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Table 9. Master's degrees awarded to women, by field of degree and citizenship status of recipients: 2008–18

Field 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Female master's degree recipients, all fields 382,740 401,995 421,358 443,154 455,736 453,745 455,240 455,697 468,924 481,457 497,013
Science and engineering 90,449 96,964 102,307 110,677 120,206 127,336 134,107 140,822 152,428 161,321 169,490
Science 82,723 88,623 93,775 101,203 110,144 116,827 122,889 128,293 138,383 146,899 154,744
Computer and information sciences 4,596 4,869 4,963 5,508 5,843 6,263 7,088 9,607 12,372 14,394 15,104
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 815 868 951 940 1,019 1,053 1,122 1,145 1,141 1,134 1,110
Atmospheric sciences 73 91 94 86 93 91 111 90 76 104 91
Earth sciences 546 548 593 607 675 715 700 752 723 697 658
Ocean sciences 196 229 264 247 251 247 311 303 342 333 361
Life sciences 47,660 51,147 54,958 60,207 66,628 71,653 76,355 80,678 86,808 92,783 98,418
Agricultural sciences and natural resources 2,422 2,509 2,627 2,948 3,335 3,357 3,480 3,436 3,632 3,687 3,886
Biological and biomedical sciences 5,501 5,638 6,021 6,287 6,934 7,272 7,612 8,136 8,642 9,356 10,126
Health sciences 39,737 43,000 46,310 50,972 56,359 61,024 65,263 69,106 74,534 79,740 84,406
Mathematics and Statistics 2,207 2,246 2,376 2,517 2,711 2,927 3,244 3,380 3,908 4,490 5,230
Physical sciences 1,565 1,514 1,621 1,657 1,689 1,698 1,716 1,678 1,694 1,726 1,755
Astronomy 62 57 55 70 50 76 66 62 57 70 50
Chemistry 1,035 997 1,055 1,081 1,132 1,130 1,122 1,109 1,145 1,137 1,116
Physics 378 371 410 404 409 401 439 436 433 441 495
Other physical sciences 90 89 101 102 98 91 89 71 59 78 94
Psychology and social sciences 25,880 27,979 28,906 30,374 32,254 33,233 33,364 31,805 32,460 32,372 33,127
Anthropology 740 817 815 801 825 789 863 805 759 765 837
Economics 1,210 1,315 1,312 1,529 1,553 1,589 1,666 1,591 1,612 1,668 1,679
Political science 994 995 1,041 1,086 1,109 975 971 879 826 773 841
Psychology 14,916 16,362 16,646 17,644 19,076 19,852 20,005 18,926 19,856 19,473 20,007
Sociology 1,052 1,053 962 1,040 1,131 1,086 1,099 974 873 923 913
Other social sciences 6,968 7,437 8,130 8,274 8,560 8,942 8,760 8,630 8,534 8,770 8,850
Engineering 7,726 8,341 8,532 9,474 10,062 10,509 11,218 12,529 14,045 14,422 14,746
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 172 169 157 196 191 190 207 178 240 244 269
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 531 539 554 604 732 797 760 947 1,000 1,101 1,229
Chemical engineering 313 343 351 406 507 517 499 530 566 633 693
Civil engineering 967 1,036 1,090 1,264 1,422 1,522 1,516 1,522 1,627 1,588 1,702
Electrical, electronics, and communications engineering 1,725 1,725 1,706 1,795 1,856 1,842 2,006 2,719 3,186 2,933 2,716
Industrial and manufacturing engineering 925 1,066 1,180 1,345 1,439 1,400 1,507 1,561 1,687 1,848 2,054
Materials science engineering 203 227 215 229 311 325 337 336 375 411 400
Mechanical engineering 654 692 685 770 740 820 937 1,062 1,114 1,201 1,133
Other engineering 2,236 2,544 2,594 2,865 2,864 3,096 3,449 3,674 4,250 4,463 4,550
Non-science and engineering 292,291 305,031 319,051 332,477 335,530 326,409 321,133 314,875 316,496 320,136 327,523
Education 141,268 144,125 146,342 148,952 142,895 132,658 124,564 118,887 118,264 118,951 120,053
Humanities and arts 23,707 24,596 26,441 26,922 28,184 27,850 27,234 26,540 26,352 25,456 26,009
