Highest-Paying College Majors: PayScale

If you're one of the unlucky group of recent college graduates who've found themselves contending with the rotten job market, there's a possible consolation: some majors pay much better than others. PayScale recently released their rankings of the highest-paying college majors (Hat tip to Business Insider.)

As you'll see in the chart below, the best way to ensure a high starting salary is to major in some form of engineering. In fact, the only other majors in the top ten of PayScale's rankings are economics, physics and computer science. Topping the list was aerospace engineering, which had a median starting salary of $59,600.

Sadly, some of the lowest-paid college majors are in the business of helping others. Social work finished dead last with a median starting salary of $33,400. Elementary education and education also finished in the bottom ten.

Where does your major rank? Check out PayScale's entire list.

Best Undergrad College Degrees By Salary

Methodology Annual pay for Bachelors graduates without higher degrees. Typical starting graduates have 2 years of experience; mid-career have 15 years. See full methodology for more.

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Comments

[meddog]

Where is nursing? Even a nurse with a 2 year degree will start out at $55,000+ BSN's will earn more. Talk about a job that can't be outsourced or downsized...
I think this list is off, by quite a bit.

[bogtrotter]

Yeah, that's what a university education is these days. Teach em how to make nuclear delivery systems, but don't give the the skills to ask if they should.

[Readbetweentheelevens]

For every bomb we make, how many jobs making homes are lost? Those tops jobs -- how many are "defense" related? Maybe the working man would earn a living wage if the country's resources didn't just go to "defense."

[Egghead]

It is absolutely ridiculous to make amount of salary the only criterion for selecting a major. Your college education will last you a lifetime. The field you train in may not, for any number of reasons. I've watched boom and bust cycles of the economy and I know that no field is recession-proof. What's more, whole fields go out of favor or even out of necessity.

I've watched cycles of everyone training as lawyers, or MBAs, or doing computer programming, and then watched as the floor crashed out from under them and the market is flooded with lawyers or MBAs. A fair number of people pick themselves up and decide, "you know what? I hated being an accountant. I'm going back to school and study what I really enjoy." And often, that's a humanities major.

Meanwhile, I studied more or less exactly what I wanted to: foreign languages, literature, music and theater. I'm now a very well prepared college professor. I don't make a lot of money, because our culture judges everything on money, but I get to spend about 60% or more of my work time doing stuff I really enjoy and I feel as though I'm making a difference. That's worth more than money to me.

[douhwa]

Engineering really isn't where the money is at, even tho it undoubtedly provides a level of job security. I have both an M.S. and B.S. in electrical engineering but make more money than my classmates because I am working in a different field. The fact I have those degrees from a respected school, however does imply that I am hardworking, and can think critically­/analytica­lly, and is therefore employable in a variety of industries outside of engineering.

Just wanted to put it out there too - H1-Bs aren't paid less than US citizens. In fact, in order to acquire an H1-B, the company needs to show the government that the employee is valuable and difficult to replace with a US citizen. One way to show this is to offer a competitive salary. When I was first job searching a few years ago, straight out of school, the unofficial minimum salary offer to acquire an H1-B was $65k.

[BFare]

am therefore employable

[liberal user]

It seems our efforts to achieve actual results with regards to reform in the banking & finance sectors are futile. In addition, the disconnect between reality and wall street keeps widening. The situation is frustrating.
hat tip: to http://www.iamned.com

[engineer458890]

Let me clue you into what is really happening in the US engineering world...... after many years of working in this industry, I have witnessed a major shift in US corporate thinking / strategy. The level of H1-B visas (and other H1 work visas) has risen to an enormous level and has in fact increased since 2002, when the Bush/Republicans passed "worker visas". I was once replaced by such a person, and most if not all of these Visas are from India. So what do we make of this, its clear......US corporations are hiring foreign workers (engineers, professionals, etc....) to lower costs. It has also understood that these foreign workers practice illegal hiring practices, so the US professional has no chance to be hired.

It does not matter if you are experienced and intelligent or have the skills to do the work. It only matters if they can pay you 1/2 to 1/3 of an American worker costs. Efforts by groups to turn down / curb this influence in US Corporation hiring practices have gone no where. And even now, when so many millions of professional (including engineers of all classes) are out of work, US corporations continue to place foreign workers over the US professionals.

The above graphs should be rewritten to show, how many US workers earn such $$ vs. how many foreign workers earn $$. I think that this would alarm all

America OPEN your eyes.
.

