1. The Economic Value of
College Majors
Anthony P. Carnevale, Ban Cheah,
and Andrew R. Hanson
May 7, 2015

2. Major Highlights
• This report analyzes wages for 137 college majors.
• It also details the most popular majors, the majors
most likely to lead to an advanced degree, and the
economic benefit of earning an advanced degree by
undergraduate major.

3. The majors analyzed are aggregated into
seven groups

4. Deciding your major plays a bigger role in determining
what you will earn than deciding to go to college

5. The majors with the highest and lowest
median annual wages
• The highest earning
majors are within the
STEM fields.
• The lowest earning majors
are in the fields of early
childhood education,
human services, and
community organization.

6. The highest- and lowest-paying majors
• STEM, health, and business majors are the highest
paying, leading to average annual wages of $37,000 or
more at the entry level.
• Early childhood education and human services are
among the lowest paying, with an average annual
wage of $40,000.

7. The most common majors are business and
STEM, which are also the highest paying

8. The majority of the highest paying jobs are
in engineering fields

9. Biology and life science majors are the most
likely to earn a graduate degree

10. The lowest paying majors are in the education,
arts, and social work fields

11. The most popular and least popular
undergraduate majors
Most Popular
1. Business management and
administration
2. General business
3. Accounting
4. Nursing
5. Psychology
Least Popular
1. Geological and geophysical
engineering
2. Metallurgical engineering
3. Physical sciences
4. Geosciences
5. Neuroscience

12. Want to see how much your major is worth?
The tool lets you view how much college graduates earn by 15 major groups and 137 detailed
major subgroups nationally and within the states.
Click Explore The Data to learn more.
http://cew.georgetown.edu/reports/valueofcollegemajors

13. For more information:
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See the full report at: cew.georgetown.edu/ValueofCollegeMajors