College Scorecard · field of study · all U.S. colleges

Is a Business/Managerial Economics degree worth the debt?

The figures below lead with the Bachelor's, aggregated across 83 colleges (83 of 83 programs report earnings). Other credential levels are in the table further down.

Median pay · 1 yr after

$45,936

Graduates only, early career.$48,236 two years out.

Median federal debt

$21,000

Federal loans only — not private or Parent PLUS.

Debt vs a year's pay

0.45×

45% of a first year's earnings.

Typical debt is well under a single year's early-career pay.

The college you pick moves this a lot

The middle 50% of Bachelor's programs in Business/Managerial Economics report early-career pay between $40,496 and $50,958 — a spread of $10,462 that depends on the program and who attends it, not the major alone.

25th pct $40,496 median $45,936 75th pct $50,958

Where a Bachelor's in this field reports the highest early-career pay

The 15 programs with the highest reported pay one year after completion. This reflects who enrolls and where they live as much as the program itself — it is not a causal quality ranking.

Washington University in St Louis MO $88,712 —

Villanova University PA $70,687 $27,000 debt

University of California-Los Angeles CA $65,881 $17,332 debt

Brigham Young University UT $63,484 —

Lehigh University PA $61,418 $23,240 debt

University of Miami FL $60,274 $14,700 debt

Miami University-Oxford OH $58,704 $24,000 debt

Bentley University MA $58,138 $26,000 debt

Ohio State University-Main Campus OH $56,544 $19,500 debt

DePaul University IL $56,409 $20,670 debt

The University of Arizona Global Campus AZ $55,719 $38,365 debt

Chapman University CA $55,212 $22,977 debt

Marquette University WI $54,582 $23,000 debt

University of Dayton OH $54,059 $22,698 debt

West Chester University of Pennsylvania PA $53,396 —

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is a median across college programs in Business/Managerial Economics, from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. It is not a prediction of what you would earn (your college, effort, and local job market vary enormously — see the spread above), not lifetime earnings (it is measured 1–2 years after completion, early career), not proof the major caused the outcome (who enters a field differs by field — selection, not causation), and not a "best majors" ranking: earnings are one dimension of worth, not the whole of it. Teaching and social work pay far less than the fields at the top of this list and matter enormously. Earnings cover federally-aided completers at programs large enough to report.

Also available: structured data (JSON-LD) · plain text · JSON. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard — Field of Study (2026-06-10 release). · explore this field on the official Scorecard