The best and worst-paying university majors

If you want to make the big bucks get a degree in engineering. This is according to a new report from The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, which lists the best and worst paying university majors.
Using 2013 US Census data, The Economic Value of College Majors analyzes wages for 137 college majors. The finding are that workers who graduated with petroleum engineering degrees made a median annual salary of $136,000 a year. Every other degree in the top 10 list except one – pharmacy – is in engineering. Pharmacy degrees came in second place with a media annual salary of $113,000, followed by metallurgical engineering at $98,000 a year.
According to the press release, over a career, college graduates earn $1 million more than high school graduates on
average. And college graduates with the highest-paying majors earn $3.4 million more than the lowest-paying majors. Perhaps not surprising, STEM majors came out on top while arts and social work majors were in the bottom. Advanced degrees also lead to higher earnings.
Here are the top 10 best-paying university majors and the bottom 10 worst-paying majors. For everything in between, visit the organizations’s website.
10 best-paying majors
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1. Petroleum engineering – $136,000
2. Pharmacy, pharmaceuticalsciences, and administration – $113,000
3. Metallurgical engineering – $98,000
4. Mining and mineral engineering – $97,000
5. Chemical engineering – $96,000
6. Electrical engineering – $93,000
7. Aerospace engineering – $90,000
8. Mechanical engineering – $87,000
9. Computer engineering – $87,000
10. Geological and geophysical engineering – $87,000
10 worst-paying majors
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1. Early childhood education – $39,000
2. Human services and community organization – $41,000
3. Studio arts – $42,000
4. Social work – $42,000
5. Teacher education: multiple levels – $42,000
6. Visual and performing arts – $42,000
7. Theology and religious vocations – $43,000
8. Elementary education – $43,000
9. Drama and theater arts – $45,000
10. Family and consumer sciences – $45,000
From our Thinkopolis: Education Nation research last year, here are the Canadian university degrees that earn the highest starting salaries.