The College Majors With The Highest Salaries–And The Best Prospe

The five highest paying STEM majors, by mid-career average, were:

1. Petroleum engineering ($183,600)

2. Actuarial mathematics ($158,100)

3. Building science ($135,000)

4. System engineering ($131,200)

5. Chemical engineering ($126,900)

Mid-career average salaries (Source: OneClass)

Other STEM majors included computer science ($113,900), statistics ($111,300), software engineering ($109,600) and biotechnology ($94,700).

Business majors paid an average of 13% less than STEM majors, although there were some high-paying exceptions. The top five business majors were:

1. Business analytics ($129,800)

2. Actuarial science ($123,500)

3. Government ($109,900)

4. Construction project management ($106,200)

5. International economics ($105,900)

Mid-career average salaries (Source: OneClass) 

Other business majors included international relations ($92,900), sales and marketing ($90,500), advertising ($86,400) and public relations and communications ($75,500).

Humanities graduates can expect lower average salaries, with only one major showing a mid-career average over $100,000. But it’s also probably true to say that few humanities students choose their major based on its earnings potential.

The top five paying humanities majors were:

1. Japanese language ($106,400)

2. European history ($94,600)

3. Politics ($93,600)

4. Advertising design ($89,900)

5. Industrial design ($89,800)

Mid-career average salaries (Source: OneClass)

Among other humanities majors were philosophy ($86,000), English literature ($78,300), history ($77,200) and music ($65,500). 

Following Japanese majors as the highest paid foreign language graduates were German majors ($88,300), Italian ($87,500), French ($80,200), Chinese ($78,900) and Spanish ($70,100).

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nickmorrison/2019/03/27/the-college-majors-with-the-highest-salaries-and-the-best-prospects/#13f7c72c5aa2?