Majors where the college matters most: Religion/Religious Studies leads.
Same major, different college: how far apart are programs' own median earnings five years after completing? Measured across bachelor's programs in each field.
Among 138 bachelor's fields with at least 30 programs reporting, program medians vary most in Religion/Religious Studies: the middle half of its 45 programs ranges from $30,658 to $58,703, a spread of 60% of the middle program's median. The least variation is in Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General (9%). These compare programs, not graduates.
Top 25
Data Computed by TryHired from College Scorecard. Download the CSV.
| Field (bachelor's) | Programs reporting | 25th pct of program medians | Middle program | 75th pct of program medians | Spread |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Religion/Religious Studies | 45 | $30,658 | $46,418 | $58,703 | 60% |
| Computer Software and Media Applications | 57 | $47,780 | $59,245 | $73,684 | 44% |
| Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations | 65 | $56,271 | $68,377 | $85,206 | 42% |
| Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions | 246 | $57,349 | $67,368 | $82,244 | 37% |
| Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services, Other | 40 | $57,869 | $68,866 | $82,602 | 36% |
| Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions | 76 | $49,289 | $55,300 | $68,700 | 35% |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General | 428 | $78,828 | $92,664 | $110,845 | 35% |
| Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies | 131 | $42,866 | $47,586 | $58,611 | 33% |
| Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management | 89 | $76,025 | $85,138 | $103,821 | 33% |
| Research and Experimental Psychology | 76 | $53,155 | $60,698 | $72,895 | 33% |
| Applied Mathematics | 44 | $87,386 | $96,434 | $118,712 | 32% |
| Computer Science | 327 | $94,309 | $108,473 | $129,318 | 32% |
| Social Sciences, Other | 34 | $51,382 | $59,962 | $70,349 | 32% |
| Philosophy | 98 | $52,837 | $62,448 | $72,464 | 31% |
| Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology | 63 | $46,443 | $54,387 | $63,050 | 31% |
| Area Studies | 74 | $55,510 | $66,888 | $75,793 | 30% |
| Information Science/Studies | 137 | $74,637 | $91,142 | $101,568 | 30% |
| Graphic Communications | 55 | $42,466 | $46,321 | $56,089 | 29% |
| Mathematics | 312 | $64,708 | $75,121 | $86,602 | 29% |
| Statistics | 44 | $85,497 | $89,380 | $111,320 | 29% |
| Design and Applied Arts | 284 | $49,256 | $56,072 | $65,328 | 29% |
| Economics | 362 | $76,821 | $86,761 | $101,516 | 28% |
| Public Administration | 51 | $59,678 | $65,826 | $78,103 | 28% |
| Public Policy Analysis | 32 | $67,618 | $72,658 | $87,350 | 27% |
| Health and Medical Administrative Services | 287 | $54,560 | $61,407 | $71,212 | 27% |
How this page is built
For each bachelor's 4-digit field with at least 30 programs reporting a 5-year median (EARN_MDN_5YR), TryHired takes the quartiles of the program medians. Spread = (75th − 25th percentile of program medians) ÷ the middle program median. Each program median describes that program's federal-aid graduates; the quartiles describe programs, not graduates, and are not a national median. Free to cite with a link to this page.
- Graduates without federal aid, or who were enrolled, not working or deceased in the measurement year.
- Tuition paid, private loans, interest, taxes, lifetime earnings, cause and effect, or any individual's outcome.
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study data (Most-Recent-Cohorts-Field-of-Study, data updated Oct 15, 2026; retrieved Oct 25, 2026) and technical documentation (October 2026).