Whatever their major, college graduates take a wide variety of jobs, with a similarly wide range of median earnings. Majors in statistics and decision sciences earned the most in the occupation chosen by the greatest share of them; engineering majors were next on that measure. More than two-thirds of the statistics majors in their most-common occupation had earned advanced degrees, while only 29 percent of their counterparts who majored in engineering did. Majors in visual and performing arts and in physics earned the least in their most-common job early in their careers. Physics majors, however, earned among the highest wages for their second-most common occupation. Along with music majors, majors in visual and performing arts were the least likely to be working full time at ages 25 to 34.
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| Biology | 70.2% | Physicians and surgeons | 14.5% | $59,033 | 99.9% | Postsecondary teachers | 5.4% | $26,354 | 58.7% |
| Business management and administration | 80.5% | Accountants and auditors | 6.1% | $53,762 | 26.1% | First-line supervisors of sales workers | 5.9% | $47,939 | 10.7% |
| Business, general | 78.0% | First-line supervisors of sales workers | 5.9% | $49,004 | 14.2% | Accountants and auditors | 5.4% | $55,396 | 29.4% |
| Chemistry | 73.6% | Postsecondary teachers | 12.4% | $26,633 | 66.4% | Chemists and materials scientists | 10.7% | $56,571 | 33.2% |
| Communications | 75.9% | Managers in marketing, advertising, and public relations | 5.0% | $55,870 | 14.9% | First-line supervisors of sales workers | 3.5% | $42,166 | 7.1% |
| Drama and theater arts | 65.2% | Actors, producers, and directors | 8.3% | $31,959 | 11.4% | Waiters and waitresses | 6.5% | $20,571 | 6.3% |
| Economics | 77.1% | Accountants and auditors | 7.5% | $66,049 | 31.2% | Lawyers, judges, magistrates, and judicial workers | 5.2% | $85,225 | 99.2% |
| Education, general | 75.1% | Elementary- and middle-school teachers | 47.5% | $42,612 | 43.0% | Secondary-school teachers | 8.3% | $43,220 | 42.0% |
| Engineering, general | 81.0% | Software developers, applications, and systems software | 10.7% | $71,683 | 28.6% | Civil engineers | 6.9% | $66,857 | 25.1% |
| English language and literature | 67.6% | Elementary- and middle-school teachers | 8.9% | $43,678 | 56.0% | Postsecondary teachers | 6.5% | $24,685 | 80.2% |
| Environmental science | 71.4% | Environmental scientists and geoscientists | 6.5% | $51,428 | 26.4% | Postsecondary teachers | 5.5% | $21,083 | 51.8% |
| Film, video, and photographic arts | 69.0% | Actors, producers, and directors | 7.4% | $53,265 | 6.7% | Photographers | 6.7% | $31,959 | 5.7% |
| Finance | 83.7% | Accountants and auditors | 14.9% | $57,979 | 24.5% | Financial managers | 8.2% | $71,999 | 27.1% |
| Fine arts | 64.1% | Designers | 11.2% | $39,085 | 9.8% | Artists and related workers | 4.7% | $37,285 | 16.3% |
| French, German, Latin, and other common foreign-language studies | 65.9% | Elementary- and middle-school teachers | 10.8% | $42,166 | 56.7% | Postsecondary teachers | 7.6% | $21,600 | 76.3% |
| History | 72.5% | Elementary- and middle-school teachers | 8.9% | $44,742 | 55.5% | Lawyers, judges, magistrates, and judicial workers | 8.1% | $77,142 | 99.7% |
| Mathematics | 73.7% | Postsecondary teachers | 12.4% | $27,698 | 81.0% | Elementary- and middle-school teachers | 9.4% | $46,383 | 51.6% |
| Music | 57.7% | Musicians, singers, and related workers | 11.8% | $26,331 | 46.3% | Elementary- and middle-school teachers | 6.4% | $42,061 | 56.3% |
| Philosophy and religious studies | 67.7% | Lawyers, judges, magistrates, and judicial workers | 8.7% | $69,942 | 97.3% | Postsecondary teachers | 7.7% | $25,300 | 82.5% |
| Physics | 74.3% | Postsecondary teachers | 19.5% | $25,714 | 73.1% | Software developers, applications, and systems software | 6.2% | $80,228 | 72.4% |
| Psychology | 68.8% | Social workers | 7.7% | $37,028 | 42.1% | Counselors | 7.6% | $36,896 | 67.6% |
| Social sciences, general | 71.0% | Elementary- and middle-school teachers | 7.7% | $43,200 | 38.9% | Social workers | 5.9% | $38,057 | 24.0% |
| Sociology | 72.9% | Social workers | 9.4% | $38,351 | 33.0% | Elementary- and middle-school teachers | 5.0% | $42,612 | 54.7% |
| Statistics and decision sciences | 61.3% | Mathematicians and statisticians | 10.9% | $71,999 | 67.1% | Postsecondary teachers | 8.5% | $21,307 | 91.3% |
| Visual and performing arts | 57.9% | Waiters and waitresses | 5.3% | $18,975 | 1.0% | Elementary- and middle-school teachers | 4.8% | $45,329 | 37.0% |
Note: Data are from the 2011-13 three-year sample of the U.S. Census Bureau’s “American Community Survey.” The sample used for those data makes up 3 percent of the population of the United States. The analysis covered 171 majors and 217 occupations. Catchall job categories that grouped together “other” occupations, like “other engineers” or “other managers,” were excluded from the top two occupations listed in this table. More data are available at www.hamiltonproject.org/charts/median_earnings_for_largest_occupations.
Source: Analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s “American Community Survey” by the Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution