The ethnic studies major provides a broad liberal arts education with skills in critical thinking, comparative analysis, social theory, data gathering and analysis, and oral and written expression. These skills, coupled with its emphasis on diversity make the ethnic studies degree particularly useful for the coming century. It provides you with appropriate training for fields such as law, education, medicine, public health, social work, journalism, business, urban planning, politics, counseling, international relations, and creative writing, as well as university teaching and research.
Career Services offers free services for all CU Boulder degree-seeking students, and alumni up to one year after graduation, to help students discover who they are, what they want to do, and how to get there. They are the bridge between academics and the world of work by discussing major and career exploration, internship or job searching, and graduate school preparation.
Most ethnic studies majors do not directly correlate to specific occupations, but many pursue careers in education (both K-12 and post-secondary), clinical, career or academic counseling, law, journalism, social work, community development and organizing, and more, according to the University of California Berkeley.
- The average expected salary for someone with a bachelor's degree in ethnic studies, according to the 2019-20 College Salary Report by PayScale Human Capital, is $55,000 per year.

The estimated median salaries,
as reported on Tableau, for Ethnic Studies graduates for 1 to 5, 6 to 10, and over 11 years out from school.
At CU Boulder, Ethnic Studies graduates earn more than the nationwide average of comparable majors as reported by PayScale. CU Boulder alumni in this discipline earn an estimated annual salary of $82,140, based on a pool of 125 alumni who graduated between 1989 and 2018. This amount, however, is lower than the average for all CU Boulder graduates with a bachelor's degree, according to a survey by Esmi Alumni Insight of 25,000 alumni who graduated during the same stretch.