Does picking a college major guarantee a certain salary after graduation?
Not necessarily. But jobs site Indeed just released a study that analyzed more than 80 million resumes to identify popular majors among U.S. college grads and subsequent average salaries for those students.
The company, which is quickly growing its Seattle outpost, looked at the most popular majors and then the types of roles students with those degrees tend to land after graduating. It provided three average salaries for each major based on a junior, mid-level, or senior position.
Computer science led the pack, with an average salary of $95,939 for a business intelligence developer, $101,798 for a software engineer, and $125,105 for a development operations engineer.
Other high-earning majors are engineering, accounting, business, finance, nursing, and marketing.
Majors on the lower-end of the salary spectrum are psychology, fine arts, criminal justice, communication studies, and history, according to Indeed’s data.
“A good career starts with a solid foundation,” Indeed’s head of HR Paul Wolfe said in a statement. “A student’s major may lead to a variety of options that they don’t even know about yet. But studying the potential options can help you hone in on your area of study, as well influence the types of organizations and people you look to connect with on the way.”
PayScale does a similar analysis and engineering-related majors also topped its list.
Indeed’s full list is below. The company calls itself the number one job site, with more than 200 million monthly unique visitors and 5,000 global employees. The site is available in 60 countries worldwide and in 28 languages. Indeed is owned by Japan-based Recruit Holdings, which acquired the job site in 2012.
