Which majors most reliably lead to high-paying jobs?
We share the percentage of majors who earned graduate degrees, as well as the percentage in careers with salaries above the typical college graduate’s salary.
We could measure the financial value of a major using the frequency with
which a major leads to high-paying jobs.
Let’s look, major by major, at the percentage of graduates who are in jobs
that typically pay more than the median (middle) salary for all bachelor’s
graduates, and let’s balance that with a look at how many of those majors
earned a graduate degree as part of their career progression.
In the charts below, we compare these two metrics for all majors, showing
the percentage of majors with an additional graduate degree versus
the percentage of majors working in fields with salaries that are above the
median for all workers. Major fields that are high dots to the left have the highest
percentage of graduates with above-median salaries without earning graduate
degrees, while the top-right are high earners with graduate degrees.
Hover over a degree (dot) to see the details for that degree.
Use the checkboxes below to change the comparisons.
Compare to salaries of All workers
The default is to compare with the salaries of people with a bachelor's degree
Compare to only younger workers
Comparing with workers under 35 can give you insight into how this degree will help you early in your career
Business
Career
Community Services
Education
Engineering/Design
Health Support
Healthcare
Humanities
Legal Studies
Quantitative/Technology
Sciences
Social Sciences
SOURCES:
2017 ACS microdata
Each chart shows a broad field of study, and each dot is a major under that field,
with the dot size indicating 2018 bachelor’s completions.
In the light green Healthcare chart, the largest dot is the
nursing major, which has a very high percentage of workers with
above-median salary (the dot is near the top of the chart) and also has most
workers staying at the bachelor’s level (the dot is closer to the left). This is a
perfect example of a degree that pays well with only a bachelor’s.
That being said, not everyone with a particular degree is going into the same
career. We took this exploration a step further and created a visualization to
see where most graduates are working, and how that affects their
salaries. The following “sankey” diagram illustrates the careers where people
with a degree in nursing are working. The wider the link, the higher the
percentage of people in that career. Any career shown in green
pays above the median salary for people with a bachelor’s, and
those in gray pay below that median. Let’s walk through careers for
nursing majors as an example.
Where are people with a degree in nursing working?
SOURCES:
2017 ACS microdata
Percentage of workers in careers earning above the median
Percentage who completed a graduate degree
Unsurprisingly, most of the chart is green as 75% of workers with a
degree in nursing work as registered nurses a relatively high paying career.
For a major like nursing, the salary outlook is very good, but that is not
always the case.
There is much more to see
The following interactive charts let you explore – take a look at the
many other jobs that people with a bachelor’s degree have taken. The
drop-down menu lets you
select one of the broad fields of study for a closer look, and clicking on
one of the dots will show you the detailed breakdown of that specific degree.
If any strike your interest, the bars on the right of the sankey chart will
take you to detailed career pages. Have fun exploring!
Explore how degrees pay
Select a degree (dot) to see where the graduates are working
View this broad program area
Business
Compare to salaries of All workers
The default is to compare with the salaries of people with a bachelor's degree
Compare to only younger workers
Comparing with workers under 35 can give you insight into how this degree will help you early in your career
View this degree
Business Management and Administration
SOURCES:
2017 ACS microdata
Percentage of workers in careers earning above the median
To determine salaries for bachelor’s-only workers in this study we required the
following of the person-level records: education at a bachelor’s and not graduate level,
age 65 or younger, and weekly work hours of 35 or higher.
SOURCES:
