An undergraduate degree still matters in the job market

Dec 3–8, 2025 · n = 1,000 · MoE ±3.2%Source report ↗

Core finding

In a Verasight survey of 1,000 U.S. adults conducted in December 2025, 62% of Americans said an undergraduate degree is important in today's job market. This includes 43% who said somewhat important and 20% who said extremely important.

About one in seven said it is unimportant (15%), with 10% who said somewhat unimportant and 5% who said very unimportant. Another 23% said it is neither important nor unimportant.

Topline scale

62% of Americans say an undergraduate degree is important in today's job market.

How important is an undergraduate degree in the job market today?

Somewhat important
42.7%
Not important or unimportant
23.1%
Extremely important
19.7%
Somewhat unimportant
9.7%
Very unimportant
4.8%

n = 1,000 · Dec 3–8, 2025 · MoE ±3.2%

Net findings combine adjacent response options from the same scale.
ModeVerasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting
PopulationUS adults age 18+
Field datesDec 3–8, 2025
Base (unweighted)1,000
Margin of error±3.2%
Modulesoc_pol
SponsorVerasight
Weight variableweight
Weighting targetsage, race/ethnicity, sex, income, education, region, metropolitan status

Sources

  1. 01

    How important is an undergraduate degree in the job market today?

    reports.verasight.io/r/verasight-human-v-synthetic

Cite this question

Verasight Human/LLM Comparison Survey #2025-172, fielded December 3-8, 2025, N=1,000 US adults age 18+, +/- 3.2%.