Roster of Physics Departments with Enrollment and Degree Data, 2024

The Physics Roster is a listing of all degree-granting physics departments in the US. It includes enrollment data for the fall of 2024 and the degrees conferred during the 2023-24 academic year. These data come from AIP’s annual departmental survey of Enrollments and Degrees.

In the 2023-24 academic year, U.S. institutions awarded 7,776 physics bachelor’s degrees, marking the fourth consecutive year of decline. This downturn follows two decades of steady growth in the number of degrees conferred. The 2023-24 total represents a 6% decrease from the previous year and a 16% drop from the all-time high of 9,296 degrees awarded in 2019-20. Departments whose highest physics degree offered is a bachelor’s or master’s have experienced the largest declines (see figure on page 19). Despite this downward trend, junior-level physics major enrollments have risen by 7% over the past two years, suggesting that the decline in bachelor’s degree awards may soon reverse.

There were 1,945 physics PhDs conferred in the 2023-24 academic, a 1.5% decrease from the previous year and 3.5% below the all-time high reached two years earlier (see figure on page 19). In fall 2024, there were 17,631 enrolled physics graduate students, 44% of whom were non-U.S. citizens. Total graduate student enrollment has been steadily increasing for the past two and a half decades.