How much college graduates make

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Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. The Balance Budgeting. Part of. Building a Healthy Relationship with Money. What to Know When Starting a Career. Credit Cards Saving for Retirement in Your 20s. How to Start Investing. What to Know about Taxes. Table of Contents Expand. Table of Contents. What Do Graduates Want? Average College Graduate Salaries. Early Career Majors, Highest Pay.

Early Career Majors, Lowest Pay. Get Salary Information. Your Compensation Package. Recent college graduates still make about the same amount of money they have for the last several years despite tighter and more competitive markets. Graduates often enter the workforce with decent pay, but not always in accordance with their expectations. The cost of living in most areas is higher than ever, making it an important factor in the lives of recent graduates.

There are other considerations regarding salary differentials. The following lists explain which majors pay the most and which pay the least:. NACE explains that the top paid professions include majors in:. A report by Georgetown University says the least paid professions include majors in:. A college education still leads to premium earnings in comparison to a high school diploma. The results are not always immediate, but with time and experience in your chosen field, cumulatively you have more opportunities and a much higher earning potential.

The following list breaks down recent graduate salary by industry:. This is much lower than many business majors expect to make after high school, even with an MBA. This may be slightly higher than starting salaries, however.

Health major salaries vary widely depending on the expertise level as some become assistants and others become full doctors. Finance majors also have a wide range of salary expectations depending on their career goals.

For example, some individuals remain in consulting roles while others open their own businesses. Similar to previous entries, technology degrees vary widely and not all positions follow these numbers.

Related: Average Salary by Age. Despite the ongoing effects of the Covid pandemic, college students are optimistic about their future employment opportunities. He notes that vaccines are becoming broadly available, stimulus checks were just sent out to millions of families, federal student loan payments and interest are still frozen and there are lots of job openings.

Yet much like the broader population is experiencing the effects of the so-called "K-shaped" recovery , where different cohorts are seeing very uneven financial outcomes, college students should also be prepared for an unequal experiences as they head out into the job market, Scheinerman says. Those earning degrees in the sciences, for example, may find better job prospects than those with degrees in fine arts. And that was true even before the pandemic.