Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on The Penny Hoarder.
Getting a college degree is an expensive proposition. Students can get a lot out of the college experience, and one of the returns for the cost is (hopefully) a decent job.
The choice of a college major has a lot to do with getting a good-paying job.
Of course, everyone has to pick the course of study that suits them, but it might help to know about the best college majors. And by best, we mean the majors that result in the best salaries.
The average starting salary for a college graduate is $68,516. The average salary of jobs that require only a high school diploma is $42,590, and that is after a few years of working.
Degrees for Sustainable Careers
We looked at the top degrees that create sustainable careers.
Our calculations are based on average starting salary, the median salary after five years in the field, the most in-demand majors, projected job growth rate and whether an undergraduate degree or postgraduate programs were needed.
We also wanted to know what the unemployment rate was for these fields and what the average cost of the college is.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is a great resource if you are interested in a college major not mentioned here.
How Much Does College Cost?
College costs vary widely from state to state and from private to public schools.
The average tuition is $9,750 to about $58,628, not including room and board, which can tack on up to $17,400 more.
The cost of college has skyrocketed, according to Education Data. The total cost of getting a bachelor’s degree has more than doubled in the 21st century, and tuition rates compound (and increase) around 4.11% annually.
Some degrees, like engineering, cost more per credit hour. Business, education and fine art majors also cost more, while math and sociology majors cost the least.
According to a study done by Education Next, “Most social-science disciplines and philosophy are relatively less expensive, while science, technology, and pre-professional programs like nursing are more costly.”
Average Tuition and Fees
According to the Trends in College Pricing report, on average the price of tuition and fees in the 2023-24 academic year were:
- $41,540 at private colleges
- $11,260 at public colleges (in-state residents)
- $29,150 at public colleges (out-of-state residents)
It also report that room and board runs:
- $14,650 at private colleges
- $12,770 at public colleges
Financial Aid
Almost 85% of students get some sort of financial aid. Federal grants, averaging just over $10,590 go to 42% of college undergraduates. Federal loans, averaging $3,780, go to 37% of college undergrads.
In 2022, the average amount of student aid for undergraduates was $15,330. Graduate students averaged $27,300 in financial aid.
In the 2022-23 school year, the average aid for each full-time equivalent (FTE) student was $15,480 per undergraduate. That amount rose to $28,300 for graduate students.
In November 2022, the FAFSA Simplification Act (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) made it easier to apply for financial aid, including adding categories and expanding the Pell Grant eligibility.
For many degrees, you may be able to take basic courses at community college and transfer to another college or university for your major. Tuition and fees for a public two-year college average between $1,440 to $8,660, depending on the state.
STEM Versus Liberal Arts
STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) majors are most frequently mentioned as good college degrees for higher-earning career options than in the humanities.
Labor statistics continuously show steady or increased projected job growth in STEM fields.
While visual and performing arts might feed the soul, STEM careers often have a significantly higher entry salary than those in the liberal arts.
What Is the Best College Degree for You?
It is important that you study something interesting to you that fits your natural aptitudes.
Make sure you study something that fits who you are, rather than changing yourself for the major. Your college major decision doesn’t have to lock you into one path for the rest of your life.
You might pick a college major as a freshman, then change it the next year. That is fine.
Good communication skills are important in every career. Critical thinking works whether you are doing project management or petroleum engineering.
When choosing a college major, pay attention to what keeps you engaged in a subject, and what turns you off. These are important cues for success on your career path.
Top College Majors for Good-Paying Jobs
- Engineering
- Computer Engineering
- Computer Science
- Health Care Informatics
- Nursing
- Finance
- Cybersecurity
- Public Administration
- Economics
- Construction Management
- Logistics
- Physics
- Marketing
- Game Design
- Pharmaceutical Sciences
Keep in mind when looking at salaries listed for each major that there is a wide variation between states, regions, and urban and rural centers.
We looked at several employment websites to figure out the starting salary, and mainly used the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the median salary.
Plus, for helpful comparison, average job growth in the United States is 5%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics job outlook index.
Here are some valuable degrees that could be the best college major for you.
1. Engineering
There are a lot of engineering career paths. The beginnings of those paths are pretty similar, but then you get to branch out.
