Open Doors 2025 — International Students | Institute of International Education (with the U.S. Department of State) | 2026-10-07 |
| NACES member organizations | National Association of Credential Evaluation Services | 2026-10-07 |
| Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 — state estimates via the BLS Public Data API | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | 2026-10-07 |
| U.S. medical schools enroll record number of students in 2025 (Dec 9, 2025) | Association of American Medical Colleges | 2026-10-07 |
| How Much Does It Cost to Attend Medical School? Here's a Breakdown Page does not load for automated readers; class of 2026 cost figures taken from AAMC's own page as indexed by search. Re-check by hand. | Association of American Medical Colleges | 2026-10-07 |
| 2025 Statistics Snapshot (bar exam) | National Conference of Bar Examiners | 2026-10-07 |
| Learn more about CPA Exam scoring and pass rates | AICPA | 2026-10-07 |
| IPEDS Completions, 2023-24 (complete data file C2024_A) | National Center for Education Statistics | 2026-10-07 |
| IPEDS Institutional Characteristics, 2024 (complete data file HD2024) | National Center for Education Statistics | 2026-10-07 |
| CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 Crosswalk | National Center for Education Statistics | 2026-10-07 |
| College Navigator | National Center for Education Statistics | 2026-10-07 |
| Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP) | U.S. Department of Education | 2026-10-07 |
| Find ABET-accredited programs | ABET | 2026-10-07 |
| LCME directory of accredited M.D. programs | Liaison Committee on Medical Education | 2026-10-07 |
| Osteopathic medical schools (COCA-accredited colleges) | American Osteopathic Association | 2026-10-07 |
| Find a CODA-accredited program | Commission on Dental Accreditation | 2026-10-07 |
| ACPE-accredited programs by state | Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education | 2026-10-07 |
| Directory of CAPTE-accredited physical therapy programs | Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education | 2026-10-07 |
| Council-approved law schools in alphabetical order americanbar.org blocks automated readers; URL confirmed from the ABA site index. Re-check manually. | American Bar Association, Section of Legal Education | 2026-10-07 |
| CCNE-accredited nursing programs | Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education | 2026-10-07 |
| Search ACEN-accredited nursing programs | Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing | 2026-10-07 |
| APA-accredited programs (health service psychology) | American Psychological Association | 2026-10-07 |
| AACSB-accredited schools | AACSB International | 2026-10-07 |
Work-life data on career pages includes information from O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. Salary data: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, from the official data files.