No-Nonsense Books

Physics education statistics (2026)

US physics departments awarded 7,776 bachelor's degrees in physics in the 2023-24 academic year, 16% below the all-time high of 9,296 in 2019-20 (AIP). Below are 18 numbers on physics degrees, departments, students and textbook costs, each with its source and year. Updated 2026-10-21.

Key numbers

  • 7,776 US physics bachelor's degrees in 2023-24.
  • 1,976 US physics PhDs in the class of 2023.
  • 48% of 2023 US physics PhDs went to non-US citizens.
  • 723 US departments grant physics degrees.
  • College textbook prices rose 150.9% from 2002 to 2025.
  • 66% of students skipped buying assigned course material (2019 survey).

Physics degrees in the US

  1. 7,776 physics bachelor's degrees were awarded in the 2023-24 academic year. Source: AIP Statistical Research Center, Trends in Physics Bachelor's Degrees.
  2. That was a 6% decline from the previous year and a 16% decline from the all-time high of 9,296 in 2019-20. Source: AIP.
  3. The AIP department roster counted 8,295 physics bachelor's degrees for the class of 2023, the third year of decline after two decades of steady increases. Source: AIP, Roster of Physics Departments with Enrollment and Degree Data, 2023.
  4. 1,976 physics PhDs were conferred in the class of 2023, about 2% fewer than the year before. Source: AIP Roster, 2023.
  5. 48% of the physics PhDs in the class of 2023 went to non-US citizens. Source: AIP Roster, 2023.
  6. In 2018-19, the 204 PhD-granting physics departments conferred 1,903 PhDs, about 3% of all US PhDs and 75% more than the recent low in 2004. Source: AIP, Trends in Physics PhDs.

Physics departments

  1. There were 723 physics degree-granting departments in the US in 2024, plus 33 separate astronomy departments. Source: AIP, Size of Undergraduate Physics and Astronomy Programs, 2024.
  2. 65% of physics departments offer a bachelor's as their highest degree. Those departments awarded 33% of physics bachelor's degrees in 2023-24. Source: AIP, 2024.
  3. 61% of physics bachelor's degrees came from departments that also offer a PhD. Source: AIP, 2024.

Who studies physics

  1. Women earned 21% of physics bachelor's degrees and 20% of physics doctorates in 2017. Source: AIP, Women in Physics and Astronomy, 2019.
  2. 16% of physics faculty members and 19% of astronomy faculty members were women in 2014. Source: AIP, Women in Physics and Astronomy, 2019.
  3. Fewer than 10% of US high school seniors in 2019 took an AP physics course; among physics bachelor's recipients, 57% had. Source: AIP, Physics Enrollments in Two-Year Colleges, 2023.
  4. About 13% of physics bachelor's recipients in the classes of 2021 and 2022 started at a two-year college. Source: AIP, 2023.

Textbook prices and student behaviour

  1. The BLS consumer price index for college textbooks rose 150.9% from 2002 to 2025 (annual averages 104.2 to 261.457), against 79.0% for all items. Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U series CUUR0000SSEA011; percentage computed by No-Nonsense Books.
  2. From 2016 to 2025 the same index rose only 11.6%, against 34.1% for all items. Source: BLS; computed.
  3. 66% of students reported skipping buying assigned course material, and 63% skipped buying or renting a textbook; 90% said not buying would hurt their grade. Source: U.S. PIRG Education Fund, Fixing the Broken Textbook Market, 2nd ed., June 2020 (Fall 2019 survey).
  4. 53.5% of 13,831 respondents said they did not purchase a required textbook, down from 64.2% in 2018. Source: Florida Virtual Campus, 2022 Student Textbook and Instructional Materials Survey.
  5. An estimated 81% of US colleges provided fall 2012 textbook information online. Source: US Government Accountability Office, GAO-13-368, June 2013.

Physics textbook prices

The median US list price of 15 standard physics textbooks is $99, from $56 to $279.99. The table is on how much physics textbooks cost.

Notes

Each number was read on the source's own page or report on 2026-10-21. AIP counts differ between its department roster (class of 2023) and its academic-year trend reports (2023-24), so both are given. The women-in-physics figures are the latest stated in the text of AIP's report; newer shares appear only in its charts. To cite this page: "Physics education statistics (2026), No-Nonsense Books, nononsensebooks.com/physics-education-statistics".