by Madison Hoff, Business Insider
May 19, 2020
Americans who studied science or engineering in college tend to earn a large annual income.
To find the highest-paying college majors, Business Insider used individual-level data from the US Census Bureau's 2018 American Community Survey compiled by the Minnesota Population Center's Integrated Public Use Microdata Series program.
The American Community Survey is a program in which the US Census Bureau asks millions of Americans each year questions about their economic, social, demographic, and housing situation. Some of the topics on the survey include educational attainment and income.
Using the listed field of study among respondents who graduated from college and annual total income data, we found the majors with the highest average total personal income among employed Americans with at least a bachelor's degree in that field. This analysis just focuses on a person's major and doesn't take into account other factors that might influence a person's income, like age or what specific occupation or industry they work in.
Of the 20 majors with the highest average annual total income, 17 are in science, engineering, or medical fields. These majors all earn over $121,000.
The following are the 20 college majors with the highest average incomes, along with how many people have degrees in that field, in order of increasing pay:
https://www.businessinsider.com/college-majors-with-high-average-salaries-post-graduation-2020-5
Of note:
#17: Mathematics and computer science majors had an average annual total income of $122,700, and 17,400 have at least a bachelor's degree in this field.
#6: Applied mathematics majors had an average annual total income of $130,313, and 40,400 have at least a bachelor's degree in this field.