College Scorecard · field of study · all U.S. colleges
Is a Literature degree worth the debt?
The figures below lead with the Bachelor's, aggregated across 8 colleges (8 of 8 programs report earnings). Other credential levels are in the table further down.
Graduates only, early career.$32,563 two years out.
Federal loans only — not private or Parent PLUS.
112% of a first year's earnings.
Typical debt roughly equals or exceeds a first year's pay — weigh the time-to-payoff.
The college you pick moves this a lot
The middle 50% of Bachelor's programs in Literature report early-career pay between $21,333 and $24,135 — a spread of $2,802 that depends on the program and who attends it, not the major alone.
Where a Bachelor's in this field reports the highest early-career pay
The 8 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.
What these numbers are — and are not
Every figure here is a median across college programs in Literature, 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