10 High Paying Social Science Careers

If you are interested in culture, history and human behavior, you may be interested in some related careers such as politics, economic systems and so on.

There are lots of options among social science careers that can interest you and give you lots of new knowledge and opportunities.

Also, it should be mentioned that there are numerous social science careers that are really fruitful.

In this article, you can find a list of options that can provide you not only with an interesting job but also – some really high salary.

Political Scientist

Are you interested in politics?

In such a case you should consider choosing a political science career.

This job is the most fruitful among all social science careers.

Also, it is really interesting and exciting as you are going to work with some relevant data and latest info.

Working as a political scientist, you are going to learn about political systems, latest trends, and tendencies as well as some ideas and policies.

Among your responsibilities, there are researches, data analysis, theories development.

Political scientist uses received data to make predictions on upcoming patterns, trends, and changes.

Moreover, based on the researches, political scientist analyzes the latest laws, events, policies, and ideologies.

If you want to learn about career options, there are some spheres where you can start your career.

About 50% of political scientists work within the government or for political lobbying groups.

Also, you can look for some options at labor and nonprofit organizations or academic institutions.

Keep in mind that there are some fields you can choose from:

• American politics;
• International relations;
• Comparative politics;
• Political theory.

Nowadays, there aren’t many political scientists employed in the USA nevertheless, the sphere develops rapidly and new options appear constantly.

Median Salary: $102,000
Education: Master’s Degree in Political Science or Public Administration

Economist

The economy is an important part of our everyday life and a career in this sphere can be a great option.

Just think over this opportunity considering your abilities.

Working as an economist you are going to study numerous economics aspects such as production and distribution of goods and services.

Economists investigate numerous issues using surveys, analysis, databases, statistics, and spreadsheets.

Using current data and historical facts, economists make predictions on changes to help companies and the government.

The results of the economic findings can be presented in numerous forms so a good economist should be familiar with all of them.

You should know that the economy deals with not only money issues but with the problems related to all types of resources.

Working as an economist, you can find a job in such career fields as:

• finances;
• labor economics;
• industrial organization economics;
• financial economics;
• international economics;
• macroeconomics;
• microeconomics.

Only about half of economists work in jobs provided by the federal government.

Working as an economist for the government you may perform such duties as funding and spending needs prediction, the economic ramifications of policies study, economic data gathering and evaluation.

If you don’t like the federal government career options, you may find a number of jobs provided by private companies.

Moreover, there is a bunch of other offers such as mass media.

Lately, this major is getting more popular, we also featured this one in our best majors for undecided students list.

Median Salary: $91,860
Education: Master’s Degree in Economics

Industrial-Organizational Psychologist

Some people think that this career is absolutely useless and fruitless.

Nevertheless, it’s not true as industrial-organizational psychologists have lots of important tasks and duties and their job is well paid.

These specialists use psychology principles to improve the work environment and make it more comfortable and profitable.

You should know that such specialists are required in various spheres, companies, and departments.

Usually, industrial-organizational psychologists help with employees’ hiring and training, company policies creation, and development strategy planning.

Also, they work with employees helping them to resolve some workplace problems and improve their results at work.

Among the main duties of an industrial-organizational psychologist there are:

• workplace behavior investigation;
• team effectiveness analysis;
• employee motivation improvement;
• occupational stress and risks evaluation;
• job performance analysis.

Using the received data, they help companies to choose the best employees and improve their skills and abilities that result in company development.

Median Salary: $83,580
Education:  Master’s Degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology 

Sociologist

Those who are interested in people’s interaction issues should consider becoming a sociologist.

This specialist study people’s behavior, their interaction, and communication within cultures, nations, countries, organizations and other groups.

It helps them to develop some theories that aim to explain our behavior, communication, and relationships.

Psychologists held numerous researches, interviews, observations to gather data.

Later all this info is analyzed and presented in various reports and articles.

Usually, data provided by sociologists is used for various reforms in such fields as:

• education;
• law;
• policy;
• administration;
• social studies;
• politics;
• religion;
• economy.

The most part of sociologists works in various academic institutions.