There are electrical engineering, industrial engineering, civil engineering, architectural engineering, marine engineering, nuclear engineering, petroleum engineering and chemical engineering majors.
Every type of engineering pays well, and even though the job growth isn’t especially high, unemployment is very low. Engineering is one of the safest degrees for job markets. College students have multiple career options with these majors.
Most engineering fields require at least a bachelor’s degree to get started. For example, environmental engineers can get work with their bachelor’s, but nuclear engineers usually need at least a master’s degree or doctorate to begin. Here is a breakdown of salaries for a variety of engineering jobs from Michigan Tech.
- Starting salary: $41,956 for the lowest-paid engineers
- Median salary: $91,420
- Growth rate 2022–2032: 188,000 new roles estimated
- Postgraduate degree needed: No
2. Computer Science
For this degree, you study the design, development, theories and application of computer systems and software development.
This can include careers such as computer systems analyst, information systems manager or computer systems analyst. It is one of the best college majors because it can be applied to almost any field.
Software engineering majors will always find work; unemployment hovers around 2%.
- Starting salary: $104,863
- Median salary: $130,160
- Growth rate 2022–2032: 25%
- Postgraduate degree needed: About a third of people working in computer-related career paths have postgraduate degrees
3. Computer Engineering
Computer engineers also work on development, design and software, but focus more on computer architecture like hardware design, artificial intelligence and operating systems.
There is a low unemployment rate for these college majors. Careers include app developers, IT specialists and firmware engineers.
- Starting salary: $30,000
- Median salary: $92,958
- Growth rate 2022–2032: 5%
- Postgraduate degree needed: No. About 40% of people working in this field have post-graduate degrees.
4. Health Care Informatics
This relatively new career field has one of the highest projected job growth in any field, at 28% (the average is 5% to 8%).
This field combines health care and computer system knowledge to create digital systems for all medical fields.
Health care informatics workers develop systems that do data analysis and processing, as well as digital communication between health care facilities and data security.
Health information privacy laws are partially driving this field’s rapid growth.
- Starting salary: $89,000
- Median salary: $110,680
- Growth rate 2022-2032: 28%
- Postgraduate degree needed: 57% of workers in this field reported having postgraduate degrees.
5. Nursing
Nursing as a college major combines STEM majors with people skills, which makes it a popular course of study. Health care professionals can branch off into multiple directions when they have a nursing degree.
The highest-paying nursing jobs are nurse anesthetists and nurse midwives, who earn around $129,480 as a median salary.
It has become more common for nurses to train longer to become nurse practitioners. Nurse practitioners take on responsibilities similar to doctors.
Nurse practitioners return to school for either master’s or doctoral degrees and have to pass a national board-certified exam. The field is growing extremely quickly at 38%.
- Starting salary: $122,504
- Median salary: $129,480
- Growth rate 2020-2030: 38%
- Postgraduate degree needed: 28% of nurses have advanced degrees. You don’t need a bachelor’s degree to be a registered nurse.
6. Finance
Business majors and accounting majors can find a lot of opportunities. You can work in business administration, financial analysis and financial planning or so many other jobs in the business world.
Management analysts, personal financial advisors, and project management specialists earn the highest average salaries.
Finance majors also frequently work in real estate, and we can all see that the housing market can be rewarding. Business administration is one of the most popular college majors.
Unemployment in finance is less than 3%.
- Starting salary: $67,026
- Median salary: $99,890
- Growth rate 2022-2032: 8%
- Postgraduate degree needed: Just under a third of the people working in finance have advanced degrees.
7. Cybersecurity
One of the best college majors for the current job market, and for job growth, is cybersecurity. It is one of the fastest-growing fields.
Not all colleges offer this degree, so you can look for information technology as a college major, or the other computer majors mentioned earlier.
A doctorate or master’s degree really pays off in this field. A chief information security officer can make over $475,000 annually.
- Starting salary: $96,652
- Median salary: $120,360
- Growth rate 2022-2032: 32% (the fastest growing on our list)
- Postgraduate degree needed: About 25% of cybersecurity jobs require a master’s degree.
8. Public Administration
College majors getting political science or public administration degrees can go into government, nonprofit and academic careers. They might be city managers, nonprofit directors or public health managers, or work in human resources.
