Katie Couric with troops at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia

In 1975, Couric enrolled in the University of Virginia, graduating in 1979. Her journalism career began when she was hired as a desk assistant for the ABC News bureau in Washington, DC, later joining CNN as an assignment editor. Between 1984 and 1986, she worked as a general-assignment reporter for WTVJ in Miami, Florida. During the following two years, she reported for WRC-TV, an NBC station in Washington, DC, work which earned her an Associated Press Award and an Emmy.

She married Jay Monahan in 1989, joining NBC news the same year as Pentagon correspondent. In 1990, she joined The Today Show as national correspondent, becoming a co-host in February 1991, at first temporarily, but later on a more permanent basis. Couric had her first daughter, Elinor Tully Monahan, in 1991. In 1992, she began working as a collaborator at Dateline NBC, where her reports appear regularly. In 1993, she worked on the special. This was followed by 1995's and 2001's . Her second daughter, Caroline, was born in 1996.

Her husband, Jay Monahan, died of colon cancer in 1998; today she is a prominent spokeswoman for colon cancer awareness.

Couric has interviewed many international political figures and celebrities during her career, including George H. W. Bush, his son George W. Bush, Barbara Bush, John Ramsey and his wife Patsy Ramsey , Trisha Meili (known as The Central Park Jogger), Bill Clinton, and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. Hillary Clinton and John F. Kennedy Jr. gave Couric their first and last interviews, respectively. In addition to that, Couric has won multiple television journalism awards through her career.

She was the voice of news-reporter Katie Current in the film Shark Tale, in the U.S. version. Most non-U.S. versions use a different voice, but she is still credited.

She is reportedly dating smooth jazz trumpeter Chris Botti.