What Can You Do With a Political Science Degree? 12+ Careers, Salaries & How to Get Hired
TL;DR
• A political science degree opens 12+ career paths across government, law, corporate, nonprofit, and tech policy. You're not limited to "become a politician."
• BA holders start around $38K and reach $52K–$93K by mid-to-late career. JD and master's holders land between $90K–$130K+.
• Here's the part no one wants to say out loud: 51% of poli sci graduates are underemployed in year one. Internships and Externships are the single biggest factor in beating those odds.
• AI ethics, tech policy, and political data analysis are creating brand-new demand for poli sci skills. Most career guides haven't caught up yet.
• Grad school? Not always necessary. Several well-paying paths work just fine with a BA and the right experience.
Exploring what different degrees can do for you? Our full guide to liberal arts degree jobs covers the bigger picture.
What Does a Political Science Major Actually Lead To?
Political science majors study how governments, institutions, and policies shape the world. That sounds academic. In practice, it means you graduate knowing how to read legislation, build arguments from messy evidence, and figure out who holds power and why. Every industry needs people who can do that.
The Skills You Walk Away With
Your poli sci degree builds a skill set that employers genuinely pay for. Not in a "transferable skills" hand-wavy way. In a "here's what the job description asks for" way:
• Research methodology: designing studies, gathering evidence, drawing defensible conclusions
• Policy analysis: reading legislation, evaluating tradeoffs, recommending action
• Persuasive writing: turning complex arguments into something clear and compelling on paper
• Critical thinking: spotting weak logic, questioning assumptions, synthesizing competing viewpoints
• Data interpretation: working with polling data, census figures, survey results
• Public speaking: presenting to rooms full of people who probably disagree with you
The American Political Science Association reports that government, consulting, and corporate policy employers consistently rank these skills among their top hiring criteria. So no, your degree isn't "useless." It's just less obvious than a nursing license.
Industries That Actually Hire Poli Sci Grads
The spread is wider than most people expect:
• Government and public sector: federal agencies, state legislatures, city planning departments
• Legal: law firms, courts, public defenders, corporate legal teams
• Corporate: government relations, compliance, consulting, market research
• Nonprofit and advocacy: policy organizations, think tanks, campaign operations
• Media: political journalism, public relations, communications
• Education: teaching, academic research, student affairs
• Tech: content policy, AI ethics, trust and safety teams at major platforms
Worth knowing: political science is the third most popular undergraduate major among law school applicants, according to LSAC data.
What Jobs Can You Get With a Political Science Degree?
Political science graduates work as policy analysts, legislative aides, lawyers, campaign managers, corporate government relations specialists, and more. Here's the full breakdown by sector.
Government & Public Policy Careers
Government is the most direct path, and it has more variety than people give it credit for.
• Policy Analyst ($60K–$80K): Research policy proposals, write briefings, advise elected officials or agency leadership. Federal roles are posted on USAJobs.gov. State and local positions usually go through individual agency sites.
• Legislative Assistant/Aide ($40K–$55K): Support members of Congress or state legislators with research, constituent communications, and bill drafting. The pay is modest. The access and networking are not.
• Intelligence Analyst ($55K–$85K): The CIA, DIA, and FBI hire poli sci graduates for geopolitical analysis, threat assessment, and policy briefings. Security clearance required.
• Urban and Regional Planner ($75K–$119K): Help cities and counties make land use, transportation, and zoning decisions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 4% growth through 2032.
• Foreign Service Officer ($55K–$100K+): Represent U.S. interests abroad through the State Department. You'll need to pass the Foreign Service Officer Test (FSOT).
Law & Legal Careers
Political science is the most common undergraduate major for law school students. Makes sense. The reading, writing, and argumentation you practice in poli sci courses overlap directly with what the LSAT tests.
• Lawyer ($60K–$250K+): Salary depends enormously on practice area and firm size. Public interest lawyers start around $60K; Big Law associates start at $215K. The JD adds three years and significant debt, so run the ROI analysis before committing.
