Ground Transportation

Types of Degrees Ground Transportation Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many ground transportation graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Basic Certificate	20,689
Undergraduate Certificate	672
Associate Degree	119

What Ground Transportation Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to ground transport were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Ground Transport Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

Skills for Ground Transport Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to ground transport:

• Operation and Control - Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
• Operation Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Abilities for Ground Transport Majors

A major in ground transport will prepare for your careers in which the following abilities are important:

• Control Precision - The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Multilimb Coordination - The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
• Far Vision - The ability to see details at a distance.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

What Can You Do With a Ground Transportation Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with ground transport:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Bus Drivers, School or Special Client	5.4%	$32,420
Bus Drivers, Transit and Intercity	9.0%	$42,080
Crane and Tower Operators	8.5%	$54,140
Dredge Operators	5.6%	$45,260
Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas	19.9%	$44,430
Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators	8.1%	$44,270
Extraction Workers	14.3%	$54,840
First-Line Supervisors of Transportation and Material-Moving Machine and Vehicle Operators	6.6%	NA
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers	5.8%	$43,680
Highway Maintenance Workers	6.9%	$39,690
Light Truck or Delivery Services Drivers	6.5%	$32,810
Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators	12.3%	$47,810
Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators	12.1%	$39,780
Pile-Driver Operators	13.5%	$58,680
Rail Transportation Workers	4.3%	$55,410
Rail Yard Engineers, Dinkey Operators, and Hostlers	4.5%	$52,630
Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators	8.6%	$56,930
Subway and Streetcar Operators	4.7%	$68,170

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Ground Transportation?

Ground Transportation runs middle of the road when it comes to popularity, ranking #44 out of all the trade school majors we track. In 2021, about 125 graduates completed their associate’s degree in this field. This major attracts more men than women. About 94% of the graduates in this field are male.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of ground transport majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	1
Black or African American	4
Hispanic or Latino	8
White	97
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	9

How Much Do Ground Transportation Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Ground Transport majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $45,570 to $58,520 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Ground Transportation

Some degrees associated with ground transport may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

Find out what the typical degree level is for ground transport careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	12.6%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	62.6%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	12.7%
Some College Courses	5.7%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	3.1%
Bachelor’s Degree	1.4%
Master’s Degree	1.2%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	0.1%
Doctoral Degree	0.2%

Online Ground Transportation Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	53	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	2	0
Associate’s Degree	15	0
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Ground Transportation Worth It?

The median salary for a ground transport grad is $54,300 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 36% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $288,000 after 20 years!

Trades Related to Ground Transportation

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to ground transport.

Major	Number of Grads
Air Transportation	10,326
Marine Transportation	1,493
Other Transportation & Materials Moving	7

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.