Technologies 6,737 7,277 9,423 9,785 11,001 12,291 13,479 14,299 14,874 16,912 17,787
Other non-science and engineering/unknown 120,579 129,033 136,845 146,818 153,450 153,610 155,856 155,149 157,006 158,817 163,674
U.S. citizens and permanent residents, all fieldsa 351,519 368,225 386,376 406,035 416,202 411,558 407,741 403,093 410,150 419,117 432,292
Science and engineering 78,526 83,716 88,517 95,800 104,349 110,166 115,197 118,123 124,966 131,187 137,876
Science 74,002 79,015 83,841 90,480 98,775 104,443 109,457 112,283 119,034 125,087 131,419
Computer and information sciences 2,534 2,446 2,653 2,928 3,065 3,303 3,668 4,031 4,254 4,622 5,096
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 711 771 835 823 887 905 978 997 992 957 984
Atmospheric sciences 62 80 72 77 73 72 92 64 55 74 73
Earth sciences 474 482 522 521 582 608 599 650 618 576 569
Ocean sciences 175 209 241 225 232 225 287 283 319 307 342
Life sciences 44,885 48,156 51,663 56,658 62,857 67,680 72,178 76,306 82,207 87,876 93,070
Agricultural sciences and natural resources 2,075 2,145 2,239 2,561 2,896 2,882 2,951 2,893 3,041 3,074 3,234
Biological and biomedical sciences 4,621 4,638 4,991 5,189 5,788 6,084 6,355 6,682 7,254 7,821 8,517
Health sciences 38,189 41,373 44,433 48,908 54,173 58,714 62,872 66,731 71,912 76,981 81,319
Mathematics and Statistics 1,387 1,318 1,337 1,426 1,509 1,513 1,570 1,501 1,616 1,773 1,857
Physical sciences 1,081 1,018 1,097 1,108 1,098 1,132 1,108 1,052 1,074 1,128 1,137
Astronomy 50 45 44 53 39 67 48 47 43 59 40
Chemistry 726 666 707 723 717 733 726 704 738 745 755
Physics 219 224 252 243 258 255 263 242 249 259 269
Other physical sciences 86 83 94 89 84 77 71 59 44 65 73
Psychology and social sciences 23,404 25,306 26,256 27,537 29,359 29,910 29,955 28,396 28,891 28,731 29,275
Anthropology 693 745 750 756 773 729 804 745 701 695 759
Economics 562 602 661 702 765 637 649 638 628 611 573
Political science 843 850 911 951 948 830 830 723 679 638 705
Psychology 14,397 15,870 16,128 17,096 18,466 19,156 19,357 18,300 19,075 18,746 19,236
Sociology 972 947 866 944 1,031 964 997 871 775 834 809
Other social sciences 5,937 6,292 6,940 7,088 7,376 7,594 7,318 7,119 7,033 7,207 7,193
Engineering 4,524 4,701 4,676 5,320 5,574 5,723 5,740 5,840 5,932 6,100 6,457
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 144 131 121 138 144 142 165 134 166 159 168
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 383 356 367 413 517 507 478 629 632 694 810
Chemical engineering 169 193 178 197 223 226 203 248 244 299 301
Civil engineering 696 722 748 900 1,002 1,054 1,012 944 974 926 932
Electrical, electronics, and communications engineering 551 469 474 525 489 459 490 489 509 469 479
Industrial and manufacturing engineering 551 630 668 769 821 804 805 812 722 777 920
Materials science engineering 120 118 117 122 166 170 161 155 166 195 187
Mechanical engineering 440 449 447 503 467 536 563 630 611 668 655
Other engineering 1,470 1,633 1,556 1,753 1,745 1,825 1,863 1,799 1,908 1,913 2,005
Non-science and engineering 272,993 284,509 297,859 310,235 311,853 301,392 292,544 284,970 285,184 287,930 294,416
Education 137,238 140,091 142,508 145,166 139,302 129,430 121,006 115,277 114,604 115,386 116,634
Humanities and arts 21,270 22,019 23,687 24,187 25,243 24,860 23,968 22,964 22,414 21,506 21,797
Technologies 6,381 6,950 9,003 9,444 10,599 11,893 13,019 13,737 14,208 16,039 16,876
Other non-science and engineering/unknown 108,104 115,449 122,661 131,438 136,709 135,209 134,551 132,992 133,958 134,999 139,109
