{"id":122,"date":"2026-09-03T19:41:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T19:41:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/?page_id=122---f20de9f8-4179-4708-aeb5-d4a8a674c6ad"},"modified":"2026-09-29T17:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T17:25:15","slug":"associate-degrees","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/associate-degrees\/","title":{"rendered":"Associate Degrees: Bang for Your Education Buck"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/associate-degrees\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-123\" src=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/associate3.jpg\" alt=\"associate3\" width=\"800\" height=\"5760\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><center><strong>Share this infographic on your site!<\/strong><\/center><textarea cols=\"70\" rows=\"3\">&lt;a href=&#8221;https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/associate-degrees\/&#8221;&gt;&lt;img src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/associate3.jpg&#8221; alt=&#8221;Associate Degrees&#8221; width=&#8221;500&#8243;  border=&#8221;0&#8243; \/&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&#8221;https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/&#8221;&gt;DegreeQuery.com&lt;\/a&gt;<\/textarea><\/p>\n<h2>The Best Jobs that Only Require an Associate Degree<\/h2>\n<p>With the cost of tuition at four-year colleges and universities growing out of control, it is no surprise people are more interested in two-year degrees. Let\u2019s take a look at how popular associate degrees are and how they are paying off.<\/p>\n<p><strong>28.2%:<\/strong> Associate degree holders who out-earn those with bachelor\u2019s degrees<br \/>\n<em>Median lifetime earnings by highest education attainment:<\/em><br \/>\nLess than high school $1,061,947<br \/>\nHigh school diploma $1,423,205<br \/>\nSome college\/no degree $1,688,419<br \/>\nAssociate degree $1,884,874<br \/>\nBachelor\u2019s degree $2,475,330<br \/>\nMaster\u2019s degree $2,915,170<br \/>\nDoctorate $3,549,283<br \/>\nProfessional degree $3,981,483<\/p>\n<h2>Best Jobs That Only Require an Associate Degree<\/h2>\n<p>The following are the best-paying jobs for which an associate degree will be sufficient to get hired.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Radiation therapist<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $38.71<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 20%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dental hygienist<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $35.23<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 38%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nuclear medicine technologist <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $35.39<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 19%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nuclear technician<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $35.15<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 14%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Diagnostic medical sonographer<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $33.23<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 44%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aerospace engineering and operations technician<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $29.99<\/p>\n<p><strong>Engineering technician <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $31.41<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 4%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Respiratory therapist<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong>$28.03<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 28%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Commercial pilot<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $47.25<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 11%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Electrical and electronics repairer<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $25.38<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 3%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Fashion designer<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $33.31<\/p>\n<p><strong>Aerospace engineering and operations technician<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $29.99<\/p>\n<p><strong>Paralegal<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $24.10<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 18%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Registered nurse<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $33.40<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 26%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Air traffic controller <\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> 55.77<\/p>\n<p><strong>Construction manager<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $43.30<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 17%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Police<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> 28.40<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 7%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Emergency management director<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $32.45<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 14%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Insurance claims adjuster<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $30.18<br \/>\n<strong>Growth through 2020:<\/strong> 3%<\/p>\n<p><strong>Chef<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Median hourly earnings:<\/strong> $20.97<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-124\" src=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/associate-thumb-290x300.jpg\" alt=\"associate-thumb\" width=\"290\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/associate-thumb-290x300.jpg 290w, https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/associate-thumb.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 290px) 100vw, 290px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Resources:<\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/best-online-associates-degrees\/\">Best Online Associates Degrees<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/fastest-online-associates-degrees\/\">Fastest Online Associates Degrees<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/easiest-online-associates-degrees\/\">Easiest Online Associates Degrees<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/top-10-paying-jobs-with-an-associates-degree\/\">Top 10 Paying Jobs With an Associate&#8217;s Degree<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/50-highest-paying-associates-degree-jobs\/\">50 Highest Paying Associate Degree Jobs<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/queries\/degree-need-become-air-traffic-controller\/\">How to Become an Air Traffic Controller: What Degree Do I Need?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bls.gov\">http:\/\/www.bls.gov<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www9.georgetown.edu\">http:\/\/www9.georgetown.edu<\/a><br \/>\nhttp:\/\/www.economicmodeling.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share this infographic on your site!&lt;a href=&#8221;https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/associate-degrees\/&#8221;&gt;&lt;img src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/associate3.jpg&#8221; alt=&#8221;Associate Degrees&#8221; width=&#8221;500&#8243; border=&#8221;0&#8243; \/&gt;&lt;\/a&gt;&lt;br \/&gt;Source: &lt;a href=&#8221;https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/&#8221;&gt;DegreeQuery.com&lt;\/a&gt; The Best Jobs that Only Require an Associate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"mobius_hide_qdf":false,"mobius_hide_el":false,"mobius_limit":"","mobius_degree":"","mobius_category":"","mobius_subject":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-122","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Associate Degrees: Bang for Your Education Buck - DegreeQuery.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/associate-degrees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Associate Degrees: Bang 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