• Paralegal ($48K–$52K): Accessible without law school. Paralegals handle legal research, document drafting, and case file management.
• Mediator/Arbitrator ($76K–$113K): Resolve disputes outside of court. Growing demand in employment law and commercial contracts.
Campaign, Advocacy & Nonprofit Careers
If you want to work where policy actually happens on the ground, this is your sector.
• Campaign Manager ($45K–$90K): Run political campaigns from field operations to fundraising. Salary spikes during election years. These roles care about hustle, people skills, and political instinct. Your GPA? Not so much.
• Political Consultant ($50K–$100K+): Advise candidates and organizations on strategy, messaging, and polling.
• Lobbyist ($50K–$120K): Advocate for organizations' interests before legislators and regulators. Requires strong relationships and deep subject matter expertise.
• Nonprofit Program Manager ($45K–$70K): Manage programs at organizations like the ACLU, Brookings Institution, or local community development groups. Entry-level pay is lower, but the work is mission-driven.
Corporate & Private Sector Careers
This is where most career guides fall short. Poli sci graduates are increasingly hired in corporate roles that value regulatory knowledge, stakeholder management, and communication skills. And the pay is often better than government.
• Corporate Government Relations ($60K–$110K): Google, Amazon, Pfizer, JPMorgan. They all maintain government affairs teams that track legislation, manage regulatory relationships, and shape policy strategy. These roles pay well and grow fast.
• Management Consulting ($70K–$95K entry): Firms like McKinsey, Deloitte, and Booz Allen hire poli sci graduates for public sector consulting, policy analysis, and government advisory projects. If you want to test whether consulting is the right fit before graduation, Extern's Schreiber Consulting Externship places students on real consulting projects with structured mentorship — the kind of hands-on experience that gets you past the "no experience" wall at competitive firms.
• Compliance & Risk Analyst ($55K–$85K): Banks, healthcare companies, and tech firms need people who understand regulatory frameworks. Your training in reading legislation translates directly.
• Market Research Analyst ($50K–$70K): Polling skills, survey design, and data interpretation make poli sci majors natural fits for these roles.
Media, Communications & Research Careers
• Political Journalist ($35K–$65K): Cover government, elections, and policy for news outlets. Pay is lower, but the influence and public visibility can be significant.
• Public Relations Specialist ($55K–$75K): Manage communications for politicians, government agencies, or corporate clients. For more on this path, see our guide to communications degree careers.
• Think Tank Researcher ($45K–$70K): Organizations like RAND, Heritage Foundation, and the Center for American Progress hire researchers to produce policy analysis and white papers.
How Much Do Political Science Majors Actually Earn?
The average poli sci major earns about $52,000 at mid-career with a bachelor's degree. But salaries range from $38,000 at entry level to over $130,000 for senior roles. The two biggest variables: your career path and your education level.
Salary by Career Path
Sources: BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, PayScale, Glassdoor (2025–2026 data)
Salary by Education Level
Here's where most articles get it wrong. The BLS reports a median salary of $139,380 for "political scientists," and that number gets thrown around constantly. But it represents a small group of PhD-level researchers in senior positions. It's not what a typical BA holder earns.
The honest breakdown:
• Bachelor's degree: ~$38K starting, $52K mid-career, $93K at career peak (year 20+)
• Master's/MPA/MPP: ~$55K starting, $80K–$90K mid-career
• JD (law degree): ~$65K starting (public interest) to $215K (Big Law), $125K+ median mid-career
• PhD: ~$70K starting, $132K+ mid-career as a political scientist
Education level matters most in law and senior government roles. For corporate, campaign, and consulting careers, experience and skills often outweigh the credential.
Is Political Science a Good Major?
Political science is a good major if you pair it with practical experience and clear career goals. The degree teaches valuable analytical skills. But here's the number that deserves your attention: roughly 51% of recent poli sci graduates face underemployment in their first year, according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York data.
