Highest Paying Jobs With a Bachelor’s Degree
Your major can have an even bigger impact on future earnings than choice of school. Find out which majors pay you back, and which make it hard to pay back student loans.
| Rank | Major | Degree Type | Early Career Pay | Mid-Career Pay | % High Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank:1 | Major:Petroleum Engineering | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$97,500 | Mid-Career Pay:$212,500 | % High Meaning:61% |
| Rank:2 | Major:Operations Research & Industrial Engineering | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$98,300 | Mid-Career Pay:$191,800 | % High Meaning:21% |
| Rank:3 | Major:Interaction Design | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$74,700 | Mid-Career Pay:$173,600 | % High Meaning:54% |
| Rank:4 | Major:Applied Economics and Management | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$76,500 | Mid-Career Pay:$164,400 | % High Meaning:54% |
| Rank:5 | Major:Building Science | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$69,000 | Mid-Career Pay:$163,100 | % High Meaning:47% |
| Rank:6 | Major:Actuarial Mathematics | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$70,700 | Mid-Career Pay:$160,000 | % High Meaning:52% |
| Rank:6 | Major:Operations Research | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$92,200 | Mid-Career Pay:$160,000 | % High Meaning:57% |
| Rank:8 | Major:Systems Engineering | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$87,000 | Mid-Career Pay:$159,100 | % High Meaning:58% |
| Rank:9 | Major:Optical Science & Engineering | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$79,600 | Mid-Career Pay:$158,300 | % High Meaning:73% |
| Rank:10 | Major:Information & Computer Science | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$76,000 | Mid-Career Pay:$157,800 | % High Meaning:63% |
| Rank:11 | Major:Aeronautics & Astronautics | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$88,200 | Mid-Career Pay:$156,900 | % High Meaning:56% |
| Rank:12 | Major:Aerospace Studies | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$62,600 | Mid-Career Pay:$154,300 | % High Meaning:- |
| Rank:13 | Major:Pharmacy | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$69,400 | Mid-Career Pay:$154,000 | % High Meaning:79% |
| Rank:14 | Major:Cognitive Science | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$78,000 | Mid-Career Pay:$153,800 | % High Meaning:43% |
| Rank:15 | Major:Managerial Economics | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$74,700 | Mid-Career Pay:$153,300 | % High Meaning:38% |
| Rank:16 | Major:Quantitative Economics | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$74,500 | Mid-Career Pay:$152,700 | % High Meaning:43% |
| Rank:17 | Major:Econometrics | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$72,000 | Mid-Career Pay:$152,100 | % High Meaning:35% |
| Rank:18 | Major:Foreign Affairs | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$62,900 | Mid-Career Pay:$152,000 | % High Meaning:32% |
| Rank:19 | Major:Chemical Engineering | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$85,600 | Mid-Career Pay:$151,800 | % High Meaning:55% |
| Rank:20 | Major:Public Accounting | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$69,700 | Mid-Career Pay:$151,200 | % High Meaning:47% |
| Rank:21 | Major:Political Economy | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$73,100 | Mid-Career Pay:$150,600 | % High Meaning:31% |
| Rank:22 | Major:Corporate Accounting & Finance | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$76,800 | Mid-Career Pay:$149,600 | % High Meaning:50% |
| Rank:23 | Major:Actuarial Science | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$76,700 | Mid-Career Pay:$149,000 | % High Meaning:42% |
| Rank:24 | Major:Computer Engineering (CE) | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$89,100 | Mid-Career Pay:$148,500 | % High Meaning:46% |
| Rank:25 | Major:Electrical Power Engineering | Degree Type:Bachelors | Early Career Pay:$84,700 | Mid-Career Pay:$148,300 | % High Meaning:72% |
A bachelor’s degree is a great investment in your future, and one of the most common degrees earned by college students. Some degrees pay you back, but others don’t do much to increase your earning potential. Your course of study influences your earning potential, so in order to plan your financial future, use Payscale’s College Salary Report to rank how different majors for bachelor’s degrees compare based on alumni salaries.
Top Bachelor Degrees
In keeping with current trends, the College Salary Report shows that the best bachelor degrees are mostly STEM-focused, meaning they are focused on science, technology, engineering or math. STEM degrees continue to be some of the highest paying degrees on the College Salary Report year after year. The top three highest-paying college majors are
Petroleum Engineer – Mid Career Salary: $176,900
A focus in this type of engineering will show you how to oversee production methods for retrieving oil and natural gas from the earth. Common employers of petroleum engineers include Chevron Corporation, British Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, Exxon, and more. Petroleum engineering is a male-dominated field, with women representing only 11 percent.
Electrical Engineering and Computer Science – Mid-Career Salary: $142,200
This degree prepares students to design and build software and hardware and software for a number of applications and devices.
Applied Economics and Management – Mid-Career Salary: $140,000
A degree in Applied Economics and Management enables students to gain an understanding of how economic principles are applied in the real world. Coursework would include classes in microeconomics, macroeconomics and econometrics.
In today’s job market, having a bachelor’s degree is nearly a necessity to land a rewarding, well-paying job with any possibility for advancement; a bachelor’s degree is almost essential for entry into most professional careers. In certain lines of work, like teaching and engineering, you cannot enter the field without holding at least a bachelor’s degree.