The 78 Highest and Lowest Paying STEM Majors

In this article, I break down salary by STEM major using data collected by the American Community Survey between 2009-2019.

Of all fields, STEM majors have the highest starting salary at $57,900 per year, as well as the highest mid-career salary at $108,300 per year.

Prominent among the STEM majors with the highest starting salary is engineering, with 7 of the top 10 majors in the engineering field. In fact, Petroleum Engineering is the only major (from all fields) that has a starting salary greater than $100,000.

Not all STEM majors pay great to start though, three pay $40,000 or less (Animal Sciences, Ecology, and Zoology), placing them in the company of the lowest paying majors.

But by mid-career, only one STEM major pays less than $70,000: Nutrition Sciences. And Animal Sciences, Ecology, and Zoology end up doing much better, with salary growth rates that are among the highest of all majors.

Read on to see the STEM majors ranked by starting salary and mid-career salary.

For methodology click here.

In a previous article I rank all majors by starting and mid-career salaries, as well salary growth rates.

STEM Majors Ranked By Starting Salary

1. 1. Petroleum Engineering: $107,954
   2. Naval Architecture And Marine Engineering: $91,562
   3. Nuclear Engineering: $86,112
   4. Computer Engineering: $79,540
   5. Chemical Engineering: $78,322
   6. Computer Science: $77,223
   7. Actuarial Science: $76,528
   8. Electrical Engineering: $75,120
   9. Mechanical Engineering: $73,133
   10. Applied Mathematics: $72,565
   11. Aerospace Engineering: $72,070
   12. Industrial And Manufacturing Engineering: $71,593
   13. Materials Science: $71,467
   14. General Engineering: $69,172
   15. Statistics And Decision Science: $68,213
   16. Materials Engineering And Materials Science: $68,206
   17. Biological Engineering: $67,843
   18. Miscellaneous Engineering: $67,815
   19. Biomedical Engineering: $67,239
   20. Management Information Systems And Statistics: $67,232
   21. Construction Services: $67,183
   22. Civil Engineering: $66,658
   23. Architectural Engineering: $64,345
   24. Engineering And Industrial Management: $63,266
   25. Information Sciences: $63,024
   26. Electrical Engineering Technology: $62,647
   27. Miscellaneous Engineering Technologies: $62,470
   28. Engineering Mechanics Physics And Science: $62,311
   29. Environmental Engineering: $61,170
   30. Mechanical Engineering Related Technologies: $60,869
   31. Mathematics: $60,704
   32. Computer And Information Systems: $60,101
   33. Computer Administration Management And Security: $58,943
   34. Physics: $58,623
   35. Nuclear, Industrial Radiology, And Biological Technologies: $58,345
   36. Industrial Production Technologies: $57,144
   37. Computer Programming And Data Processing: $56,578
   38. Engineering Technologies: $56,556
   39. Food Science: $54,117
   40. Medical Technologies Technicians: $52,910
   41. Computer Networking And Telecommunications: $52,425
   42. Agriculture Production And Management: $52,130
   43. Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Sciences And Administration: $51,934
   44. Architecture: $51,911
   45. Electrical, Mechanical, And Precision Technologies And Production: $51,241
   46. Cognitive Science And Biopsychology: $50,571
   47. Chemistry: $48,692
   48. Atmospheric Sciences And Meteorology: $48,626
   49. General Agriculture: $48,568
   50. Miscellaneous Agriculture: $48,483
   51. Biochemical Sciences: $47,542
   52. Molecular Biology: $47,107
   53. Genetics: $46,795
   54. Geosciences: $46,614
   55. Physical Sciences: $46,421
   56. Microbiology: $46,397
   57. Plant Science And Agronomy: $46,311
   58. Geology And Earth Science: $45,792
   59. Soil Science: $45,304
   60. Miscellaneous Biology: $45,251
   61. Oceanography: $44,952
   62. Forestry: $44,339
   63. Communication Technologies: $43,883
   64. Physiology: $43,441
   65. Botany: $43,437
   66. Environmental Science: $43,187
   67. Nutrition Sciences: $42,845
   68. Biology: $42,325
   69. Natural Resources Management: $42,053
   70. Animal Sciences: $40,040
   71. Ecology: $36,862
   72. Zoology: $36,325

