The 78 Highest and Lowest Paying STEM Majors

scientist microscope

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. 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. 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.

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Last updated on October 5, 2022