Choosing a discipline to study in college is no easy feat. On one hand, you want to pick a concentration that will fulfill you and open the door to amazing career opportunities. However, you might also narrow your options based on potential financial wealth. There’s no easy way around it: Some college degrees are more lucrative than others. In a new report, the education experts at Legacy Online School analyzed graduate outcome data to determine the top 15 highest-paying college degrees.
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Unshockingly, big tech employees (i.e., your friends at Apple, Google, Microsoft, X, and so on) are raking in the most dough. Based on Legacy Online School’s thorough analysis, computer and information science degree disciplines are financially better off than their classmates who pursued careers in architecture or physical sciences, both of which took fourteenth and fifteenth place, respectively.
But if it were a popularity contest, business would have won. The degree had the most graduates in the top 15 disciplines, with 107,123 students getting their diplomas. However, only 75 percent of business majors get a job straight out of college.
As a matter of fact, only one degree boasted a 100-percent employment rate, and that was construction. However, their annual income nears the bottom of the totem pole.
Giant tech corporations are cutting the big checks. Those with a computer and information science degree are landing jobs as software/website developers, data scientists, information security analysts, cybersecurity pros, systems managers, and more. Although filled with demanding college coursework, it’s a degree that pays off in the real world—and this ranked list proves it.
The degree subjects with the highest earning potential, according to their findings, are as follows:
- Computer & Information Science
- Maintenance & Repair
- Engineering
- Mathematics
- Engineer Technology
- Transportation
- Business
- Military Technologies
- Construction
- Multi-Discipline
- General Studies
- Health Professions
- Social Science
- Architecture
- Physical Sciences
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Of these, only the top eight are earning a mean starting salary above $65,000. Meanwhile, architecture and physical sciences are making below $60,000 on average post-graduation. The sweet spot seems to be in the $60,000s; nine of the 15 degrees have a mean starting salary somewhere in this range. The top five degree disciplines with their corresponding mean starting salaries are:
- Computer & Information Science, earning $91, 411
- Maintenance & Repair, earning $90, 162
- Engineering, earning $80, 085
- Mathematics, earning $79,859
- Engineer Technology, earning $69, 162
Moreover, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Washington are the states with the highest-earning college graduates. Aside from those working remotely, these states are where the big jobs are.
“The education experts at Legacy Online School can reveal that New Jersey graduates earn the most at around $80,114 a year after graduation, higher than the average state salary which sat at $73,980 in 2023. The state has the third-highest percentage of graduates currently employed with more than three-quarters (77.49 percent) and the third-highest percentage of degree-holding residents at 42.46 percent,” reads a press release shared with Best Life.