The Underemployment Problem (and How to Beat It)
That 51% figure is real, and it's worth sitting with for a second. Political science teaches you how to think. It does not hand you a specific technical skill the way nursing or accounting degrees do. So employers need proof that you can apply your training to actual problems, not just write about them in a seminar paper.
Good news: internship experience changes the equation dramatically. Graduates with internship experience see a 9% higher employment rate and 20% higher starting wages compared to peers without it.
If you've been wondering why entry-level jobs seem to require experience you don't have yet, you're not imagining things. But there are concrete ways to close that gap before graduation. More on that below.
Why the Degree Is Still Worth It
Now for the other side. Poli sci graduates who land degree-relevant roles earn above the national median salary by mid-career. The degree's versatility is genuinely useful. You can pivot between government, corporate, legal, and nonprofit sectors in ways that narrowly trained graduates simply can't.
And the growing demand for policy expertise in tech, AI governance, and cybersecurity is creating entirely new career paths that didn't exist five years ago. Poli sci majors are well positioned for all of them.
What About Emerging Careers in Tech Policy and AI?
Political science graduates are increasingly sought for roles in AI ethics, tech policy, political data analysis, and cybersecurity governance. These fields barely existed a decade ago. Now they show up in job postings at Google, Meta, government agencies, and dedicated policy organizations.
Tech Policy & AI Ethics Roles
Big Tech companies maintain public policy and trust-and-safety teams that hire people who understand regulation, governance, and institutional design. The job titles: AI Ethics Consultant, Content Policy Manager, Tech Policy Analyst.
Stanford's Institute for Human-Centered AI runs a Tech Ethics and Policy fellowship specifically for students with policy backgrounds. Organizations like the Centre for the Governance of AI (GovAI) focus entirely on where political governance meets artificial intelligence. These are real, funded positions. They value the exact analytical frameworks your poli sci courses taught you.
Political Data Analyst & Digital Campaigns
The 2024 election cycle saw record spending on data infrastructure, and political data analysts were in high demand. These roles ($55K–$80K) combine survey design, polling methodology, and data visualization.
What you need: some familiarity with R or Python for statistical analysis, experience with survey design, and the ability to translate numbers into strategic recommendations. If you're a poli sci major who picks up basic data skills, you become a rare hire. Most data people don't understand politics. Most politics people don't understand data. You'd be both. Extern offers data Externships where students work on real-world data projects — a practical way to build the technical fluency that makes political data analyst roles accessible without a full data science degree.
Cybersecurity Governance & Digital Policy
CISA, NSA, and private sector firms hire Cyber Policy Analysts and Digital Governance Specialists. A political science background paired with a security clearance makes you a strong candidate. These roles focus on policy frameworks for cybersecurity, not the technical side. Extern's cybersecurity Externships offer poli sci students project-based exposure to real security policy and governance work — the kind of entry-level credential that signals to hiring managers you understand the field, even without a technical degree.
How Do Poli Sci Majors Get Hired With No Experience?
The fastest way for political science majors to get hired is to build real-world experience through Externships, internships, or campus research before graduation. Employers in policy, law, and government consistently rank practical experience above GPA.
Build Experience Through Externships and Internships
You have more options than you probably realize:
• Congressional internships: Unpaid, but high-signal. Working in a Congressional office gives you direct exposure to the legislative process and a network that opens doors for years.
• State and local government internships: Often paid, less competitive, and just as valuable for building policy experience.
• Think tank research assistantships: Brookings, RAND, and the Council on Foreign Relations all offer research positions for undergrads.
• Campaign work: Volunteer during an election cycle, prove yourself, and you can move into paid staff roles quickly.
• Externships: Project-based professional experience with real companies, completed remotely. Extern connects students with guided professional mentorship and resume-ready projects that show employers you can do the work, not just study it.
Skills to Add to Your Resume Right Now
Beyond coursework, these specific skills make poli sci resumes stand out. For a deeper dive, see our guide on skills to put on a resume.
