Computer Science Leads The List Of Most Lucrative College Majors

A new analysis of how much college graduates earn shows that computer science tops the list of the most lucrative undergraduate degrees. Using data from the U.S. Department of Eduction’s most recently updated College Scorecard, Michael Itzkowitz, founder and CEO of the HEA group and the former director of the College Scorecard, analyzed the earnings of the graduates of more than 36,000 undergraduate degree program.

The analysis shows the median earnings of graduates four years after graduating from 22,404 bachelor’s, 8,071 associate’s and 5,621 certificate programs. The data are limited to students who received federal financial aid, and the earnings data from some small programs are excluded from the analysis to protect student privacy.

The Good News

Out of the total of 36,096 programs that had earnings data available, 23,588 (nearly two-thirds) show their graduates with annual median earning of at least $40,000 within four years of graduating.

The Bad News

At almost 5,000 (4,723) undergraduate programs, the majority of graduates earned less than $30,000 annually, and for 1,010 programs, graduates’ median annual earnings were less than $20,000. As Itkowitiz noted, “with time and money spent, these programs will undoubtably leave students experiencing financial strain, providing limited to no economic return whatsoever.”

Type of Degree Matters

While much has been made recently about the economic value of short-term certificate programs, the Scorecard data show that the BA/BS degree remains the credential with the greatest early career economic returns.

At 80% of bachelor’s degree programs, graduates had a median annul income of at least $40,000 four years after graduation, and about 97% of bachelor’s programs had graduates who were earning at least $30,000 per year.

At the associate’s degree level, 50% of the programs had graduates who were earning at least $40,000 annually, and 83% of the program had graduates who were earning at least $30,000.

At the certificate program level, 31% of the programs showed graduates earning a median of $40,000 or more, and just over half (54%) had graduates making a median of at least $30,000 annually.

Major Matters

At the individual program level, computer science degrees averaged the highest median salaries. (Of course, this does not mean that computer science will be the most lucrative major at every college or university, but among individual degree programs, computer science topped the list.)

Of the ten baccalaureate programs where graduates were making at least $200,000 annually just four years after graduating, eight were in computer science or computer engineering. In order, those programs were at Harvard University (1), California Institute of Technology (2), Carnegie Mellon University (3), University of Pennsylvania (4), Princeton University (5), Brown University (6), Yale University (8), and Stanford University (10).

The other two majors with median earnings topping $200,000 were the finance program at the Univeristy of Pennsylvania (7) and the electrical, electronic and communications engineering program at the University of California, Berkeley.

Of the top 20 individual degree programs ranked by median income, 16 were in computer science or computer engineering. More than 400 individual baccalaureate programs had graduates earning median incomes of $100,000 or more after four years.

At the associate’s level, the top five degrees, all with median earnings exceeding $130,000 annually, were nuclear engineering technologies at Bismarck State College, nuclear engineering technologies at Onondaga Community College, allied health at Foothill College, nursing at Contra Costa College, and physical science technologies at Brazosport College.

The top five certificate majors, all with median earnings topping $99,000, were the electrical and power transmission installer program at SOWELA Technical Community College, health and medical preparation at Mills College, nursing at Cabrillo College, electrical and power transmission installer program at Texas State Technical College, and the electromechanical instrumentation and maintenance program at Perry Technical Institute.