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What are the Best-Paying Graduate School Degrees?

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Updated: February 29, 2024, Reading time: 5 minutes

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One of the most important questions for individuals looking to attend graduate school is whether the work and effort they put into their education will really pay off. Although some rare and exotic types may love pouring their life into schooling with no monetary return, the vast majority of us prefer to see a return on the investment of our time, effort, and money.

According to “Select Findings from What’s It Worth,” by the Center on Education and the Workforce out of Georgetown University, attending graduate school really does pay off. This brief overview will help aspiring graduate students to briefly compare and contrast the highest return on graduate degree programs in each general field of study. The listing of fields as well as general statistics is taken from “Select Findings from What’s It Worth.”

Grad School Center is an advertising-supported site. Featured or trusted partner programs and all school search, finder, or match results are for schools that compensate us. This compensation does not influence our school rankings, resource guides, or other editorially-independent information published on this site.

Engineering

A graduate degree in engineering improves the earning capacity of its holder by 24,000 dollars annually. Two graduate degrees with some of the highest-earning potential in engineering are Computer Science Engineering and Aerospace Engineering.

Health

In the field of health, attaining a graduate degree increases median pay by around $20,000. According to CNBC, Physicians and Pharmacists top the list of highest-paying health workers.

Humanities and Liberal Arts

Median pay for those with graduate degrees in the humanities or liberal arts promises to increase by $18,000. Jobs within the humanities and liberal arts that pay well include working as a psychologist or sociologist.

Industrial Arts and Consumer Services

The industrial arts, as well as consumer services, see a $15,000 increase in pay among those who have attended graduate school vs. those who have not. Two of the highest-paying vocations within these fields include web developers and producers or directors.

Law and Public Policy

With a $20,000 gap in salary between those who have earned graduate degrees and those who haven’t, a graduate degree is often necessary for top law and public policy jobs and is always an asset. Top-paying law and public policy jobs include trial lawyers and tax attorneys.

Physical Sciences

With one of the biggest disparities between those who have earned a graduate degree and those who haven’t, the field of physical sciences demands a high level of knowledge. Average pay in the area of physical sciences increases by $30,000 for those who have acquired a degree beyond their bachelor’s degree.

Psychology and Social Work

Averaging an $18,000 increase in pay, graduate school is often a necessity for jobs in psychology and an asset in social work. Psychiatrists are psychologists who make one of the largest incomes. In the field of social work, healthcare social workers bring home the most money.

Social Science

Another field with a large disparity of salary between those who have graduate degrees and those who don’t, social science jobs, in general, provide a $30,000 increase in pay to those who have acquired a graduate degree. Those who enjoy the highest-paying social science careers are economists and political scientists.

Check this out: The Most In-Demand Master’s Degrees

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