Associate's degree

What occupations at this level pay

Median annual wage across occupations at this entry-level education, from BLS OEWS (national, cross-industry, May 2024). The middle range shows the 25th–75th percentile of occupation medians — it describes the level, not a guarantee for any one person or job.

AI exposure at this education level

Two published studies estimate how exposed each occupation is to today's AI. The OpenAI "GPTs are GPTs" study rates the share of an occupation's tasks a large language model (with tools) could speed up by half or more; averaged across occupations that typically need this credential it is 32% — 44th percentile of the eight education levels. The independent Felten/Raj/Seamans AI Occupational Exposure index averages 0.15 here.

Computed across the 46 of 48 occupations at this level that carry a published exposure score.

Across the eight levels, AI exposure rises with education — degree-requiring knowledge work is most exposed, manual and credential-light work least. Exposure measures where AI could assist tasks, not a prediction that these jobs will be automated; high exposure most often means augmentation.

Highest-paying occupations at this level

Occupations whose typical entry-level education is associate's degree, with the highest median wage. Wage describes the occupation, not an individual.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic
• AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans academic

Data compiled June 3, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-associate-s-degree,
  title  = {Associate's degree},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/education/associate-s-degree}
}