New 2023 data shows dramatic differences in salary results for college graduates based on their major. Engineering graduates go on to have highly paid, stable careers. Individuals majoring in liberal arts and education experience much lower wages in their early careers.
Engineering majors continue to be the most financially successful graduates, frequently achieving six-figure salaries by mid-career. Later in their careers, they’ll be more than $80,000 richer on average. This is more than double the U.S. median wage, which was $48,060 for 2022. This trend simply emphasizes all the skills needed in engineering disciplines and, more importantly, the payment that comes along with those skills.
In comparison, numerous graduates of liberal arts and education programs are lucky to be making anything near $40,000 a few years post-graduation. Early childhood education majors earn the lowest salary of any major, with full-time workers ages 22 to 27 earning a median salary of only $27,000. Indeed, their median income is only $41,000. These educators see their salary increase as they progress through their career. By mid-career, their median income is over $49,000, an $8,000 boost.
Our report details the 10 lowest-paying college majors for full time workers between the ages of 35 and 45. It further examines how younger graduates are faring in their earnings. The weighted median salary for all 85 majors we studied is $50,000. This means that the majority of graduates do not earn at least the national median wage five years after graduating.
As a recent RN-to-BSN program graduate, Nathanael Farrelly is an excellent example of the growing success and growing demand of the nursing profession. At only 28 years old, he sold his nursing staffing agency for an incredible $12.5 million. This accomplishment underscores amazing opportunities for high wage jobs outside the traditional sectors. His story is a reminder that entrepreneurial moves, whether in the health tech sector or adjacent industries, can lead to incredibly lucrative positive health externalities.
That’s reflected in early-career salaries, where the gap is especially staggering if you compare engineers to their liberal arts or education peers. This gap begs important questions regarding the ROI of different degrees. Engineering graduates have a booming job market and starting salaries. Yet, unlike others, they don’t have the same luxury of financial staying power. Other fields offer clear promise for sustained upward mobility. In many fields, graduates will have to complete further credentials or change paths entirely to increase their salary potential.
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