• Policy writing and memo drafting: useful for government, consulting, and corporate roles
• Data analysis with Excel or Tableau: bridges the gap between your qualitative training and quantitative job requirements
• Public speaking and presentation: valuable everywhere, especially in consulting and advocacy
• Grant writing: opens doors in nonprofit and research organizations
• Social media management: increasingly relevant for campaigns, PR, and corporate communications
• Research methodology: distinguishes you from candidates who can write but can't design a study
• Foreign language proficiency: critical for Foreign Service, intelligence, and international NGO roles
• Project management: shows you can own outcomes, not just contribute to them
Networking Strategies That Work in Government & Policy
Policy careers run on relationships more than most fields do. Here's how to start building yours while you're still in school:
• Attend city council and school board meetings: free, public, and a surprisingly effective way to meet local policymakers
• Join APSA student chapters or Model UN: structured networking with peers who share your career interests
• Use LinkedIn to connect with alumni: filter by your university and target agencies or firms. A brief, specific message beats a generic connection request every time
• Attend policy conferences: many are virtual and free for students. Brookings, CSIS, and the Aspen Institute all host accessible events
Need help putting together a resume with no experience? We have a full guide for that too.
Do You Need Grad School for a Political Science Career?
Not always. Campaign management, corporate government relations, policy advocacy, and many analyst roles are accessible with a BA and relevant experience. But law school and MPA programs do boost earnings significantly in certain fields.
When a Master's or Law Degree Pays Off
A straightforward decision framework:
• JD (law degree): Worth it if you're targeting litigation, judicial, or Big Law careers and you can get into a T50 law school. At those schools, median starting salaries justify the $150K–$200K investment. Below T50, run the numbers carefully.
• MPA/MPP (Master of Public Administration/Policy): Worth it for senior government or nonprofit management roles. Expect a $20K+ salary bump over BA-only peers in the same positions.
• PhD: Only worth it if you want to be a professor or senior research scientist. The time cost (5–7 years) and opportunity cost are substantial.
Careers That Don't Require Graduate School
Plenty of rewarding, well-paying paths need a BA and experience. Not a graduate degree:
• Legislative Aide
• Campaign Manager
• Corporate Government Relations Specialist
• Public Relations Specialist
• Political Data Analyst
• Compliance and Risk Analyst
• Lobbyist
• Think Tank Research Associate
In these roles, two years of relevant professional experience typically carries more weight than a master's degree. Start building that experience now through internships, campus research, or an Externship. You'll be ahead of classmates who default to grad school without a clear reason to go.
FAQs
Is political science a hard major?
Political science is moderately challenging. It requires strong reading comprehension, analytical writing, and the ability to construct logical arguments from messy data. Most students find it less technically demanding than STEM majors but more writing-intensive than business programs. Upper-division coursework gets harder when statistical methods and formal theory enter the picture.
What is the highest-paying job with a political science degree?
Lawyers earn the highest salaries among poli sci graduates, with a median of $125,675 and top earners above $250,000. Without law school, the highest-paying BA-accessible roles include Corporate Government Relations Director ($90K–$130K), Management Consultant ($70K–$150K+), and Senior Policy Analyst at federal agencies ($85K–$120K on the GS scale).
Can you get a job with just a political science degree?
Yes. Legislative aides, campaign staff, corporate compliance analysts, market research analysts, and nonprofit program coordinators are all accessible with a BA. The key differentiator is practical experience. Graduates with internship or Externship experience are significantly more likely to land degree-relevant roles in their first year out.
Is political science a good pre-law major?
It's the most popular undergraduate major among law school applicants, and for good reason. It builds the reading, writing, and argumentation skills the LSAT tests. That said, law schools accept students from every major. Choose political science because the subject genuinely interests you, not just as a pre-law strategy.
What skills do political science majors have that employers want?
Employers value five core skills from poli sci graduates: policy analysis and research methodology, persuasive writing and communication, critical thinking and logical argumentation, data interpretation and survey analysis, and stakeholder management. These transfer across government, corporate, legal, and nonprofit sectors.
