Read This Before It's Too Late: A Guide to Highest Paying Academic Fields
Education is the most empowering and the greatest blessing one can receive in this world and life. The more educated a person becomes, the more aware they know what’s right or wrong and can navigate their life through its ups and downs. However, this definition of education acting as a gospel to a human being is old. In the 21st century, education means getting educated formally and seeking employment to make as much money as possible, at least for most people.
Since the accumulation of materialistic wealth is the new paradigm, it often conflicts with which path to take on their education journey will fulfill their wish to make six monthly figures.
If you’re in high school and have a conflict of opinion of which major to select, then this post is for you, or if you’re a parent and want to help your kids choose the right degree in 2024 for the highest salaries in the world, then continue reading.
The following statistics are from the analysis of CollegeNPV from the evaluation of data gathered from the U.S. Department of Education and Bureau of Labour Statistics. These stats depict the average return on investment of a degree in the U.S.
The highest-paying field is engineering, which comprises majors like electrical engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, software engineering, and chemical engineering. The average return on investment in the engineering field is $570,616.
Next up in the second place, we got Computer and Information Science fields like IT, cyber security, and data science. The average return on investment for computer science is $477,229, and it is more likely to increase in the coming decade due to the high demand for computer scientists. As for Computer Science, Harvard’s CS program ranked number 1 on the CollegeNPV list with the highest return on Investment. Computer science graduates have a return of over $4 million of what they invested $256,539 as median income and a median debt of $14,000.
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Next up, we got Mathematics with the average return on investment of $340,875. Business fields have a RoI of $205 191, and Architecture brings $196,711 of RoI. Fields related to social sciences are at the lower end, with fewer job opportunities, and the RoI is $118,454.
Humanities field with degrees like performance arts, English literature, theology, and the most least valuable degrees in terms of opportunities and lifetime earnings. Humanities degrees have a negative return on investment of $39,000, and majors like English have the highest decrease in graduates, with 32% of students likely to even complete their degree.
| Field of Study | Average return on investment |
|---|---|
| Engineering | $570,616 |
| Computer and Information Sciences | $477,229 |
| Mathematics | $340,875 |
| Engineering Technicians | $311,141 |
| Business | $205,191 |
| Architecture | $196,711 |
| Nursing and Health Professions | $194,756 |
| Physics, Chemistry and Geology | $168,822 |
| Social Sciences | $118,454 |
| Interdisciplinary Studies | $69,656 |
| Biology | $63,913 |
| Agriculture | $59,556 |
| Area, Ethnic, Cultural, Gender and Group Studies | $42,959 |
| Legal Studies | $38,999 |
| Natural Resources and Conservation | $28,985 |
| Communication and Journalism | $28,654 |
| Homeland Security, Law Enforcement and Firefighting | $27,284 |
| Foreign Languages | $25,750 |
| Public Administration and Social Services | $7,787 |
| Philosophy and Religious Studies | $6,011 |
| History | $4,938 |
| Fitness, Parks and Recreation | -$1,078 |
| Liberal Arts and General Studies | -$13,337 |
| Psychology | -$15,644 |
| Education | -$20,075 |
| Family and Human Sciences | -$24,540 |
| Communications Technologies | -$28,911 |
| English Language | -$39,057 |
| Theology | -$91,749 |
| Visual and Performing Arts | -$104,015 |
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