STEM Majors Ranked by Mid-Career Salary

1. 1. Petroleum Engineering: $210,333
   2. Actuarial Science: $186,179
   3. Chemical Engineering: $140,729
   4. Nuclear Engineering: $140,228
   5. Computer Engineering: $138,217
   6. Aerospace Engineering: $135,546
   7. Electrical Engineering: $133,184
   8. Mechanical Engineering: $132,716
   9. Cognitive Science And Biopsychology: $131,532
   10. Biomedical Engineering: $129,772
   11. Engineering And Industrial Management: $125,946
   12. Architectural Engineering: $125,174
   13. Applied Mathematics: $125,157
   14. Materials Science: $124,712
   15. Naval Architecture And Marine Engineering: $124,090
   16. Computer Science: $123,325
   17. Civil Engineering: $122,564
   18. Physics: $122,149
   19. Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Sciences And Administration: $121,632
   20. Environmental Engineering: $120,904
   21. Industrial And Manufacturing Engineering: $120,833
   22. Construction Services: $120,815
   23. Management Information Systems And Statistics: $117,968
   24. Miscellaneous Engineering: $116,321
   25. General Engineering: $115,695
   26. Molecular Biology: $115,655
   27. Statistics And Decision Science: $115,127
   28. Materials Engineering And Materials Science: $115,106
   29. Genetics: $114,929
   30. Atmospheric Sciences And Meteorology: $113,120
   31. Mathematics: $112,393
   32. Engineering Mechanics Physics And Science: $111,309
   33. Information Sciences: $110,693
   34. Industrial Production Technologies: $104,505
   35. Biochemical Sciences: $103,298
   36. Miscellaneous Engineering Technologies: $103,176
   37. Electrical Engineering Technology: $102,832
   38. Computer And Information Systems: $102,765
   39. Mechanical Engineering Related Technologies: $101,424
   40. Engineering Technologies: $99,968
   41. Architecture: $99,654
   42. Biological Engineering: $99,428
   43. Food Science: $99,065
   44. Chemistry: $98,519
   45. Geology And Earth Science: $96,579
   46. Agriculture Production And Management: $94,071
   47. Physical Sciences: $93,823
   48. Computer Networking And Telecommunications: $93,764
   49. Computer Programming And Data Processing: $92,904
   50. Oceanography: $92,870
   51. Geosciences: $92,511
   52. Computer Administration Management And Security: $91,609
   53. Soil Science: $91,600
   54. Microbiology: $90,774
   55. Environmental Science: $90,315
   56. Biology: $90,068
   57. Nuclear, Industrial Radiology, And Biological Technologies: $89,797
   58. Forestry: $88,568
   59. Communication Technologies: $87,525
   60. Miscellaneous Biology: $85,610
   61. Physiology: $85,512
   62. Plant Science And Agronomy: $84,260
   63. Animal Sciences: $82,273
   64. Medical Technologies Technicians: $82,201
   65. Natural Resources Management: $82,016
   66. Ecology: $81,425
   67. General Agriculture: $79,481
   68. Electrical, Mechanical, And Precision Technologies And Production: $78,896
   69. Zoology: $75,855
   70. Botany: $75,116
   71. Miscellaneous Agriculture: $73,311
   72. Nutrition Sciences: $69,023

Methodology

These averages were compiled by the author using public use American Community Survey microdata between 2009-2019. All dollar values were converted into 2022 dollars. Only those respondents with a bachelor’s degree as the highest credential were retained (those with graduate degrees were excluded). I retained only those respondents who had a positive income. For respondents with two majors, one was selected at random. The calculations used person weights. Starting salary is the average earnings of respondents aged 23-29; mid-career salary is the average earnings of respondents aged 40-49. For those respondents earning more than 1-percentile, income was set to the 1-percentile. There are a minimum of 75 respondents per major in each age-group.