Deciding what to major in or whether to get a graduate degree? This new report from Georgetown University may help. The report demonstrates the strong link between college majors and lifetime earnings, and also shows the earnings boost for graduate degrees by major.


A college degree in general boosts your lifetime earnings by 84%, the study says, but a closer look at 171 majors shows that there can be a difference of about 300% between the highest-paying majors and the lowest-paying ones.

There's a ton of information in the Economic Value of College Majors report, some of it very obvious to common sense or what we know about the relationship between career choice and salary. For example, the engineering major tops the list for median wages, as well as salary at the 25th and 75th percentiles. Arts, education, and psychology and social work majors are at the bottom of the lists. This is the first time, however, that a study has tied new Census data about college majors with actual earnings.


If you're selecting a major or choosing whether or not to go to grad school, the study might offer some additional guidance—keeping in mind that salary is only one consideration. If you're looking for career stability, for example, look at geological and geophysical engineering, military technologies, pharmacology, and school student counseling—the major fields with virtually no unemployment. A graduate degree in communications and journalism will only boost your income by 25%, while biology and life science majors can double their salaries with a graduate degree.

For data on your particular field of interest, check out the full study below.

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What's It Worth? The Economic Value of College Majors | Georgetown University via MSNBC

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