[Wally Petersen]

You almost got this right, friend. But instead of stressing the cost side of the H1B issue, realize that US Empolyers seek foreign workers because not ONLY of their relative cost advantae over US Employees BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, THE DEGREE TO WHICH THEY CAN BE MANIPULATED. These 'kids' essentially, will do everything and anything to stay in the US and the Microsofts and the Yahoos of the world know this. Essentially, they buy MALLABILITY not cost effectiveness. Foreign workers are easily intimidated, do not speak up for themselves and will work daunting hours and contend with conditions you or I would not.

So, in short, they're like the guys walking around the campus with blower machines for 10 hours a day destroying their hearing for 8.10 an hour and there is LITERALLY an AMRY of these people from small villages throughout India, China and now some African nations who'd sell their mothers to the Arabs , as Woody Allen would put it, to do just this.

[keerod76]

I agree with the previous commenters, this list can't be complete without some financial services jobs.

Who do they think crashed our economy?

Aerospace Engineers?

http://balmer.typepad.com/keithsmooth/
Sports, Pop Culture, & Comedy

[wtshid]

Many engineering jobs are easily exportable, especially the computer sciences fields. They just haven't yet haven't gotten into full gear on that one yet. The ultimate goal? We all become serfs to the corporate fathers of the world.

[arachne646]

Not an American with a BSc unless he's got lots of relevant experience. A degree from a good school is something youngsters all over the world have.

[JA01]

This list is all BS. My friends with financial degrees earn more than us engineers. There may be a few cases where an engineer has a higher base salary but an engineer's bonus does not even come close to what an accounting major (for example) gets.

[PCMinistry]

I was thinking the same thing. My starting was higher than all of these...

I have two business degrees Finance and Marketing.

[Jyoti Naik]

I wish parents and students would get educated on this. College education does not guarantee a job. I work at an educational institution and I cannot tell you how many parents and students are upset after spending thousands of dollars on a liberal arts degree, when the only jobs they can get are at store/restaurants which they could have got with a high school diploma.

[socialmistfit]

Absolutely right. Spend less and learn a trade, then go make a decent living. But no... that would require hard work... getting the hands dirty. And all your snooty friends would look down their nose at your for having an electrician, mason, mechanic or plumber for offspring.

[userw014]

So, what is the difference between:

Computer Engineering $61,700/$105,000
Computer Science $56,400/$97,400
Management Information Systems $51,900/$87,200
Computing and Information Systems $50,900/$86,700
Information Technology $49,400/$75,200

In any event, I'm helping to anchor the lower part of the curve.

[davism97]

Big difference. Just to distinguish two majors that are often mistaken for each other:

1) Computer Engineering: Essentially an electrical engineer who specializes in computer hardware.

2) Computer Science: Specializes in computing algorithms and information theory (to make it even more confusing there's the Software Engineer degree as well which focuses on software development but is essentially a CS degree I think).

They are not really related degrees at all except both require a lot of math.

[Jyoti Naik]

Thank you for clearing that up :-0 I have often wondered myself.

[SwingingFromCenter]

To be a little more specific than another response (though it was good, as well)

Engineering: Development and design. Mostly hardware, though it could mean a number of things.

Comp Sci: Mostly codemonkeys aka programmer­s/develope­rs.

MIS: This is more of an office manager for techies sort of field. It's for people who wanna push paper.

CIS: These are the cable jockeys. Your network and systems admins, your security specialists, your help desk personnel, etc. However most of us in this industry actually majored in comp. sci--just how it usually works. The cable jockeys also make the most of any discipline.

Information Technology: This is basically the "liberal arts" of the IT world.

[SwingingFromCenter]

Addendum: I should have put in the section regarding the CIS guys that the salary averages are dragged down in this field because of the Help Desk people. At one extreme, you've got your Security/V­oice/Routi­ng&Switchi­ng specialists pulling down well into the 6 figures, but at the other end you've got your help desk people who are making 18 bucks an hour. There are a lot more Help Desk people than specialists.

[JA01]

Those code monkeys can be hired in India and Eastern Europe for $15,000 a year.

[davism97]

In other words if you want to make good money kids pay attention in math class!!!

[effitol]

So remember kids- it's all about the money.

[drymartini1]

It always is.....

college is not the place to "discover yourself". Know what you want and go out and get it.

[Amalek]

These are averages and do not reflect the extremes. Top accountants, for example, are paid above this scale as new graduates, and easily make over $1 million mid career.

[maryloo]

True, but the same can be said for top Engineers. For example the heads of Engineering for Formula 1 racing teams earn millions of dollars per year.

[SwingingFromCenter]

One of my oldest friends recently graduated with an accountant's degree from a good university.

She's making 44,000 a year to start, and that's apparently above scale. I dunno that they make so much.

[AtheistUS]

Good.

Of course lowest level of financial crooks do earn half-million easily, and some useless 'celebs; get lucky too, but still it is good that sensible morally rewarding professions allow to earn at least middle class level money.