A new salary survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) shows that engineering majors dominate the list of college degrees that pay the highest salaries to new college graduates. Of the ten majors with the highest starting salaries, six are in some branch of engineering.
All of the majors listed are for bachelor’s degree graduates who finished school in 2012 and went straight into the work field. Results aren’t displayed for those who take their degrees and continue education (law school, med school, masters students, etc)
Here is NACE’s list of top-paying majors for new college graduates:
Computer Engineering
$70,400
Chemical Engineering
$66,400
Computer Science
$64,400
Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering
$64,000
Mechanical Engineering
$62,900
Electrical/Electronics and Communications Engineering
$62,300
Civil Engineering
$57,600
Finance
$57,300
Construction Science/Management
$56,600
Information Sciences and Systems
$56,100
Overall, the study found that the average starting salary of all new college grads is $44,455, up 3.4% from one year ago. Among the broad categories of majors, education, up 5.4%, business, up 4.2% and communications, up 4.1%, experienced the largest increases to their average starting salaries. The research was based on data from approximately 400,000 employers.