Nevertheless, there are lots of other career options such as government positions, management, and consulting companies.

Keep in mind, that most sociologists choose one specific field for their researches.

Median Salary: $74,960
Education: Master’s Degree in Sociology

Geographer

If you are interested in both social and physical science, you should consider choosing a career in geography.

Working as a geographer, you are going to study the earth including both its physical features and cultures of various countries.

Geographers use maps, satellite imagery, photographs, and census responses as well as interviews and people’s observation to held studies.

It gives an opportunity not only to learn data and statistics but also get first-hand info to gain a better understanding of a territory and its culture.

Geographers use such methods as:

• remote sensing;
• geographic information systems (GIS) and global positioning systems (GPS);
• notice patterns and visually present their findings.

Also, working as a geographer, you should be able to work with maps, tables, graphs, and diagrams.

Consider that there are lots of career options for geographers including physical geographers, human geographers, cultural geographers, political geographers, economic geographers, medical geographers, urban geographers, regional geographers, and environmental geographers.

Depending on the chosen field, you should obtain a bunch of specific skills as well as a good understanding of geography issues.

Geographers provide support for the government, private organizations, and businesses.

Median Salary: $74,760
Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Geography

Psychologist

If you are one of those individuals who are interested in people’s behavior and thinking, a psychologist is a perfect career option for you.

This specialist investigates the human’s way of thinking and behavior.

They aim to analyze people’s way of life observing and interviewing them.

With the help of various tests, observations, and questionnaires, psychologists reveal patterns and models of our behavior, emotions, feelings, and thinking.

Such specialists can work in numerous fields and organizations including educational institutions, government agencies, healthcare facilities, research centers, social assistance programs, and so on.

You should know that there are lots of various fields in psychology so you can choose the one you like most of all.

Clinical psychologists work in the healthcare sphere and provide such services as mental health disorders diagnose and treatment, psychotherapy, behavior modification, and others.

Speaking of counseling psychologists, they work with patients to help them overcome some personal problems and issues.

School psychologists work with students in order to support them during their study and help them succeed in education.

There is a bunch of other fields that mainly focus on researches and theoretical aspects

There are development psychologists that study issues related to aging and behavior specifics depending on age.

Social psychologists deal with the influence of society on an individual’s behavior and thinking.

Forensic psychologists are specialists that work in the legislative field.

Median Salary: $69,280
Education: Ph.D. in Psychology or Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.)

Urban & Regional Planner

The land is a very important resource that should be used properly that’s why urban and regional planners are very important.

These specialists evaluate a piece of land and decide on the best way to use it properly and make it profitable for a community depending on its needs and culture.

To make it, such specialists need to hold some researches to learn more about a community, its needs, market, environment, census responses.

To make it possible, you should be able to use systems (GIS) that can help you to display data received during your researches.

Usually, urban and regional planners are obliged to work with land developers and public officials.

It’s an important part of a planner’s job as such specialists need to take into consideration numerous aspects such as environmental regulations and zoning, and so on.

Also, there are some planners that should supervise rather big community projects.

The main part of urban and regional planners work for some governmental agencies and organizations.

Also, you can start your career in such fields as architecture and engineering, state government and consulting.

Despite the specifics of your job, your main duties will be identifying and meeting community needs.

To make it possible, you are going to plan and update such facilities as schools, hospitals, shelters, environmental and natural resources, and so on.

Median Salary: $65,230
Education: Master’s Degree in Urban or Regional Planning 

Anthropologist & Archeologist

There are some social scientists that aim to learn more about humanity using a hands-on approach.

There are archeologists and anthropologists that study our history, culture, physical and biological aspects to learn more about people’s life.

They make numerous hypotheses about people’s culture, behavior, evolution, development.

After it, anthropologists make researches using interviews, experiments and excavations to prove their suggestions.

There is a bunch of tools such as GIS, special software, an analysis that help social scientists to get results and understand humanity better.

Speaking of archeologists, their goal is to learn about our past studying ancient cities, buildings, skeletons.

There are such career options as:

• historical sites;
• national parks;
• museums;
• services called cultural resource management (CRM) firms.

