Maritime Studies
Students study the ocean's role in human history, commerce, ecology, and policy, including maritime law, naval history, marine resource management, and coastal community development. Graduates typically pursue careers in maritime industry management, port operations, marine policy, naval service, and coastal zone management agencies. This interdisciplinary major prepares students for careers in the maritime economy and ocean governance.
What Maritime Studies graduates do
Your degree in Maritime Studies prepares you for a career on land, focused on research and education. The most common path is into academia as a postsecondary teacher. Your days won’t be spent on a ship, but in a university library or classroom, designing courses on global trade routes, leading discussions on naval history, and publishing your own scholarly research to earn tenure. The other primary route is as a historian for a museum, government agency, or historical society. You could spend your time authenticating artifacts from a sunken vessel, writing exhibit text for a maritime museum, or analyzing old shipping manifests.
Both fields are competitive and see very slow growth. Career progression in academia typically moves from assistant to tenured professor, while a historian might advance from a research role to a lead curator or archivist. Artificial intelligence will become a key tool, automating the tedious work of sifting through digital archives or transcribing documents. These jobs aren't disappearing, but your daily tasks will shift toward analysis and interpretation, making your human ability to craft compelling historical narratives more valuable than ever.
Related majors worth comparing: Cultural Studies, Historic Preservation, and Classical and Ancient Studies.
Where Maritime Studies graduates work
Common career paths for Maritime Studies graduates, with median salaries, projected growth, and AI exposure per role. Roughly 13,800 combined openings per year across these roles.
| Role | Median Pay | Annual Openings | 10-yr Growth | AI Exposure |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Postsecondary teachers, all other
|
$78,490
$56K–$123K
|
13,500 | +1.8% | Low · 0% |
|
Historians
|
$74,050
$55K–$96K
|
300 | +2.2% | Moderate · 47% |
Best schools for Maritime Studies
Schools ranked by DegreeOutlook Score (earnings × AI resilience × ROI × job-market size). Top 1 of 1.
Highest Earnings Top 5
| Texas A & M University-College Station
TX |
$32,325 |
Best ROI Top 5
| Texas A & M University-College Station
TX |
5.2x |
Related majors
Similar fields of study often offered alongside Maritime Studies.
Frequently asked about Maritime Studies
What's the typical salary after a Maritime Studies degree?
Across 1 schools, Maritime Studies graduates earn an average of $32,325 per year in their first year after graduation. Earnings range from $32,325 to $32,325 depending on the school.
How exposed is Maritime Studies to AI disruption?
AI exposure for Maritime Studies is rated "Moderate." With 35% of tasks potentially affected by large language models, some career functions face meaningful automation pressure in the coming decade.
Which school has the best Maritime Studies program?
Texas A & M University-College Station leads all 1 programs with a DegreeOutlook Score of 26/100. Graduates earn $32,325/yr — the ranking weighs earnings, ROI, AI resilience, and job market size equally.
What's the outlook for a Maritime Studies degree?
The average 10-year earnings multiple is 5.2x tuition. This is a moderate return — school choice matters significantly. The spread between the best and worst programs is wide, so individual school selection has a major impact.