Public policy director jobs pay very well, with a salary range of $126,000 to $220,000. There is a great deal of variety in salaries in this field.
Degrees in public administration are good for people interested in going to law school. You can combine a desire to make the world better with a career that pays well.
This is an area with extremely low unemployment.
- Starting salary: $35,610
- Median salary: $96,596
- Growth rate 2022-2032: 6%
- Postgraduate degree needed: Yes. More than half of job holders have a postgraduate degree.
9. Economics
An economics major is different from finance because it is one of the social sciences, rather than a business degree.
College graduates with this degree can become economists, financial analysts, management consultants, data scientists and more.
It is a high-earning field that pays people with postgraduate degrees best. Almost 10% of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies hold undergraduate degrees in economics.
- Starting salary: $76,500
- Median salary: $115,730
- Growth rate 2020-2030: 6%
- Postgraduate degree needed: Yes. More than half of the people working in this field have postgraduate degrees.
10. Construction Management
Construction management is a great degree for someone who is interested in buildings, has good communication skills, and can understand both the cost analysis and materials science of a project.
It is one of the best career options for bachelor’s degree holders who don’t want to go on to get a master’s.
Salaries vary widely in construction management, heavily influenced by experience and special skills. Residential construction generally pays the least, and civil or heavy duty projects pay the most.
- Starting salary: $47,831
- Median salary: $104,900
- Growth rate 2022-2032: 8%
- Postgraduate degree needed: Most jobs require bachelor’s degrees, not postgraduate.
11. Logistics
Logistics is a college major that has job growth starting with an associate’s degree, which has a vocational emphasis.
The bachelor’s degree emphasizes transportation management, systems design, accounting and statistics and supply chain management, with a human resources component.
Logistics is another quickly growing field. Here’s what you can expect.
- Starting salary: $54,237
- Median salary: $79,400
- Growth rate 2022-2032: 18%
- Postgraduate degree needed: Less than a quarter of employees in this field have postgraduate degrees.
12. Physics
A physics major gives college students many job opportunities, as long as they are willing to go through graduate programs.
Astronomy, meteorology, photonics (the science of using light, such as in bar codes and lasers), climate science, education, robotics, gaming and other majors are all in this field.
Physics is the study of how everything functions, including space, time, and energy. As a field it has a huge amount of flexibility, allowing you to work in academia, research, business and science settings.
- Starting salary: $94,805
- Median salary: $149,530
- Growth rate 2022-2032: 5%
- Postgraduate degree needed: Yes, at least 67% of people in physics-related occupations have advanced degrees. Most jobs require a doctorate.
13. Marketing
Marketing, advertising, and public relations careers are non-STEM majors that provide good salaries, relatively low unemployment, and don’t require advanced degrees. Marketing promotes and advertises goods and services.
People can start working in the field with a high school diploma, though a bachelor’s degree is needed for advancement.
The starting salary isn’t that high, but marketing managers are well paid. A few years of experience makes a big difference.
- Starting salary: $41,000
- Median salary: $131,870
- Growth rate 2022-2032: 6%
- Postgraduate degree needed: Not really, only 18% of workers in this field have them.
14. Game Design
Game design is a relatively new college major, and isn’t offered everywhere. Other college majors for game design are software development and graphic design.
Game design can be used in multiple careers. For example, journalism and education fields are increasingly using game design principles in reporting and teaching.
The gaming market is steadily growing. It is a strong international market, with even faster job growth in Middle Eastern and African markets.
- Starting salary: $47,000
- Median salary: $149,118
- Growth rate 2018-2028: 7% to %
- Postgraduate degree needed: No
15. Pharmaceutical Sciences
Bachelor’s degrees in pharmaceutical sciences lead to many jobs, though a graduate degree is needed to become a pharmacist.
One of the most lucrative jobs for someone with this bachelor’s is in pharmaceutical sales, earning an average of $63,000 a year.
Being a pharmacist requires a doctor of pharmacy degree, also called a Pharm.D. Pharmacists work in hospitals, medical research, retail locations, and academics.
While there isn’t high job growth, the median salary has grown 64% over the last 20 years.
- Starting salary: $100,000
- Median salary: $136,030
- Growth rate 2022-2032: 3%
- Postgraduate degree needed: Yes
