The 13 Best (and Worst) Paid College Majors

According to a new study conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the average college graduate will earn $2.4 million over his or her lifetime. Engineering majors, the highest-earning major, will earn more than $3.6 million. The study, which is part of the 2011 American Community Survey, showed that the choice of major can make the difference between earning less than a million dollars — as in the case of a childcare worker with an education degree — or more than $6.5 million, as a physician or surgeon who majored in biology.

Read: The Highest (and Lowest) Paying College Majors

The study, which divided college majors into 13 separate categories, determined how much a graduate can reasonably expect to earn over a lifetime if they go down one of these paths. The differences are stark. Based on the survey, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the expected lifetime earnings of all 13 categories of college majors, from the arts and humanities to science and engineering, as well as the most popular careers for each type of major.

In an interview with 24/7 Wall St., Bureau of Labor Statistics Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli explained that choosing an education track for many comes down to more than just money. Many young people, he said, have other priorities, such as the ability to help people and the opportunity to be self-employed. That being said, he continued, “many young people really do not have a good sense of how much the differences are in income in different professions, certainly not over a lifetime.”

Comparing the most common occupations for each major demonstrates the extreme differences in pay. Of the eight most common careers for engineering majors, which together account for more than 40% of all employed engineering graduates, the lowest median lifetime earnings are just under $3.5 million. In education — which has the lowest median lifetime pay — nearly 40% become elementary and middle school teachers. The median lifetime wage for these teachers is barely over $2 million.

Some majors are better for the future self-employed than others. Pursuing a major in the physical sciences might be a poor choice; just 1.4% of those graduates successfully find careers working for themselves, compared to 9% across all majors. However, that small percentage earns a median income of approximately $91,700, more than self-employed workers in any other field. On the other hand, nearly 14% of visual and performing arts majors are self-employed. But graduates earn just $42,344, nearly $20,000 less than the median for self-employed people.

The gender pay gap across the 13 majors is alarming in some cases and helps explain why women make 77.4% of a man’s salary, according the Census Bureau. The smallest annual pay gap occurs among visual and performing arts majors, at $7,247, followed by education majors, at $8,227. In the worst cases, the median annual salary for a man who majors in the physical sciences is more than $90,000. For a woman, the number is just $61,363.

Based on the U.S. Census Bureau study, 24/7 Wall St. identified the median lifetime earnings for each category of major. This number is calculated by multiplying the median income for each age group by the number of years in that age group, and then taking the sum of all these numbers. This method also assumes people work in their chosen career from ages 25 to 64. 24/7 Wall St. also used employment and other earnings data provided by the Census Bureau, as well as job outlook information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook.

These are the highest (and lowest) paying college majors.

13. Education
> Lifetime earnings: $2.03 million
> Number employed with major: 3.17 million
> Median annual earnings: $50,902
> Largest profession: Elementary and middle school teachers

Almost 40% of all employed adults with a degree in education work as elementary and middle school teachers. A typical teacher at this level will need at least a master’s degree to even reach $2 million in expected lifetime earnings. Education majors are not only poorly compensated for their work, but they may be challenged to find suitable jobs; only 41% of adults with an education degree were employed full-time, year-round. Additionally, 33.9% of those surveyed stated they did not work at all — more than in any other field. State and local governments employ a lot of teachers. Nearly 59% of adults with a degree in this field work in the government sector — the highest percentage from any course of study.

12. Visual and Performing Arts
> Lifetime earnings: $2.09 million
> Number employed with major: 1.07 million
> Median annual earnings: $50,484
> Largest profession: Designers

Nearly one in 10 of those majoring in the visual or performing arts end up in design. According to the BLS, the number of fashion designers is not expected to grow much, and there will be a great deal of competition for positions. The number of graphic designers is expected to increase by 13%, however, due to high turnover. Those going into the field will have trouble finding long-term, steady work; only 48.3% of those surveyed reported working year-round, full-time. Of those who followed an education path in visual and performing arts, 13.7% are self-employed, the second most of any of the 13 major categories.

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11. Psychology
> Lifetime earnings: $2.34 million
> Number employed with major: 1.40 million
> Median annual earnings: $55,509
> Largest profession: Counselors

Although more than 1.4 million people with a major in psychology are currently employed, no single career contains more than 100,000 graduates from this field. Despite majoring in psychology, graduates are more likely to pursue careers as counselors, social workers or elementary school teachers than they are to pursue a career as a psychologist. Likely due to the popularity of these public school positions, 28.8% of people with a psychology diploma work in the government sector — more than any field except education. Although the job outlook is strong, with the number of psychologists projected by the BLS to rise 22% between 2010 and 2020, a doctoral degree is usually required.

10. Liberal Arts and History
> Lifetime earnings: $2.38 million
> Number employed with major: 1.48 million
> Median annual earnings: $58,761
> Largest profession: Lawyers

It might surprise some to learn that those with degrees in the liberal arts and history category do not earn the least of any education path. The median earnings of someone who studied in this field, which includes theology and philosophy, is more than $300,000 above the median for an education major. This is in part due to the fact that more liberal arts and history majors become lawyers than any other occupation. The median lifetime earnings for a lawyer with a liberal arts or history education is $4.78 million. The second most common occupation is clergymen, who earn a median of just $1.74 million over the course of their lifetimes.

9. Literature and Languages
> Lifetime earnings: $2.39 million
> Number employed with major: 1.14 million
> Median annual earnings: $58,616
> Largest profession: Elementary and middle school teachers

Literature and language majors either study English literature or foreign languages. The largest share of these, nearly 18%, become teachers. A fair number, approximately 6%, become lawyers. Largely because so many in the literature and language field become educators, just 46% of those surveyed reported having full-time, year-round employment. Those in this category also had the second-largest percentage of adults who are not employed, at 27.6%.