At the same time, anthropologists study some contemporary aspects of humanity such as violence, hunger or poverty.

These specialists work in such fields as cultural, linguistic and biological anthropology.

Of course, archeologists may also work in these areas but still, they learn these aspects during a certain period of time in the past.

Median Salary: $57,420
Education: Master’s Degree in Anthropology or Archeology

Historian

Do you like learning about the past of humanity?

Historian is a great career option for you.

These specialists learn various resources such as books, archives, periodicals to learn more about the past of humanity.

Also, they verify documents to check whether they are authentic and make everything possible to keep various artifacts and locations safe.

There are historians that held researches and publish books to provide us with more info about our past.

At the same time, there are specialists that learn our past in order to resolve some current issues such as government policies or legal matters.

About a half of historians work for the government.

Also, such specialists can find a bunch of career options in historical societies, museums, archives, research and nonprofit organizations, and consulting companies.

You should know that most historians choose some specific fields such as government agencies and programs, historic battle sites and the history of certain religious groups, countries or communities.

Median Salary: $52,480
Education:  Master’s Degree in History, Archival Management, Museum Studies or Historical Preservation

Survey Researcher

Most social scientists use surveys’ data to perform their studies.

Nevertheless, it’s important to remember that a good survey result requires appropriate data entry.

Survey researchers are professionals that aim to provide high-quality researches result so they can be interpreted and used in the future.

Such specialists make background researches, consider its purposes, and choose the methods and tools that should be used for further research.

Also, survey researches test their methods and tools to make sure that they are effective and comprehensible.

Moreover, they should be able to reveal the group of people that can take part in researches.

Finally, survey researchers use their skills and knowledge to analyze the data and provide the results making tables and diagrams.

If you decided to become a survey researcher, you can find a job in academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, corporations, research firms, government agencies, and polling organizations.

Just keep in mind that such specialists work in numerous fields such as politics, economy, sociology and so on.

Median Salary: $45,050
Education: Master’s Degree in Survey Research, Statistics or Marketing Research

One Last Thing:

If you’re not interested in studying to get a degree, jump over to my list of fun jobs that pay well (no degree required).

Good luck!

Frequently Asked Questions

What jobs can you get with a social science degree?

With a social science degree, you can become a teacher, an analyst, or a researcher.

Often a degree in social science is a prerequisite for an advanced degree such as a MA or a doctorate, and with that, you can become a political scientist, economist, sociologist, or psychologist.

With a social science degree, you could get any job that is related to social issues.

Is social science a good major?

Social science can be a good major if you are looking to work in this field.

You are more likely to get a job faster than someone with an arts or science degree, for example.

A social science degree will strengthen your critical thinking and research skills, which can be applied to many jobs.

You could be a teacher, a researcher, or any job involving social issues.

Is industrial/organizational psychologist a career in demand?

Industrial/Organizational Psychologists is a growing field for industry.

Employment growth is expected to be at about three percent through 2029.

There are not a lot of people with this title, but there are jobs for those with the proper education and experience.

It is a relatively new field, and there are many versions of this type of job.

Does Google hire industrial psychologists?

Google does employ some people with psychology degrees, and that could include a person with an industrial psychology degree.

Most jobs at Google involve computer science.

Having a degree in computer science would help your chances.

Google psychologists work on things like fonts, and ways to get people to stay on the app.

Do anthropologists work with archaeologists?

Anthropologists could work with archaeologists.

An archaeologist studies evidence of past cultures.

An anthropologist studies the changing nature of the biology of humans and is more concerned with the present.

They could give each other valuable information in each other’s work.

Both work towards understanding human culture but in different ways.

Is it hard to get a job in anthropology?

Jobs for anthropologists are expected to grow by about seven percent through 2029, which is average for most fields of study.

About 800 new jobs per year are expected to open in this field in the coming years.

There is not a tremendous demand but not many seeking this degree either.

What government jobs can I get with a sociology degree?

There are several jobs you can get with a social science degree.

At the local level, you could be a public health analyst or an urban planner.

At the state level, you could be a case management coordinator or a social research assistant.

At the national level, you could be a planner, a data reviewer, or an FBI agent.