Best-paying jobs for bachelor's degree holders

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(MoneyWatch) The authors of a new book, "College Majors: Handbook with Real Career Paths and Payoffs," have compiled a list of the top-paying jobs that require only bachelor's degree.

Clearly, it's important to earn a college degree, because the earnings gap between high school and college grads is significant. In 2011, for instance, high school graduates in their 20s were making a mean annual salary of $25,484, versus $39,705 for college graduates of the same age.

Rewards in health care, engineering

For people with a bachelor's degree, the median annual salary for all major fields of study is $51,597, but obviously income varies considerably by profession. Here are the 25 top fields of study, ranked by median annual salary, that require a bachelor's degree:

1. Medical preparatory programs, $100,000
2. Computer systems engineering, $85,000
3. Pharmacy, $84,000
4. Chemical engineering, $80,000
5. Electrical and electronics engineering, $75,000
6. Mechanical engineering, $75,000
7. Aerospace, aeronautical engineering, $74,000
8. Computer science, $73,400
9. Industrial engineering, $73,000
10. Physics and astronomy, $72,200
11. Civil engineering, $70,000
12. Electrical and electronics engineering technology, $65,000
13. Economics, $63,300
14. Financial management, $63,000
15. Mechanical engineering technology, $63,000
16. Applied mathematics, operations research, statistics, $62,800
17. Information systems, $62,000
18. Accounting, $60,000
19. Architecture and environmental design, $60,000
20. General mathematics, $60,000
21. Industrial production technology, $60,000
22. Public administration, $60,000
23. Marketing, $59,800
24. Political science, government and international relations, $57,800
25. Legal studies and pre-law, $56,800

Choosing a major

Of course, students generally shouldn't pick a college major based on what degrees typically produce the biggest paychecks. Some students will not possess the academic background or abilities to successfully graduate with a computer science or engineering degree. Students are more likely to fare better in their careers if they pick a major that they enjoy.

[hypnotoad72]

For now.

Al lot of those jobs are going overseas... more will only continue, especially as legal and accounting services go the same direction.

[BiotechChemE]

This is way out of date. Medical preparatory programs? They don't earn diddly squat. http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2073703_2073654_2073666,00.html

And as far as chemical engineering goes, it's a bit healthier. Not even to mention petroleum engineering!
http://thedegree360.onlinedegrees.com/degrees-to-dollars-the-10-highest-paying-degrees-125.html

[cheute79]

They paid the "author" to re-write this 10 to 20 year old article, that she obviously did no research to produce? Even one of the opening lines, "Clearly, it's important to earn a college degree, because the earnings gap between high school and college grads is significant", is wrong, but it was right 20 years ago. Now, becuase "everyone" goes to college, it's not true anymore. Someone not well connected or extremely talented with a degree in poli sci or psychology or liberal arts is now working at Kohls or JC Penney or Wendy's competing for jobs that really only require a HS diploma, Yea, they're making more than the HS diploma, only because jobs are tight and the poor kid who didn't waste 4-6 years of time and take out huge student loans can't compete for the retail job anymore. However, if those who got useless degrees (I did not say useless education, but useless degrees - there is a difference), would have gone to trade school to become a maintenance electrician or a welder or a millwright, they would be making $17 to $25/hr instead of $10.50, and they wouldn't be in major debt with the school loans, and hoping that the federal government will "forgive" the loan (and screw the rest of us with more taxes to pay off the debt). Further, some as mentioned by previous commentors:
- "medical prep" is not a major/degree anywhere I've every seen, so what exactly do you men?
- pharmacy hasn't been a BS degree for years, and pharmacists START at ~$110,000!!
- BS in physics only make that kind of money if he can get a job as an engineer - he is not working as a physicist with a BS
architecture is a 6 year program - a BS for sure, but school like an MS
pre-law is not a job/career, and even most law grads don't have a job (OK, maybe the manager of the BS pysch grad working at Kohls or Wendy's). Please don't encourage more to pursue this grossly overglutted field!

[mtomich91]

^Everything you said was right CHEUTE. I know guys with Ph.D's in physics that make 50,000 a year, and I know architects with no jobs.