Temporary visa holders, all fields 31,221 33,770 34,982 37,119 39,534 42,187 47,499 52,604 58,774 62,340 64,721
Science and engineering 11,923 13,248 13,790 14,877 15,857 17,170 18,910 22,699 27,462 30,134 31,614
Science 8,721 9,608 9,934 10,723 11,369 12,384 13,432 16,010 19,349 21,812 23,325
Computer and information sciences 2,062 2,423 2,310 2,580 2,778 2,960 3,420 5,576 8,118 9,772 10,008
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 104 97 116 117 132 148 144 148 149 177 126
Atmospheric sciences 11 11 22 9 20 19 19 26 21 30 18
Earth sciences 72 66 71 86 93 107 101 102 105 121 89
Ocean sciences 21 20 23 22 19 22 24 20 23 26 19
Life sciences 2,775 2,991 3,295 3,549 3,771 3,973 4,177 4,372 4,601 4,907 5,348
Agricultural sciences and natural resources 347 364 388 387 439 475 529 543 591 613 652
Biological and biomedical sciences 880 1,000 1,030 1,098 1,146 1,188 1,257 1,454 1,388 1,535 1,609
Health sciences 1,548 1,627 1,877 2,064 2,186 2,310 2,391 2,375 2,622 2,759 3,087
Mathematics and Statistics 820 928 1,039 1,091 1,202 1,414 1,674 1,879 2,292 2,717 3,373
Physical sciences 484 496 524 549 591 566 608 626 620 598 618
Astronomy 12 12 11 17 11 9 18 15 14 11 10
Chemistry 309 331 348 358 415 397 396 405 407 392 361
Physics 159 147 158 161 151 146 176 194 184 182 226
Other physical sciences 4 6 7 13 14 14 18 12 15 13 21
Psychology and social sciences 2,476 2,673 2,650 2,837 2,895 3,323 3,409 3,409 3,569 3,641 3,852
Anthropology 47 72 65 45 52 60 59 60 58 70 78
Economics 648 713 651 827 788 952 1,017 953 984 1,057 1,106
Political science 151 145 130 135 161 145 141 156 147 135 136
Psychology 519 492 518 548 610 696 648 626 781 727 771
Sociology 80 106 96 96 100 122 102 103 98 89 104
Other social sciences 1,031 1,145 1,190 1,186 1,184 1,348 1,442 1,511 1,501 1,563 1,657
Engineering 3,202 3,640 3,856 4,154 4,488 4,786 5,478 6,689 8,113 8,322 8,289
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 28 38 36 58 47 48 42 44 74 85 101
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 148 183 187 191 215 290 282 318 368 407 419
Chemical engineering 144 150 173 209 284 291 296 282 322 334 392
Civil engineering 271 314 342 364 420 468 504 578 653 662 770
Electrical, electronics, and communications engineering 1,174 1,256 1,232 1,270 1,367 1,383 1,516 2,230 2,677 2,464 2,237
Industrial and manufacturing engineering 374 436 512 576 618 596 702 749 965 1,071 1,134
Materials science engineering 83 109 98 107 145 155 176 181 209 216 213
Mechanical engineering 214 243 238 267 273 284 374 432 503 533 478
Other engineering 766 911 1,038 1,112 1,119 1,271 1,586 1,875 2,342 2,550 2,545
Non-science and engineering 19,298 20,522 21,192 22,242 23,677 25,017 28,589 29,905 31,312 32,206 33,107
Education 4,030 4,034 3,834 3,786 3,593 3,228 3,558 3,610 3,660 3,565 3,419
Humanities and arts 2,437 2,577 2,754 2,735 2,941 2,990 3,266 3,576 3,938 3,950 4,212
Technologies 356 327 420 341 402 398 460 562 666 873 911
Other non-science and engineering/unknown 12,475 13,584 14,184 15,380 16,741 18,401 21,305 22,157 23,048 23,818 24,565
a These categories include U.S. citizens and foreign citizens on permanent visas (i.e., resident aliens who have been admitted for permanent residency).
NOTE: See technical table A-1 for specific fields included in each category.
SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, special tabulations (2020) of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions Survey, National Center for Education Statistics.