The 10 most valuable college majors

Advertisement
The 10 most valuable college majors

graduation ceremony

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The top ten most valuable college majors are in the business, science, and math fields.

Advertisement
  • The most valuable college majors have a high guarantee of employment and a decent salary.
  • Bankrate recently took a look at the most valuable college majors - the top ten were all in the business, science, and math fields. Zoology took the No. 2 spot.
  • The average of all majors looked at in the study was $72,616 salary and a 2.9% unemployment rate.

With the cost of college higher than ever, it's important to pick a major that will be valuable in the long run, with a high guarantee of employment and a decent salary.

Bankrate recently took a look at the most valuable college majors based on data from the US Census Bureau American Community Survey. Using weighted data, they determined the employment and unemployment rates and incomes for graduates for their first year out of college across 162 majors that employed at least 15,000 people. They also considered the number of college graduates who held a higher secondary degree.

The top ten most valuable majors were all in the business, science, and math fields. While some, like finance, aren't all too surprising, others, like zoology, are a bit unexpected. The average income of all 162 majors was $72,616 and the average unemployment rate was 2.9%.

Below, see the top-ten most valuable college majors.

Advertisement

{{}}

10. Finance

10. Finance

Average income: $100,448

Unemployment rate: 2.7%

9. Civil Engineering

9. Civil Engineering

Average income: $96,405

Unemployment rate: 2.2%

Advertisement

8. Mechanical Engineering

8. Mechanical Engineering

Average income: $101,590

Unemployment rate: 2.4%

7. Molecular Biology

7. Molecular Biology

Average income: $105,849

Unemployment rate: 2.1%

Advertisement

6. Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration

6. Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration

Average income: $103,350

Unemployment rate: 1.8%

5. Applied Mathematics

5. Applied Mathematics

Average income: $105,679

Unemployment rate: 2%

Advertisement

4. Health and Medical Preparatory Programs

4. Health and Medical Preparatory Programs

Average income: $130,308

Unemployment rate: 2.3%

3. Nuclear Engineering

3. Nuclear Engineering

Average income: $108,591

Unemployment rate: 1.8%

Advertisement

2. Zoology

2. Zoology

Average income: $111,889

Unemployment rate: 1.4%

1. Actuarial Science

1. Actuarial Science

Average income: $108,658

Unemployment rate: 2.3%

Advertisement