RoleMath

Cited, not ranked

AI degree programs, mapped honestly

Most “AI degree” sites rank programs and pass you to a school for a referral fee. This page does something different: it shows what an AI degree is in federal data, the occupations the government maps it to, and what those occupations actually pay — each figure cited, with no paid ranking or request-info routing.

What counts as an AI degree

The federal classification

The U.S. Department of Education classifies an AI degree under CIP code 11.0102, “Artificial Intelligence”. Related fields in the current RoleMath data include Data Science, Computer Science, and Computer and Information Sciences. Individual programs differ by school and curriculum; the CIP code is simply how the government classifies the field — not a quality score, and not an endorsement of any program.

What they map to — with the source

The occupations each degree connects to, and what they pay

The federal CIP-SOC crosswalk connects each field of study to occupations by shared skills and knowledge. It does not track graduates, predict outcomes, rank programs, or prove that a degree causes pay. The pay shown below is BLS occupation-level wage context, not a salary any school or program produces. Entry-level roles sit below each median.

Artificial Intelligence CIP 11.0102

Other occupations the federal crosswalk maps this field to include: Computer Science Teachers Postsecondary. RoleMath does not show pay for those rows until BLS wage data is resolved in the corpus.

IPEDS completions identify 6-digit CIP programs; College Scorecard field-of-study data is a 4-digit rollup and must be labeled as broader context.

Data Science, General CIP 30.7001

Other occupations the federal crosswalk maps this field to include: Computer and Information Systems Managers, Natural Sciences Managers, Database Architects, Statisticians, and Postsecondary Teachers, All Other. RoleMath does not show pay for those rows until BLS wage data is resolved in the corpus.

IPEDS completions identify 6-digit CIP programs; College Scorecard field-of-study data is a 4-digit rollup and must be labeled as broader context.

Computer Science CIP 11.0701

Other occupations the federal crosswalk maps this field to include: Computer and Information Systems Managers, Computer Network Support Specialists, Database Architects, Computer Programmers, Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers, Web Developers, Web and Digital Interface Designers, and Computer Science Teachers Postsecondary. RoleMath does not show pay for those rows until BLS wage data is resolved in the corpus.

IPEDS completions identify 6-digit CIP programs; College Scorecard field-of-study data is a 4-digit rollup and must be labeled as broader context.

Computer and Information Sciences, General CIP 11.0101

Other occupations the federal crosswalk maps this field to include: Computer and Information Systems Managers, Database Administrators, Database Architects, Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers, Web and Digital Interface Designers, and Computer Science Teachers Postsecondary. RoleMath does not show pay for those rows until BLS wage data is resolved in the corpus.

IPEDS completions identify 6-digit CIP programs; College Scorecard field-of-study data is a 4-digit rollup and must be labeled as broader context.

AI careers: pay & outlook by occupation →Compare AI credential types →

The research path

Where a graduate degree genuinely fits: AI research

For most applied AI roles, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a bachelor’s as the typical entry-level education. The clear exception is the research path. The crosswalk maps these AI/data fields to Computer & Information Research Scientists (SOC 15-1221), the occupation for foundational AI/ML research — and for that occupation BLS lists a master’s degree as the typical entry-level education, with research positions often expecting a PhD. BLS reports a national median of $140,300 for that occupation (OEWS, May 2025) — occupation-level pay set by the role and location, not a return the degree itself produces, and entry-level sits below it. So the honest split is simple: applied roles rarely require a graduate degree; research roles usually do.

The GRE — and whether you need it →Which AI roles need which education →

Before you enroll

What to check on cost — and what is still pending

A degree is the most expensive path into these roles. Graduate tuition and required fees averaged $20,513 a year (NCES, 2021–22), so a one-to-two-year master’s commonly totals tens of thousands before living costs. Two government-published numbers cut through the marketing: a school’s net price and completion rate, both published through federal education data.

We do not yet show school-level cost or completion data on this page. The reviewed dataset currently has 0 school-level Scorecard records and 0 IPEDS six-digit program identities for these CIP pages. Until those federal records are sourced and reviewed, this page stays at the field/occupation level and does not list school cards, rankings, request-info links, or ROI claims.

Before you pay for an AI degree →See free & low-cost AI learning paths →

Source stack

The sources behind this page

Common questions

AI degree programs, answered honestly

What is an AI degree program?
In federal data, an AI degree is classified under CIP code 11.0102, Artificial Intelligence, a program category in the U.S. Department of Education Classification of Instructional Programs. Related fields include Data Science, Computer Science, and Computer and Information Sciences. Actual programs vary by school; the CIP code is how the government classifies them, not a quality rating.
What jobs does an AI degree lead to?
The federal CIP-SOC crosswalk maps Artificial Intelligence to occupations including Computer and Information Research Scientists (SOC 15-1221), Software Developers (SOC 15-1252), and Data Scientists (SOC 15-2051). That crosswalk matches fields of study to occupations by shared skills and knowledge, not by tracking graduates' actual jobs or pay.
How much do AI-related occupations pay?
Pay is set by the occupation and location, not by the degree. Current BLS national medians in this data include Computer and Information Research Scientists at $140,300, Software Developers at $135,980, and Data Scientists at $120,230. Entry-level roles sit below medians, and the figures are occupation-level context, not earnings caused by a program.
How do I tell if an AI degree program is worth the cost?
Check the school-level net price, tuition, accreditation, and completion rate from federal sources, then compare that cost against cheaper paths into the same occupations. RoleMath omits Scorecard program earnings from this page and does not calculate ROI.
Does RoleMath rank AI degrees or sell school placement?
No. RoleMath does not rank AI degree programs or take request-info lead-gen on this page. Recommendations are decided by cited data, never by who pays us; this page maps federal classifications to occupation context so you can decide honestly.

Decide with the sources, not a sales funnel

RoleMath maps AI degrees to cited occupation pay and the cheaper alternatives, ranks nothing for payout, and keeps recommendations tied to cited data, never to who pays us. If you want the cited path for your situation, build a plan.

Build a cited planIs an AI degree worth it? →