Analysis of the Mapping Sciences Education Data Base revealed numerous interesting characteristics of the United States' remote sensing education system. Approximately 88 per cent of the education takes place in public supported universities and 90 per cent of this coursework in departments with graduate programmes of study. The majority of this education (37 per cent) is performed by social science departments with geography being the primary sponsor (36 per cent). Unfortunately, most of the 691 remote sensing and airphoto interpretation courses offered nationwide are provided as service courses at an introductory level. This makes it difficult to specialize in remote sensing at the graduate level. The specific types of courses offered and their geographic distribution are summarized. Many of the aforementioned topics are compared with statistics for other mapping sciences including photogrammetry, cartography, surveying, geodesy and geographic information system education. Examination of the remote sensing system in the United States revealed that accurate statistics are needed on (i) the number of courses, their content and enrollment, (ii) the conceptual models used, (iii) degrees or certificates offered, (iv) availability of hardware and software resources and (v) the status of remote sensing as a developing science. Observations on these topics are presented.