OBSERVED EARNINGS · LIKE-FOR-LIKE CATEGORIES

Highest-paying majors

National median earnings four years after completion, keeping field and credential level visible.

Field familyAll fields STEM & Computing Health & Clinical Business & Management Social & Behavioral Sciences Education Arts, Media & Humanities Law & Public Service Trades & Applied Fields

Degree levelAll credentials Associate Bachelor’s Master’s Doctorate

Arts, Media & Humanities25 ranked field-and-credential categories with at least 10 earnings observations

1Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied CommunicationBachelor's Degree · 198 programs$62,087 2Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs, OtherBachelor's Degree · 24 programs$59,122 3PhilosophyBachelor's Degree · 123 programs$56,849 4Romance Languages, Literatures, and LinguisticsBachelor's Degree · 258 programs$56,122 5JournalismBachelor's Degree · 196 programs$54,396 6Communication and Media StudiesBachelor's Degree · 699 programs$54,091 7Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and HumanitiesBachelor's Degree · 527 programs$52,545 8Design and Applied ArtsBachelor's Degree · 338 programs$52,204 9East Asian Languages, Literatures, and LinguisticsBachelor's Degree · 26 programs$52,011 10HistoryBachelor's Degree · 506 programs$50,592 11Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and ServicesBachelor's Degree · 102 programs$50,571 12Radio, Television, and Digital CommunicationBachelor's Degree · 165 programs$49,359 13English Language and Literature, GeneralBachelor's Degree · 614 programs$48,926 14Arts, Entertainment, and Media ManagementBachelor's Degree · 48 programs$48,194 15Visual and Performing Arts, OtherBachelor's Degree · 12 programs$48,155 16Religion/Religious StudiesBachelor's Degree · 51 programs$47,791 17Rhetoric and Composition/Writing StudiesBachelor's Degree · 153 programs$47,141 18American Sign LanguageBachelor's Degree · 22 programs$45,475 19Film/Video and Photographic ArtsBachelor's Degree · 162 programs$44,232 20MusicBachelor's Degree · 314 programs$43,385 21Fine and Studio ArtsBachelor's Degree · 465 programs$41,265 22Visual and Performing Arts, GeneralBachelor's Degree · 81 programs$41,156 23DanceBachelor's Degree · 72 programs$40,657 24Drama/Theatre Arts and StagecraftBachelor's Degree · 282 programs$40,073 25English Language and Literature/Letters, OtherBachelor's Degree · 17 programs$39,287

Field families are reproducible groupings of federal two-digit CIP subject codes. Rankings require at least 10 programs with reported year-4 earnings; missing or suppressed values are not replaced with zero.