This report details the relationships between major, gender, race/ethnicity, attending graduate school, and earnings.

1. What’s It Worth?
The Economic Value of College Majors
Anthony P. Carnevale, Jeff Strohl, and Michelle Melton
May 24, 2011

2. Overview
• Some undergraduate majors pay off a lot more than
others.The difference in earnings potential between
one major and another can be more than 300 percent.
• Majors tend to be highly segregated by race/ethnicity
and gender.
• White men are concentrated in the highest-earning
majors, while women tend to be concentrated in the
lowest-earning majors.

3. The top 10 majors with the highest median earnings

4. The 10 majors with the lowest median earnings

5. Race and gender earnings gaps still exist
• Even in their highest paid major (electrical
engineering), African Americans still earn $22,000
less than whites and $12,000 less than Asians with
the same major.
• Women tend to hold the majority of degrees in many
of the lower-paying fields, such as education. But,
even women with degrees in the higher-paying field
of chemical engineering earn $20,000 less than
equally-educated men.

6. Lowest and highest unemployment
• The lowest unemployment rates: Geological and
Geophysical Engineering; Military Technologies;
Pharmacology, and School Student Counseling.
• The highest unemployment rates: Social Psychology
(16 percent); Nuclear Engineering (11 percent) and
Educational Administration and Supervision (11
percent).

7. Conclusion
• Obtaining a graduate degree leads to higher earnings,
but the amount of additional earnings is driven by field
of study.
• The highest earnings for graduate degree holders can
be found in fields related to healthcare and biological
sciences.
• The majors where students have the lowest earnings
boost from advanced degrees are: Atmospheric
Sciences and Meteorology, Studio Arts and Petroleum
Engineering.

8. For more information:
See the full report at: cew.georgetown.edu/WIW
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