The 13 Best-Paying College Majors: PayScale List

You've worked hard in your major, now how will your major pay you back? According to salary data site PayScale, engineers of many different stripes are poised to earn the most money over the course of their careers. At mid-career, the average petroleum engineer earns a whopping $155,000 per year (perhaps more if he or she went to Princeton). Below, check out which other majors pay off over time.

What did you major in? Has it paid off? Or do you wish you had done something else? Weigh in below.

Loading Slideshow

• Petroleum Engineering

  Starting Median Pay: $97,900 Mid-Career Median Pay: $155,000

• Chemical Engineering

  Staring Median Pay: $64,500 Mid-Career Median Pay: $109,000

• Electrical Engineering

  Starting Median Pay: $61,300 Mid-Career Median Pay: $103,000

• Materials Science & Engineering

  Starting Median Pay: $60,400 Mid-Career Median Pay: $103,000

• Aerospace Engineering

  Starting Median Pay: $60,700 Mid-Career Median Pay: $102,000

• Computer Engineering

  Starting Median Pay: $61,800 Mid-Career Median Pay: $101,000

• Physics

  Starting Median Pay: $49,800 Mid-Career Median Pay: $101,000

• Applied Mathematics

  Starting Median Pay: $52,600 Mid-Career Median Pay: $98,600

• Computer Science

  Starting Median Pay: $56,600 Mid-Career Median Pay: $97,900

• Nuclear Engineering

  Starting Median Pay: $65,100 Mid-Career Median Pay: $97,800

• Biomedical Engineering

  Starting Median Pay: $53,800 Mid-Career Median Pay: $97,800

• Economics

  Starting Median Pay: $47,300 Mid-Career Median Pay: $94,700

• Mechanical Engineering

  Starting Median Pay: $58,400 Mid-Career Median Pay: $94,500

Comments

[JosephTX]

05:59 PM on 08/11/2011

Computer Science master race reporting in

[RunDaBx]

09:05 AM on 08/06/2011

economics?

[Stanley Alton Blow III]

10:59 AM on 08/08/2011

I was thinking "which one doesn't fit"

[ackezzy]

12:51 PM on 08/05/2011

moral of the story, do your math homework

[Otari Giutashvili]

07:17 PM on 08/03/2011

this is what i see when i see this: boring, boring, boring, boring, boring, boring, boring, boring, boring, boring, boring, boring and BORING!

[RunDaBx]

09:02 AM on 08/06/2011

you don't see $$$$?

[Mondayboy]

01:04 PM on 08/01/2011

Greenspan's face is a huge reason nobody should go into economics.

[andrebhub]

10:43 PM on 07/29/2011

I am surprised to see that nursing or pharmacy didn't make the list. A RN makes pretty good money as well as a pharmacist.

[Michael Morrison]

12:53 PM on 08/09/2011

I am surprised that nursing didn't make the list, but pharmacy is a graduate degree...Not really an undergraduate major.

[Denise Chiang]

12:26 AM on 07/29/2011

Engineering is definitely a great major choice. There are lots of jobs. Liberal arts majors can teach or find graduate school such as law school. A lot of professions require graduate school. Even engineering undergrads can take their education to the next level in grad school.

[Sealcamp]

10:40 PM on 07/28/2011

When did college and higher education become a trade school and not education as a cradle of our democracy? I understand that people need jobs but that is not the sole purpose of education.

[Cronous]

12:22 PM on 07/29/2011

How is majoring in comparative literature to help our democracy? Most engineering degrees do have a humanities requirement anyhow. You certainly do need to make an entire major out of it.

[Eriq]

06:11 PM on 07/30/2011

Nothing was mentioned about humanities or comparative literature, so get over yourself. Because you're young doesn't mena you know everything. In fact, quite the opposite. You'll likely find out a few things in about twenty years, dear one.

[NJEric]

02:51 PM on 08/02/2011

Yes, the sole reason for going to college is to learn how to be proficient for some type of career. What other purpose did you think college served? The original role of the American public education system was to teach children to read, so that they could stay informed of government policies and actions, and therefore be well-versed voters. That's it. Seriously.

[Centristx3]

10:35 AM on 08/03/2011

It was originally ran by Christians too until Catholics egged it up making education state ran.

[Spike5]

11:48 PM on 08/18/2011

Well, it looks like we blew that one. Clearly the majority of Republican voters these days are neither informed of government policies and actions nor well-versed voters.

Of course, they didn't have Fox News way back then.

[Sunny Wanser]

02:30 PM on 07/28/2011

I graduated last May with a Computer Science degree and couldn't get a job as a Software Engineer or Developer because I have very little "professional" experience. A lot of companies don't think of four years of programming in college as real experience, which may be an okay assessment, it depends on the job. But now I'm pigeon-holed into jockeying web sites at a job I could've gotten straight out of high school, making $10k less than the median Computer Science starting salary listed here. The student loan payments are pretty tough to come up with every month.

[Emmanuel Fulton]

11:30 PM on 07/30/2011

It may have helped if you did some internships or volunteer to get your foot in the door as a software engineer. The market out hear is tough and there is stellar competition in the engineering field especially software, electrical and computer engineering

[LivelyLexie]

01:46 PM on 07/28/2011

Pretty much ANYTHING related to engineering is paid well.

[GhostOfFDR]

11:24 AM on 07/28/2011

They missed the best paying major of all. The one called "find the student at your school with the richest parents and marry him/her."

[mhtowe64]

11:02 AM on 07/28/2011

these salary values are not accurate what so ever. It all depends on experience, the company, your resume, aquired skills, your ability to communicate. Right out of college I make 60k in mechanical engineering company

[swansony]

02:25 PM on 07/28/2011

They're median values. Plenty of people probably make less than you do.

[lydatarz]

01:07 AM on 07/28/2011

Shoot! Every class I suck in!!!!

[abhorson]

07:08 AM on 07/28/2011

oops, I hope your parents are rich and old... preferably you have no brothers/sisters

[danarnold25843]

08:20 PM on 07/27/2011

I saw a bumper sticker once that said: "Honk if you passed P-Chem". I bet he didn't get many takers.

[Aubie]

07:37 PM on 07/28/2011

Honk, Honk

[danarnold25843]

01:08 AM on 07/29/2011

That means you had to pass differential equations too! You have my upmost respect and admiration.

[Michael Morrison]

01:00 PM on 08/09/2011

Honk!

[rn06053]

07:00 PM on 07/27/2011

I don't know where they get this information from but it doesnt seem accurate, I am a registered nurse in CT for 3 years which isn't even mid career and based on 40 hours I make 85000 per year, even if that was based on the lowest new graduate wage it would still be over 60K and I saw one of those majors listed in the top 13 was like 52K.

[GhostOfFDR]

11:21 AM on 07/28/2011

I had assumed these were undergraduate 4 year degrees. Nursing is usually more than 4 years.

[Steph L]

08:11 PM on 07/28/2011

I agree that nursing should definitely be on the list. For RN licensure the minimum requirement in most states is an associate degree. I live in Northern California so my view of entry level pay may be a bit skewed on the high side but I believe the national average is very competitive with these careers/majors shown. I have a bachelor's in nursing and have been working for just over 1.5 years an make just over 73,000 before taxes working 32 hrs/week.