Forbes: The Most Lucrative College Majors

[BCEagle91]

To gauge the most lucrative majors, we turned to PayScale.com, which
collects real-time salary information from 10 million users. They
looked at 20 popular majors where most of the graduates go into the
private sector; thus, some popular majors, like education and social
work, were excluded.

We looked at median salaries to wipe out outliers at the top and
bottom ends of the scale. Salaries included bonuses and commissions,
but excluded any stock compensation. All jobs were included in the
data, not just those specific to the major. Anyone who acquired an
advanced degree was excluded from the study.

If you're looking for a big paycheck straight out of school, think
about an engineering degree. The four highest paid majors for people
with less than five years' experience were all engineering-based,
with computer engineering leading the way. "It is a matter of supply
and demand," says Lee, adding, "Engineers tend to stay at their jobs
longer, so getting the good people right out of college is important."
Despite the high pay, the number of engineering degrees issued has
barely budged the past 10 years; 67,000 degrees were handed out in
2006, the latest year available.

There are several majors with better growth potential than the
assorted engineering degrees. Engineering salaries tend to start high,
but there is not huge growth on an annual basis. Witness the
difference between engineering salaries for those with little
experience compared to those with 10 to 20 years' experience: The
experienced jobs tend to pay 55% to 60% higher. Meanwhile, the
economics, finance and math majors are pursing jobs with salaries that
often double once they've gotten some decent experience under their
belts.

ABC News: The Most Lucrative College Majors

Salaries 1-5 years, 5-10 years, 10-20 years

Computer Engineering 60,500 80,800 104,000
Economics 48,100 71,800 96,200
Electrical Engineering 59,900 78,400 96,100
Computer Science 54,200 75,100 94,000
Mechanical Engineering 56,900 73,000 88,100
Finance 46,900 64,300 84,400
Mathematics 43,500 64,700 82,200
Civil Engineering 52,600 67,100 81,700
Political Science 39,400 55,000 74,400
Marketing 39,400 54,000 72,300
Accounting 44,600 57,900 71,500
History 37,600 52,100 68,000
Business Management 40,900 51,700 64,900
Communications 36,400 50,300 64,300
English 36,700 47,900 62,300
Biology 37,900 52,600 60,000
Sociology 35,700 46,900 55,900
Graphic Design 34,700 45,300 54,700
Psychology 34,700 45,400 54,000
Criminal Justice 34,200 44,400 53,400

In Pictures: Most Lucrative College Majors - Forbes.com

It looks like an interesting mix of supply and demand and how difficult a major is produces the rankings list for this year. This list would be a lot more interesting with graduate degrees added.

[corranged]

I'd be interested in seeing the top 10% and the bottom 20% numbers.

[BCEagle91]

They're using median numbers.

We have a poster here with the moniker Moire who has a math degree from a very good school and is making $32K. He spent a lot of time on the boards whining about how useless a math degree is but apparently wasn't willing to do the kinds of things to improve his employment chances. The quality of degrees from school to school varies widely as do the quality of students so I would expect variations in what people make. It would be nice if more statistics were available but this is just a magazine article. I don't think that the data provider is going to put their information in a publicly available SQL database for general access.

[mafool]

From the OP;

There are several majors with better growth potential than the
assorted engineering degrees. Engineering salaries tend to start high,
but there is not huge growth on an annual basis.

I think this is explained by the following observation from the same article:

One reason the number of engineering degrees has not grown much is that the programs tend to be very rigorous. This benefits the engineering students who can complete the coursework, though--employers know they're typically getting competent people straight out of school, and therefore are willing to dole out generous salaries.

The engineering grads are starting with higher salaries, probably reflecting an expectation of a level of expertise similar to grads in other fields several years out of school, so the compensation slope isn't as steep.

[mafool]

^^^Hadn't thought of the effect of double majors on the stats.
My head hurts.

[mini]

Full-time nurses here with two-year degrees start at $48-50k, and this isn't a major city.

[dragonmom]

According to the US Dept of Labor, highest starting salaries in engineering in 2007 went to Petroleum Engineers, with an average of $60,718.
Engineers
(you'll have to scroll way down...)

[ellemenope]

>>History 37,600 52,100 68,000<<

A BA degree in history...it would be interesting to see what jobs these history majors were taking to get their salaries. I doubt many are historians...

[anxiousmom]

the Forbes article included some of the specialities of engineering majors, and left out others. Where are the Chem E and Petroleum E majors and Nuclear engineers?????? They usually start out w/very strong salaries.

[mammall]

My uncle in South Carolina is a plumber with his own business, just one thumb, and several million in the bank. His kids are going to auto mechanics, electrician and plumbing trade schools. Thinks we're idiots sending D1 to H.

[mafool]

regarding the history majors statistic:

If my poor old memory serves here (because I just don't feel like re-reading the article ),the incomes were cataloged by major, not by job function.

I have always believed, but had a hard time convincing some others, that liberal arts majors make terrific employees, because they know how to research and learn. An IBM study verified that 20 or so years ago.

So, I imagine that many of those history majors are not "doing" history. I was a zoology major; I'm doing well professionally and I am definitely not working in a zoology field. The VP of comp and benefits at one of my employers had been a history major.

[Momof2sons]

In the immediate Boston area, a new grad RN with a BSN will garner about 60 K to start, with 20 years experience, the salary is 120-140K

[ellemenope]

>>So, I imagine that many of those history majors are not "doing" history. <<

I, too, am sure that the history majors are not "doing" history. That's why I'm not so sure that these salary surveys by major are particularly useful unless the major relates directly to the employment or the employment is specified.

[coolweather]

I think the Computer Engineering group is misleading. It does not differentiate computer hardware design or computer software engineering. I have the impression that salary for computer software engineering raises faster than other majors although the starting salary may be lower.

[coolweather]

My uncle in South Carolina is a plumber with his own business, just one thumb, and several million in the bank.

That's true with several contractors and small business owners in California. They make tons of money and pay less taxes.