What this does
The Compare 5 Different Jobs Or Career Paths page lets you choose up to five careers and send them to one results page. The page itself is a picker: a search box, a filter for the kind of education that leads to each career, a list of careers with check boxes, and a summary of what you have ticked. The comparison appears when you press Compare Selected.
The results set the careers side by side on salary, entry pay, how many universities in your state have programs leading to each one, how many of those routes need no further degree, and the extra years of training they take. For each career, the results also list the top three universities, with links into the ROI calculator.
It helps a student choosing between jobs before choosing a major, a parent checking what a career pays against how long it takes to reach, and a counselor showing several options at once.
Before you start
- Pick a state in Showing data for. Without one, the page shows Pick a state to see career comparisons. Wages and university counts are your state's, so choose where you expect to study or work.
- Decide which education routes matter to you. The Feeder degree type filter starts on Degree, which shows careers reached through undergraduate or graduate programs. If you also want careers you can enter without a degree, switch it to All or Non-Degree before you tick.
- Have up to five career names ready. You can use everyday names or some common credential short forms (for example CPA, RN, BCBA, PMP or CDL-A).
Step by step
- Open Compare and click the Compare Careers card. The page shows Loading — this may take a moment on first load…, then a line such as "N careers found." and the list under Select Careers. If 300 or more match, the line reads Showing first 300 careers — search to narrow the list.
- Check Feeder degree type. Leave it on Degree, or choose All, Undergraduate, Graduate or Non-Degree. The list reloads for that choice.
- Type in Search career (the box says Type a career title). The list updates as you type, best matches first. If nothing matches, it says No careers found matching your search.
- Tick the box on the right of a career. Its name appears under Selected Careers, and a bar appears at the bottom of the screen: 1 career selected. Compare from here when you're ready.
- Search again and tick more careers, up to five. Your ticks are kept while you search and filter; a career you ticked stays ticked when it shows up in the list again. If you try a sixth, a message says You can compare at most 5 careers. Uncheck one before selecting another. and the sixth box is cleared.
- To drop a career, untick its box in the list (search for it if it has scrolled away). It leaves Selected Careers and the count in the bottom bar goes down.
- Press Compare Selected, either the button beside Select Careers or the one in the bottom bar. With nothing ticked, a message says Please select at least one career from the list above. Otherwise the results page opens with the title Career Comparison.
Arriving with a career already ticked
A link from a career's page opens this picker with that career already chosen: Stack against another career → on a career's detail page, or Stack this against another career → on Careers followed by the Compare Careers card. When the list loads, the page ticks that career for you, and it shows under Selected Careers and in the bottom bar. You then add up to four more. If the career is listed on more than one route (for example an undergraduate and a graduate card), the page cannot tell which one you meant and ticks neither: tick the route you want.
The career is ticked only if it appears in the list that loads, on one route. If the filter is on Degree and the career is reached only without a degree, it is not in that list; switch Feeder degree type to All within a few seconds, or search for the career and tick it yourself.
Every control explained
| Control | Where | What it changes | Default | Tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Showing data for | Above the page heading | The state whose careers, wages and universities are listed and compared. Picking a state reloads the page. | Your last chosen state | Reloading clears the ticks you have not yet compared. |
| Search career | Filter card, left | Narrows the list to careers whose title matches what you type. Also matches some credential short forms (CPA, RN, BCBA, PMP, CDL-A). While you search, the best matches come first; with an empty box the list is A to Z. | Empty | Use one or two words ("nurse", "electrician"). A broader word finds related careers too: "registered nurse" also brings up nurse practitioners and nurse anesthetists. |
| Feeder degree type | Filter card, right | Which education route a career must have to be listed: All (no limit), Degree (undergraduate or graduate programs), Undergraduate, Graduate, or Non-Degree. The same choice is sent to the results, so the figures there are built only from routes of that kind. | Degree | Choose Non-Degree to compare careers by their non-degree routes: the results then count pathways instead of universities and leave out the university lists. Changing the filter keeps your ticks. |
| Career list with check boxes | Under Select Careers | Each card shows the career name in bold and a grey line: the route ("Undergraduate path", "Graduate path" or "Non-Degree path") and the usual education needed, or Pathway varies. Ticking adds that career on that route to your selection; unticking removes it. | Nothing ticked (unless you arrived from a career) | A career can be listed twice, once per route. Each card is its own pick: tick both to compare the two routes, and each shows under Selected Careers with its route in brackets, for example "Registered Nurses (Graduate)". |
| Count line | Top of the list | Says how many careers match ("N careers found matching "…"") or Showing first 300 careers — search to narrow the list. | — | If you see 300, search to find careers further down the alphabet. |
| Compare Selected (beside the heading) | Right of Select Careers | Opens the results page for your ticked careers, each on the route of the card you ticked. | — | Needs at least one tick. |
| Selected Careers | Card below the list | Shows the names of your ticked careers. Read-only. | No careers selected yet. Check items above, then click Compare Selected. | To remove a name, untick it in the list. |
| Bottom bar and its Compare Selected | Fixed to the bottom of the screen once you tick something | Shows "N career(s) selected. Compare from here when you're ready." Its button does exactly what the top Compare Selected does. | Hidden until the first tick | Handy after scrolling far down a long list. |
Reading the results
The picker shows only names and two labels per career. Everything numeric appears on the results page.
