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

Is an Economics degree worth the debt?

The figures below lead with the Bachelor's, aggregated across 363 colleges (363 of 363 programs report earnings). Other credential levels are in the table further down.

Median pay · 1 yr after

$45,884

Graduates only, early career.$47,260 two years out.

Median federal debt

$20,500

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 Economics report early-career pay between $39,751 and $53,271 — a spread of $13,520 that depends on the program and who attends it, not the major alone.

25th pct $39,751 median $45,884 75th pct $53,271

By degree level

Each level is a separate decision — more schooling usually means more pay and more debt.

LevelPay · 1yrDebtDebt/pay

Bachelor's 363 colleges $45,884 $20,500 0.45×

Master's 19 colleges $63,388 $39,630 0.67×

Where an 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.

Claremont McKenna College CA $95,566 $12,000 debt

Duke University NC $94,699 $13,187 debt

Harvard University MA $89,515 $6,617 debt

Rice University TX $87,989 $11,644 debt

Yale University CT $87,166 $12,562 debt

Dartmouth College NH $85,069 $18,132 debt

Williams College MA $83,280 $12,925 debt

University of Chicago IL $82,564 $13,395 debt

Princeton University NJ $81,961 $11,250 debt

Amherst College MA $78,775 $16,662 debt

Carnegie Mellon University PA $78,188 $22,020 debt

Columbia University in the City of New York NY $73,902 $25,000 debt

Vanderbilt University TN $72,741 $12,000 debt

University of Pennsylvania PA $72,198 $14,621 debt

Colgate University NY $72,196 $17,500 debt

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is a median across college programs in 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