8. Communications
> Lifetime earnings: $2.41 million
> Number employed with major: 1.25 million
> Median annual earnings: $55,859
> Largest profession: Managers

Those who study communications may focus in mass media, journalism or advertising, among other options. The field has no typical career path, because no single occupation employs more than 60,000 individuals with a communications degree. Among the more popular options are careers in marketing, sales and public relations. Despite not having a typical career path, only 15.6% of individuals with a communications degree did not work — less than in any other field analyzed by the Census Bureau. However, the median annual earnings for individuals with a communications degree is $55,859, much lower than the median earnings of $64,396 for all college graduates.

7. Business
> Lifetime earnings: $2.72 million
> Number employed with major: 7.27 million
> Median annual earnings: $66,605
> Largest profession: Accountants and auditors

The business field — the largest in the United States — includes a number of majors, ranging from finance to marketing. Almost 7.3 million workers studied business in college. The most common careers for business students are accounting and auditing, which cumulatively hire over 931,000 business degree holders. Chief executives — whose expected lifetime earnings are nearly $5 million — were most likely to have studied business in college. More than 75% of working adults with business degrees were employed in the private sector, while just 13.9% worked in the public sector.

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6. Science- and Engineering-Related Fields
> Lifetime earnings: $2.75 million
> Number employed with major: 2.79 million
> Median annual earnings: $69,615
> Largest profession: Registered nurses

The science- and engineering-related fields include a broad range of majors, from architecture to nursing to biotechnology. Nursing is by far the most common career for someone who studied these fields. There are an estimated 789,483 registered nurses who majored in the science- and engineering-related fields, and they earn a median of $2.73 million over their lifetimes. The next most popular occupation, pharmacists, earn $4.48 million over the course of their lifetimes. The highest-paying jobs for those with a degree in these fields are physicians and surgeons, who earn a median of $5.84 million.

5. Social Science
> Lifetime earnings: $2.84 million
> Number employed with major: 2.49 million
> Median annual earnings: $70,197
> Largest profession: Lawyers

The social sciences consist of a number of distinct majors, including economics, anthropology and sociology. More than 250,000 social sciences graduates are employed as lawyers, a career with expected lifetime earnings exceeding $4.6 million for social science graduates. Unfortunately for students interested in becoming lawyers, the BLS notes that “more students are graduating from law school each year than there are jobs available.” In all, of the roughly 2.5 million social sciences graduates in the workforce, more than a million also have an advanced or professional degree. A pressing issue for social sciences graduates is the large earnings gap between men, whose median salary is $80,526, and women, whose median salary is just $57,370.

4. Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
> Lifetime earnings: $2.90 million
> Number employed with major: 2.09 million
> Median annual earnings: $70,025
> Largest profession: Physicians and surgeons

Biology, ecology and forestry majors are all part of the field of biological, agricultural and environmental sciences. Medicine is by far the most common profession for those with a degree in the field — with more than 300,000 graduates employed as physicians or surgeons. For those with this type of education, they are also the best paying professions. Among all fields, graduates with a background in biological, agricultural or environmental sciences are the most likely to be self-employed, at 14.1%. The median earnings for these self-employed workers is $85,744, far greater than the median earnings for all workers with degrees in these fields.

3. Physical and Related Sciences
> Lifetime earnings: $3.17 million
> Number employed with major: 1.08 million
> Median annual earnings: $80,037
> Largest profession: Physicians and surgeons

The physical and related sciences, which include chemistry, geometry, physics and astronomy, employ a wide range of people in a variety of professions, without a predominant field. The largest proportion of these graduates end up as physicians or surgeons, but that only amounts to 85,252 of the more than one million people who major in the physical sciences. Roughly a quarter of workers educated in the field get a master’s degree, and their median lifetime pay is $3.2 million, compared to the $2.5 million for those with just a bachelor’s degree. The gender pay gap is particularly bad for this major; median annual salary for a male with a degree in these fields is nearly $30,000 more than that of a female.

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2. Computers, Mathematics and Statistics
> Lifetime earnings: $3.24 million
> Number employed with major: 1.55 million
> Median annual earnings: $80,180
> Largest profession: Software developers

Many graduates from majors such as computer science, mathematics or statistics chose careers in technology, working as software developers, computer programmers and information systems managers. Some of these careers are expected to grow dramatically, with the number of software developers projected by the BLS to rise by 30% from 2010 to 2020 to meet the needs of mobile technology and the health care industry. About two-thirds of workers with degrees in these fields are employed full-time, year round — a larger percentage than for any other field. Almost 78% of workers with a background in math, computer science or statistics work in the private sector, more than any field except engineering.

1. Engineering
> Lifetime earnings: $3.62 million
> Number employed with major: 2.80 million
> Median annual earnings: $91,611
> Largest profession: Managers

Graduates with a degree in engineering have a median annual salary nearly $10,000 higher than graduates from any other major. More engineering graduates will look to work in civil engineering, with employment expected to grow by 19% between 2010 and 2020. Other popular jobs include electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and software development. Almost 79% of employed engineering graduates work in the private sector, more than graduates of any other field. They are also less likely to work in the public sector than graduates of any other field. The remaining workers with an engineering background are self-employed, although the median income for these workers is much lower, at $71,178.

Michael B. Sauter and Alexander E.M. Hess

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