| Item | Meaning | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Career name | The occupation's official title. | BLS Standard Occupational Classification, through O*NET |
| "Undergraduate path" / "Graduate path" / "Non-Degree path" | The level of education route this card stands for. A career reached at more than one level can appear once per level. | The site's degree-to-career map built from NCES program data |
| Education summary (for example "Bachelor's required") or Pathway varies | The usual education needed for the career on that route. Pathway varies means the data has no single typical level. | Same map |
What appears after Compare Selected:
- AI Outlook (per career): each career's name with a short tag on how AI may change the work, in the same order as the table.
- At a Glance: which career leads on Highest Median Salary, Highest Entry Salary, Most Accessible (most universities with a program leading to it; Most Path Options when the filter is Non-Degree) and Most Direct Paths.
- Charts: Salary Comparison, 20-Year Salary Trajectory, Path Efficiency and University Availability.
- Full Comparison table: Career, Median Salary, Entry Salary, Feeder Universities (or Available Paths), Direct Path %, Avg Extra Yrs, ROI Efficiency and ROI Calculator.
- Top ROI Universities: for each career, the top three universities listed by outcome measures: earnings, completion and cost, next to the top three by Institution Rank, each with Open in ROI calculator. Not shown for Non-Degree.
Salaries come from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for your state (May 2024): median pay is the middle wage, entry pay is the 25th-percentile wage. Reading comparison results explains each number in full. See also how the figures are produced.
Worked example
A parent in Ohio wants to see how three health careers compare: registered nurse, physical therapist and medical assistant.
- The parent picks Ohio in Showing data for, opens Compare and clicks Compare Careers. The list loads in alphabetical order.
- Medical assistants are usually trained without a degree, so the parent sets Feeder degree type to All. The list reloads; some careers now appear twice, once per route.
- The parent types "registered nurse" in Search career. Registered nurses come first, followed by related nursing careers. The parent ticks the registered nurse card marked "Undergraduate path". The bottom bar appears with 1 career selected.
- The parent searches "physical therapist" and ticks it, then "medical assistant" and ticks it. Selected Careers lists all three, and the bar says three careers are selected.
- The parent presses Compare Selected in the bottom bar. The results page opens as Career Comparison with "Comparing 3 careers:" and the three names. The salary chart shows two bars per career, entry pay and median pay, in dollars per year. The table shows how many Ohio universities feed each career and the extra years each route usually adds, and each career has a Calculate ROI → link that jumps to its top three Ohio universities.
Common questions
- Why is the same career listed twice?
- A career reached through both undergraduate and graduate programs (or with and without a degree) gets one card per route. The grey line tells you which route each card stands for. Each card is a separate pick, and the results show the figures for the route of the card you ticked. Tick both to see the two routes side by side; the results then name each with its route, for example "Registered Nurses (Undergraduate)".
- I can't find a career I know exists.
- Check Feeder degree type. On Degree, careers reached only without a degree are hidden; try All. Then try a shorter or plainer word, or the official title (for example "software developer" rather than "coder"). The list also stops at 300 careers, so search rather than scroll.
- Does the filter change the numbers, or only the list?
- Both. The filter decides which route cards are listed, and each ticked card brings its own route's figures to the results: its university count, pay and extra years count only routes of that kind. The same career on its graduate card can show different university counts and pay than on its undergraduate card.
- Why didn't the career I came from get ticked?
- The page ticks it only if it is in the list that loads first, on a single route. If the filter hides it, the career is listed on more than one route, or it has no data in the state you picked, nothing is ticked. Search for it and tick it, or switch the filter.
- Do my ticks survive if I leave the page?
- Ticks are kept while you search and filter on the page. Reloading the page or changing the state clears them. After you compare, the results page's address holds your careers, so you can bookmark it.
- The list shows a line starting with ⚠. What happened?
- The site could not load the list, for example because many searches were sent in a short time. Wait a moment, then type again or reload the page.
- Why do two similar careers show very different pay?
- Each career is a separate occupation in the wage survey, with its own pay in your state. Titles that sound alike can cover different duties, settings and levels of training.
What this does NOT do
- It is not a job board. It does not list openings or employers.
- It is not career advice, and it does not rank which career you should choose.
- Salaries and the 20-year line are estimates from historical wages, not guarantees.
- It stores nothing about you. Your ticks stay in the page; the results page holds them in its address. You only sign in to save a report.
- It does not compare more than five careers at once, and it does not mix careers with degrees or pathways in one table.
- The Selected Careers names cannot be clicked to remove them; untick the box in the list instead.
Related
- Compare: picking a mode
- Reading comparison results
- Compare degrees
- Compare non-degree pathways
- Careers and A career's detail page, where the Stack against another career → links start.
- ROI Calculator
- Live pages: Compare Careers, Compare, Careers.