Chart of the Day

Want to Make a Lot of Money? The Answer Is Science

Anthony P. Carnevale, Nicole Smith, and Michelle Melton
Dino Grandoni 4,150 Views Nov 2, 2011

Those wishing of adding zeros to their paychecks should know one thing: they're prayers might be best answered through science--or at least by landing a job related to science. Those working in jobs involving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics--STEM jobs, for short--tend to outearn those in other types of jobs at nearly every education level, according to a new study from Georgetown University. As the chart from the study above shows, what that means is that practically everyone from high-school dropouts to Ph.D.'s are more like to have better-than-average salaries for their respective education levels if they work a STEM job--regardless of what they studied in school. The exception are those with professional degrees--lawyers and businesspeople who can make a lot of money in lots of fields. Of course, the best way to get a lucrative STEM job is to study a STEM subject in the first place: On average, those with STEM majors earn $500,000 more over the course of their lifetimes than those with non-STEM majors. So maybe your parent were right to be leery of you majoring in English.

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Sources

  • STEM, Anthony P. Carnevale, Nicole Smith, and Michelle Melton, Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce
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