What can you do with a journalism degree?
Where journalism graduates actually work, and how exposed those jobs are to AI. Built from ACS 2020-2024 5-year PUMS: 25,612 people whose bachelor's degree is in this field, aged 22-64.
Journalism is a degree that leads to many jobs besides journalism. About 4.5 in 100 people with a journalism bachelor's degree work as reporters and journalists, the largest single occupation. Add writers and authors at about 3.2 in 100, editors at about 2.7 in 100 and public relations specialists at about 2.2 in 100, and the writing trades together hold roughly 13 in 100 graduates.
The rest are spread widely. Marketing managers are about 4 in 100 and market research analysts about 2.5 in 100. Lawyers and elementary and middle school teachers are each about 2.6 in 100, producers and directors about 2.4 in 100, and customer service representatives about 1.6 in 100.
About 41 in 100 graduates work in roles we do not score. The largest are managers in other roles at about 5 in 100, chief executives and legislators at about 2 in 100, public relations and fundraising managers at about 1. 6 in 100 and postsecondary teachers at about 1. 5 in 100. This page covers about 59% of graduates.
The figures come from Census data on more than 25,000 people with a journalism degree, matched to the occupation pages on this site.
How exposed are journalism jobs to AI?
No single verdict fits yet. About 64 in 100 of the graduates in jobs we score work in jobs we rate At risk, led by reporters and journalists (structural exposure 92 out of 100), marketing managers (91), writers and authors (96) and editors (92). That is below the 70% our rule needs for an At risk label, and we score only 59% of graduates, so we do not give one.
Another 23 in 100 work in AI-resistant despite the paperwork jobs such as lawyers and elementary teachers, and 13 in 100 in Safe jobs.
BLS projects little or no change in employment for writers and authors from 2025 to 2035 and says increasing use of AI for writing is projected to dampen demand. For news analysts, reporters and journalists it projects a 6% decline, which it ties to falling advertising revenue and newsroom consolidation rather than to AI. At risk describes how exposed the jobs are.
The Census working paper does find journalism graduates' 2024 employment and earnings below the average major's change since 2022, but it is one paper not yet through the Bureau's review, and the gap is not proof that AI caused it. Confidence is insufficient.
These figures cover the 59% of journalism graduates who work in occupations we score. The other 41% work in roles we do not cover (largest: Other Managers; Chief Executives and Legislators; Public Relations and Fundraising Managers). Signal 01 averages each job's own structural exposure, weighted by how many graduates work there; it describes tasks, not whether jobs will disappear.
Where journalism graduates actually work
These 10 occupations account for 31% of journalism graduates. The rest are spread across many smaller occupations, each under 1%. Graduates often work outside the field.
What the research says about AI and journalism graduates
Little of the research looks at journalism directly. The Census Bureau working paper (CES 26-56, September 2026, not yet through the Bureau's publication review) puts journalism in its most exposed tenth of majors, with an exposure score close to accounting's. Its appendix table, based on about 21,500 journalism graduates from 2018 to 2022, lists a 2024 employment estimate 1. 1 points below, and an earnings estimate 6. 6 log points below, the average major's change since 2022.
These compare majors with each other; they do not show that AI caused the gap. The paper uses journalism to show why the measure matters: its graduates and accounting graduates have similar average exposure, but 36% of journalism graduates' occupations fall in the most exposed fifth, against 16% for accounting.
The Dallas Fed paper covers Texas public universities only and names computer science, computer engineering and languages as most exposed, not journalism. The NBER paper's abstract reports that recent-graduate unemployment did not spike in summer 2026, and the text of Employ America's July 2025 analysis does not discuss journalism. The studies disagree about how much of any graduate weakness is due to AI, and none of them says how exposed newsroom work is as an occupation.
That comes from our own research on reporters and journalists.
Read the full evidence review: what the studies say about AI and graduate jobs →
Degrees whose graduates work in similar jobs
How this page was built
Graduate shares come from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 2020-2024 5-year PUMS), field of degree "Journalism" (code 1902), weighted to the population. Each occupation we cover is scored with the numbers already published on its own page on this site, then averaged by graduate share. Occupations without a page are shown but never scored. Graduates aged 22-64 are included, so the mix reflects the whole working-age group, not only recent graduates. The survey records the most recent occupation of people who were not working when surveyed (unemployed or out of the labor force), and they are counted in it: across the degrees on this site that is about 9 in 100 graduates, between 6 and 13 in 100 depending on the degree, so "work as" on this page means "work or last worked as". Sources: www2.census.gov, www2.census.gov, www.dallasfed.org, www.nber.org, employamerica.org, www.bls.gov, www.bls.gov, www.bls.gov, www.bls.gov. This page is general information, not career or educational advice.