Highest- and lowest-earning college majors in federal data

Major choice still drives the spread

Georgetown CEW’s The Major Payoff (2025), College Board’s Education Pays 2026, and the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard all show wide pay gaps across fields. They measure different groups and time windows—so the dollars differ—but the story is consistent: what you study matters as much as whether you enroll.

Education Pays: early-career workers by major

Figure 2.9 in Education Pays 2026 reports medians for younger full-time, year-round bachelor’s holders. Computer science sits near $87,000; performing arts near $44,000. That is roughly a two-to-one spread in the same national worker survey—not the same as program cohort earnings below.

Georgetown CEW: eight fields, 152 majors

CEW pools American Community Survey data (2009–2023). Prime-age workers (25–54) with a bachelor’s only show the following field medians (Figure 2):

Among recent graduates (22–26), STEM leads at $63,000; humanities and the arts trail at $45,000. Petroleum engineering tops detailed majors at $98,000 for recent grads and $146,000 prime-age; zoology is $37,000 recent and $70,000 prime-age—showing growth with experience even in lower fields.

CEW notes that 14 of 19 humanities majors still exceed $65,000—the 25th percentile for STEM bachelor’s holders—so “low field” does not mean “no middle-class earnings.”

College Scorecard: program completers one year out

EDsmart’s Scorecard field-of-study pull (May 2026) uses national 1-year post-completion medians for bachelor’s programs. The highest and lowest in the tracked ladder span about 4.0 to 1 ($173,344 Computer Science vs $43,834 Computational Science). The low end can reflect a thin program (few completers) as much as a “worst major”—check IPEDS volume before generalizing.

Also important: Scorecard program medians describe completers in that CIP, not every worker who majored in the field. Education Pays describes workers in the economy. Label both.

Degree production is shifting toward CS—and away from humanities

CEW reports that computers, statistics, and mathematics degrees rose 159% from 2009 to 2023 while humanities and liberal arts fell 33%. That supply shift interacts with hiring cycles—especially for entry-level technology roles (see article 18).

For debt paired with earnings by field, see debt-to-earnings by major on EDsmart Data and the Major Payoff section of the parent report.

Recent grads vs mid-career workers

The Major Payoff splits ages 22–26 (“recent graduates”) from 25–54 (“prime-age”). Education Pays Figure 2.9 focuses on younger full-time workers. The spreads are similar in rank order but not in dollars. Counseling should use the age band that matches the student’s question—first job vs career peak.

Humanities and arts are not all low pay

CEW reports that most humanities and arts majors still exceed $65,000—the 25th percentile for STEM bachelor’s holders. Only five of 19 humanities majors fall below that threshold. Narratives that treat humanities as uniformly low-wage miss the dispersion in the data.

Performing arts and studio fields sit at the bottom in many tables; economics and some interdisciplinary majors sit much higher. “Humanities” is not one career outcome.

Also important: High median fields still include workers below the median—always show ranges, not only central tendencies.

Read the full major tables in The Major Payoff section of the synthesis report.

Reading CEW detailed majors alongside Scorecard CIPs

CEW lists petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, and computer engineering among top recent-graduate medians; counseling psychology and zoology among the lowest. Education Pays Figure 2.9 uses Census major codes with a similar rank order but different dollars because it measures workers, not program completers. When a student asks “what will I make with this major,” answer with the data source you are using and the age band.

Scorecard CIP titles do not line up one-to-one with CEW major labels. “Computer science” in Scorecard may aggregate programs differently than CEW’s “computers, statistics, and mathematics” group. Treat rankings as directional, not as precise predictions.

Download the full synthesis: Major Payoff section. Explore debt-to-earnings by major on EDsmart Data.

Major choice without hype

Compare three sources when possible: Education Pays, CEW Major Payoff, and Scorecard program pages.

Ask colleges for licensed-field placement rates, not only national medians.

Remember overlap: mid-career workers in ‘low’ majors sometimes out-earn early-career workers in ‘high’ majors.

How this article fits The College Payoff, 2026

This piece is one of twenty companion articles to The College Payoff, 2026. The parent report synthesizes College Board Education Pays, Georgetown CEW, Census, BLS, College Scorecard, Federal Reserve SCF wealth tables, and EDsmart institution-level findings. Each breakout answers one question journalists and families ask when those sources are quoted side by side.

When federal sources update on different calendars, start from the parent report’s definitions section, then return here for the topic-specific FAQ. Interactive tables and state pages on EDsmart Data—tuition trends, debt-to-earnings by major, attainment by state, STEM outcomes—let you filter national benchmarks beyond what a single government table provides.

If a number here differs from a chart in the parent report, use the parent report and the underlying federal publication as the authority. Breakouts explain how to read those sources; they are not a separate dataset.