[btrthanu1]

Blah, blah, blah, everybody knows somebody who knows somebody who is a big major college graduate and making crap pay, WHATEVER.

Fact: 30% of all Americans of all ages and all races has at the very least a bachelors degree. That is less than half of the United States.

Fact: I am a college graduate, make very good money, and will only hire other college graduates for the higher paying jobs. The crap work and crap pay goes to non-grads.

Graduates are my brothers and sisters, no matter their race, sex, age, looks, or creed...........we look out for one another, like how military looks out for military, gang members look out for gang members, and non-grads look out for non-grads.

You don't get to be equal when you didn't finish the same in not a day, not a month, not a year, but yyeeaarrss of somebody's time and finances.

Nice try though :)

[stephennobles]

anybody, anywhere, could've compiled a list like this, and made up salary numbers, ranked them in some type of "order", and said they were the median salaries of bachelor degree holders.....I don't buy any of this, of course, I don't have a bachelor's degree of any value.

[alevit100]

Was this list compiled with 10 year old data? Bachelor's degree in pharmacy has not been offered in the US since 2004 for new entrants, and median salaries for pharmacists (regardless of degree) are significantly higher. I haven't seen most recent years, but it's in the 106K range... Though rapid salary growth is over in that field, and it's no longer the employee's market...

[hypnotoad72]

*zing*

[josterhaus]

wow - more useful would be starting salaries in these fields - what's realistic for graduates right out the door, diploma in hand. Lawyers do clear 6 figures, but demand in that field is getting more and more crowded (they don't retire quickly and law firms are shrinking in size or merging).

[Guy1239]

I don't know what the starting salary for attorneys is today, but several years ago it was less than half of what an engineer started at. While some starting attorneys do make six figures, most make peanuts. There are twice as many law school graduates as there are practicing attorneys and a 55,000+ shortage of engineers. Supply & demand...

[hypnotoad72]

Guy,

"myth of supply and demand". Do a web search, plenty of articles will refute your claim and *gasp* even cite examples.

Market forces are the real issue, and they manipulate the market artificially to warp things as well, and then get bailed out when what they do screws up everyone else.

The real issue is "cause and effect". Not "supply and demand". Since it's harder to manipulate "cause and effect" without manipulating the cause at the root...

[No-einstein-but]

Most Pharmacy programs no longer offer a bachelor's degree; doctoral programs have replaced most baccalaureate programs. Also, you mention various engineering degrees, but you omitted one which often pays more than the others -- petroleum engineering. Often chemical, electrical or mechanical engineering graduates are hired by oil & gas companies with the expectation of training them to become petroleum engineers, but the relatively small number of educational institutions offering petroleum engineering have very few Pet. Eng. graduates who have any difficulties finding suitable positions and they usually start at a higher salary than those with the other types of engineering degrees.

[hypnotoad72]

And with other articles claiming more people will move to urban areas, more gas stations will close, meaning less demand.

I wouldn't study for anything that an oil company would want. They're in the same constricting, downward spiral everything else is.

[nohater]

would be interesting to see a column comparison with Fine Arts degrees, Humanities and so forth along with a third column of trades like plumber, electrician, and so forth.

[AlBlack52]

Fine Arts degrees, Humanities and so forth are for dinner party conversation, not for careers, except as teachers perhaps.

[tawster]

Agree. Comparing high school to college grads is somewhat useful. But these is a massive glaring comparison missing: The Trades.

I wonder if there is a useful way to compare those who open their own businesses, but the data is probably so variable that it would require a research paper to determine any sensible data.

[johnlockesghost]

Degrees in hard sciences are always useful, but I also see that things haven't changed much from when I was part of the working majority 20 years ago. I started out in Engineering (5 figures) moved through system development (high 5 figures) and ended as a consultant (lower 6 figures). Incidentally, the work effort was inversely proportional to the money received.

[foo8259]

Qualify as a 6G welder and never be unemployed.

[hypnotoad72]

How do you know?

With the rest of the public losing jobs, opportunities, etc, they won't have the money to pay you.

'Domino effect' - look it up.

What happens to one invariably affects others down the line.

Anyone saying we're not a society is an addled fool or worse.