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College Majors: Your Future Paycheck Revealed
9 Oct
Summary
- Interactive guide reveals economic ROI for college majors nationwide.
- Data shows median incomes four years post-graduation.
- Top math and computer science majors earn significantly more.
Two New York Times reporters have launched an interactive guide detailing the economic return on investment for undergraduate majors nationwide. This tool, developed by Arfa Momin and Ron Lieber, uses federal earnings data from an HEA Group report to present median incomes four years after graduation for students who received federal financial aid.
The guide is particularly relevant as new accountability standards, established by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025, could impact Federal Direct Loan Program access. Programs failing an earnings test for two out of three consecutive years may lose this access. The HEA data assesses program performance against these new Education Department standards.
Users can explore specific colleges and majors, view median alumni earnings, and create custom comparison lists. The national median annual earnings across all institutions and majors were $64,500. Top-performing majors, such as mathematics at Duke University with median earnings of $297,029, often stem from elite institutions and STEM fields, though some surprising results also emerge.
