Earnings Comparison: Workers with a Terminal Bachelor鈥檚 Degree (by Field) Versus Those Without a Four-Year Degree, 2015
Note: In this and succeeding figures based on the National Survey of College Graduates and the American Community Survey, 鈥渨orkers鈥 are defined as those employed in full-time, year-round positions.
Earnings are often the key data point in conversations about the value of college degrees鈥攊n part because they are relatively easy to measure. Median annual earnings for workers with just a terminal bachelor鈥檚 degree in the humanities stood at $52,000 in 2015, which was somewhat lower than the median for all college graduates ($60,000) and substantially lower than the median for those in engineering ($82,000). Nevertheless, the median for the humanities was equal to the earnings for graduates from the life sciences and higher than those with a baccalaureate degree in the arts ($48,000) and education ($44,000).
While humanities earnings are lower than those among STEM and business graduates, they are higher than those of workers who lack bachelor鈥檚 degrees鈥攅ither those with an associate鈥檚 degree or some college ($40,000) or those with only a high school diploma ($34,000).1