Skip Navigation
Digest of Education Statistics
2005 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 377. Average annual salary of bachelor’s degree recipients employed full time 1 year after graduation, by field of study: Selected years, 1976 to 2001
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                |Average salary\1\|Average salary\1\|Average salary\1\|  Average salary |  Average salary |  Average salary |         Average|        |
                                |    of 1974-75   |    of 1979-80   |    of 1983-84   |    of 1985-86   |    of 1989-90   |    of 1992-93   |       salary\1\| Percent| Percent
                                |degree recipients|degree recipients|degree recipients|degree recipients|degree recipients|degree recipients|    of 1999-2000|  change|  change
                                | in February 1976|   in May 1981   |   in June 1985  |   in June 1987  |   in June 1991  |   in April 1994 |          degree|      in|     in
                                |_________________|_________________|_________________|_________________|_________________|_________________|      recipients|constant|constant
                                |        |Constant|        |Constant|        |Constant|        |Constant|        |Constant|        |Constant|         in 2001|dollars,|dollars,
                                | Current|    2004| Current|    2004| Current|    2004| Current|    2004| Current|    2004| Current|    2004|    (in constant| 1976 to| 1991 to
Field of study                  | dollars| dollars| dollars| dollars| dollars| dollars| dollars| dollars| dollars| dollars| dollars| dollars|   2004 dollars)|    2001|    2001
________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________________|________|________
1                               |       2|       3|       4|       5|       6|       7|       8|       9|      10|      11|      12|      13|              14|      15|      16
________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________________|________|________
   Total .......................|  $7,600| $25,200| $15,200| $31,600| $17,700| $31,100| $20,400| $33,800| $23,600| $32,700| $24,200| $30,800|$37,800  (337.1)|    49.7|    15.4
                                |________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________________|________|________
Engineering ....................|  12,200|  40,500|  22,400|  46,500|  24,100|  42,300|  26,600|  44,200|  30,900|  42,900|  30,900|  39,400| 51,100  (842.6)|    26.2|    19.3
Business and management ........|  10,200|  33,900|  16,300|  33,900|  18,700|  32,800|  21,100|  35,100|  24,700|  34,300|  27,100|  34,500| 43,700(1,003.9)|    29.2|    27.5
Health professions .............|   8,600|  28,600|  17,300|  36,000|  20,800|  36,500|  22,600|  37,500|  31,500|  43,600|  31,300|  39,900| 42,100(1,162.2)|    47.3|    -3.6
Education\2\ ...................|   6,300|  20,900|  11,500|  23,900|  13,800|  24,200|  15,800|  26,200|  19,100|  26,500|  19,300|  24,600| 29,500  (368.8)|    40.9|    11.2
Public affairs and social       |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |        |                |        |
   services ....................|    --- |    --- |  13,700|  28,500|  15,100|  26,500|  17,700|  29,400|  20,800|  28,800|  22,000|  28,100| 32,400(1,125.0)|    --- |    12.4
Biological sciences ............|   6,500|  21,600|  14,500|  30,100|  15,100|  26,500|  16,400|  27,200|  21,100|  29,200|  22,800|  29,000| 32,800(1,043.5)|    52.0|    12.3
Mathematics and other sciences .|   7,000|  23,200|  16,300|  33,900|  17,500|  30,700|  22,500|  37,400|  27,200|  37,700|  25,400|  32,400| 45,600(1,046.3)|    96.2|    21.1
Psychology .....................|    --- |    --- |  12,500|  26,000|  14,600|  25,600|  17,300|  28,800|  19,200|  26,600|  19,500|  24,800| 30,800  (966.0)|    --- |    15.8
Social sciences ................|   6,700|  22,200|  14,000|  29,100|  15,800|  27,700|  20,300|  33,800|  22,200|  30,800|  22,100|  28,100| 36,200  (977.0)|    62.5|    17.3
History ........................|    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |  21,000|  26,800| 32,000(1,123.4)|    --- |    ---
Humanities .....................|   5,800|  19,300|  12,600|  26,200|  14,000|  24,600|  16,200|  27,000|  19,100|  26,400|  21,300|  27,200| 32,100  (902.9)|    66.7|    21.5
Communications .................|    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |  16,200|  28,400|    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |    --- |   ---      (†) |    --- |    ---
Miscellaneous ..................|   6,800|  22,600|  15,100|  31,400|  18,600|  32,700|  17,600|  29,300|  20,800|  28,800|  21,600|  27,600| 35,000  (669.3)|    54.9|    21.4
________________________________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________|________________|________|________
---Not available.
†Not applicable.
\1\Reported salaries of full-time workers under $2,600 in 1976, $4,200 in 1981, $5,000 in 1985 and $1,000 in 1994 and 2001 were excluded from the tabulations. Also those with salaries over $500,000 in 1994 and 2001 were excluded.
\2\Most educators work 9- to 10-month contracts.
NOTE: Data exclude bachelor's recipients from U.S. Service Schools, deceased graduates, and graduates living at foreign addresses at the time of the survey. Constant dollars based on the Consumer Price Index, prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Recent College Graduates" surveys, 1976 though 1991; and 1993/94, 2000/01 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study, (B&B:93/94) and (B&B:2000/01). (This table was prepared February 2006.)


2005 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest