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Online Economics Degrees: Programs & Careers (2026)
Key takeaway: Economics studies how people, firms, and governments allocate scarce resources, and how to test claims about that behavior against data. Online economics degrees are offered at both the bachelor’s level – usually as a BA or a BS in Economics – and the master’s level. The distinction between the two undergraduate tracks matters more than most applicants realize, because the BS carries the mathematics and econometrics that quantitative employers and graduate programs screen for. One honest caveat up front: the job title “economist” itself usually requires graduate study, so an economics bachelor’s is better understood as a strong quantitative and analytical major than as direct training for that one occupation. Compare accredited programs below.
Economics sits between the social sciences and applied mathematics. Coursework starts with intermediate microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, adds statistics and econometrics as the empirical toolkit, and then branches into fields such as labor, public finance, international trade, industrial organization, and development. Accredited online programs generally deliver the same curriculum and degree titles as campus programs; browse the best accredited online colleges to compare schools that offer them.
Schools Offering Economics Programs
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Careers and Wages for Economics Graduates
Economics graduates work in banks and investment firms, consulting practices, insurers, federal and state agencies, research institutes, technology companies, and nonprofits. The occupations below are commonly associated with economics coursework. Median annual wages come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program.
Entry requirements differ sharply across these occupations. The economist title, which had a median annual wage of $124,720 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS), typically requires a master’s or a PhD – federal economist positions are a partial exception, but even those generally expect substantial economics coursework and often graduate credit. Financial and investment analyst roles, at a median annual wage of $102,740 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS), are commonly entered with a bachelor’s degree. Management analyst roles, at a median annual wage of $101,860 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS), are also frequently bachelor’s-level entry points, though consulting firms often recruit from a narrow set of programs. Statistician roles, at a median annual wage of $105,650 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS), typically expect graduate coursework in statistics. Individual outcomes vary by employer, geography, and experience.
Quick Answers
What is an economics degree, and at what level is it offered?
An economics degree trains you to model how people and organizations respond to incentives and constraints, and to test those models against data. It is widely offered at the bachelor’s level as either a BA or a BS in Economics, and at the master’s level as an MA or MS in Economics or Applied Economics. Doctoral programs exist and are the research track.
What is the difference between a BA and a BS in economics?
Both cover the same theory core. The BS generally requires more mathematics – often calculus through multivariable, sometimes linear algebra – and a heavier econometrics sequence, while the BA substitutes additional liberal arts or language coursework. If you are aiming at quantitative analyst work or graduate study in economics, the BS track, or a BA with the math electives added, is the one that keeps those doors open.
Do economics programs require a lot of math?
More than most social science majors and less than a mathematics major. Expect at least one calculus course and a full statistics and econometrics sequence at any credible program. Intermediate microeconomics in particular is taught with calculus at many schools, and the math-intensive version is generally the one graduate programs want to see on a transcript.
Can I become an economist with a bachelor’s degree?
Usually not under that job title. Positions formally classified as economist typically require a master’s or a doctorate. A bachelor’s in economics is a common entry credential for analyst, research associate, and consulting roles, and it is a well-regarded preparation for MBA, law, public policy, and graduate economics programs.
Is there a programmatic accreditor for economics?
No. There is no recognized programmatic accreditor specific to economics degrees. Verify that the institution holds accreditation from a recognized institutional accreditor such as HLC or SACSCOC through the U.S. Department of Education database. If the economics degree is housed in a business school, that school may hold AACSB accreditation, which is a separate business-school credential rather than an evaluation of the economics curriculum.
What you’ll study
Economics curricula generally move through three layers, and the second one is where programs differ most.
The first layer is theory. Principles of microeconomics and macroeconomics introduce supply and demand, elasticity, market structure, national income accounting, and monetary policy. Intermediate microeconomics then rebuilds the same material rigorously: consumer choice as constrained optimization, production and cost functions, general equilibrium, and welfare analysis. Intermediate macroeconomics does the same for growth models, aggregate demand and supply, and the transmission of fiscal and monetary policy. At schools that teach the intermediate sequence with calculus, this is where the major becomes noticeably harder than the principles courses suggested.
The second layer is empirical method. Statistics covers probability, distributions, estimation, and hypothesis testing. Econometrics then applies that machinery to economic data: ordinary least squares, the assumptions it rests on, and what to do when those assumptions fail – heteroskedasticity, omitted variable bias, endogeneity, and serial correlation in time series. Stronger programs go past a single semester into causal inference methods such as instrumental variables, difference-in-differences, and regression discontinuity, and they make you run the analysis yourself in Stata, R, or Python rather than only reading about it. This is the layer employers screen for, and it is the layer that varies most between programs.
The third layer is field coursework. Labor economics, public finance, international trade and finance, money and banking, industrial organization, environmental economics, health economics, and development economics are common electives. Some programs add a mathematical economics course covering optimization, comparative statics, and dynamic models, which is close to required if you intend to pursue a doctorate.
At the bachelor’s level, expect roughly 120 credits, of which the economics major is typically 36 to 45. At the master’s level, expect roughly 30 to 36 credits built around advanced micro, advanced macro, and econometrics, with either a thesis or an applied capstone.
Careers for economics graduates
The work splits roughly into four shapes. Financial analysis roles value securities, build forecasts, and evaluate investments – these are the most direct bachelor’s-level destination and the one where the finance and accounting electives pay off. Consulting and management analysis roles apply economic reasoning to pricing, market entry, competition, and operations questions; economic consulting in particular hires economics majors specifically for the econometrics training. Government and policy roles at agencies, regulators, and central banks analyze programs and forecast conditions, and these are where the research assistant position often functions as a two-year audition for a doctoral program. Research and academic roles produce original economic research and are the ones that genuinely require the economist title and the graduate degree behind it.
Economics is also one of the more common undergraduate majors among applicants to law school, MBA programs, and public policy master’s programs, because the analytical writing and quantitative reasoning it demands transfer well. For general labor-market context on the occupations economics graduates commonly enter, see the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook.
How to choose an online economics program
- Accreditation – confirm recognized institutional accreditation through the U.S. Department of Education database. There is no programmatic accreditor for this field, so institutional accreditation is the check that matters.
- BA or BS, and the math behind it – check exactly which calculus and statistics courses the major requires, and whether intermediate microeconomics is taught with calculus. This single detail separates programs that prepare you for quantitative work from programs that do not.
- Econometrics depth – look for more than one econometrics course, and confirm you will use statistical software on real data rather than only working problem sets.
- Field electives offered online – verify that the upper-division fields you care about are actually delivered online, and in which terms, rather than merely listed in the catalog.
- Format and pace – compare accelerated options against standard-pace formats, and understand how the online format works before enrolling.
- Cost – compare total program cost including fees, not the advertised per-credit rate, and review how to evaluate affordability.
Economics or a related field? Choose economics for theory plus empirical method and the broadest analytical foundation. Consider finance if you want direct training in valuation, capital markets, and corporate financial decisions, business administration for a general management foundation with economics as one component, or data analytics if your interest is working with data and communicating findings rather than modeling economic behavior.
Looking for programs near you? Browse economics programs by state and city.
Next Steps
Compare programs by topic:
- Degree levels: Online Bachelor’s in Economics | Online Master’s in Economics
- Formats: Accelerated Economics Programs | How Online Economics Degrees Work
- Planning: Affordable Online Economics Degrees | Is an Online Economics Degree Worth It
- Locations: Economics Programs by State and City
- Related fields: Finance Program Guide | Business Administration Program Guide | Data Analytics Program Guide