For high school seniors and undecided college majors considering what they want to do for the rest of their lives and looking for jobs that will put money in their pockets soon, STEM might be the best ticket.
STEM majors — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — continue to reign when it comes to top salaries for jobs with a bachelor’s degree, according to the 2023 Payscale College Salary Report of 25 majors. The first five majors listed in the report are STEM majors: petroleum engineering, operations research and industrial engineering, interaction design, applied economics and management, and building science.
Although applied economics and management typically is found in business schools or departments, Payscale classifies it as a STEM major.
“Applied economics is a broad field of study grounded in social science and economic theory,” Payscale data analyst Jackson Gruver wrote in an email. “Research, data analysis, and statistical problem solving are a fundamental component of this work.”
All five majors “feature specialized STEM skill sets that can result in steady employment where there is more labor demand than supply, creating lucrative career opportunities over time,” Gruver says. “Roles requiring technical skills and knowledge are difficult to learn on the job. Candidates with degrees in STEM fields stand out because their education and training are a valuable commodity to employers looking to fill technical roles.”
[READ: Determine Whether a STEM Major Is the Right Choice.]
Here are the top five majors with the highest average annual salaries by mid-career for workers with just a bachelor’s degree, according to Payscale’s 2023 College Salary Report.
Petroleum Engineering
Petroleum engineering is basically moving fluids around underground, says Richard Schultz, chair of the energy and petroleum engineering department in the College of Engineering & Mines at the University of North Dakota.
Some common courses in petroleum engineering are mathematics, geomechanics, reservoir engineering and petroleum geostatistics.
In addition to extraction, petroleum engineering includes storage and transport of oil and gas as well as product refinement into gasoline, propane and diesel. Schultz says the production process is what garners the high salaries for petroleum engineers.
“Most of the salaries that you hear about are upstream because it’s a real challenge not just to find the oil, but more specifically to pump it out of the ground,” Schultz says. “You have to do that cost-effectively. It’s a competitive … environment with many companies, so there’s competition for the best talent.”
Petroleum engineering is a “wide open” field, Schultz says.
“Basically, petroleum engineering is not just oil and gas and people mucking around with oil rigs and things like that,” he says. “It is the core of the energy transition. It’s the core of renewable energy. It is what provides energy security for our nation. Petroleum engineering provides the core tools, the core learnings and approaches that really lets you do the energy transition and all the exciting work that’s related to that.”
The average annual early-career pay, which Payscale defines as up to five years of experience, is $97,500, per Payscale. Petroleum engineers in mid-career, meaning at least 10 years of experience, average $212,500.
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
The disciplines of operations research and industrial engineering are combined to create a framework to understand and solve engineering problems in a complex system, leading to better decision-making, says J. Eric Bickel, professor and director of the graduate program in operations research and industrial engineering in the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas–Austin.
“Who doesn’t need or want to make better decisions?” Bickel asks. “It’s ubiquitous. It cuts across disciplines — health care, airlines, transportation, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals. Everybody needs to make better decisions. And that’s what OR and IE trains people to do, students to do.”
[Read: A Guide to STEM Majors.]
The people aspect of the job also makes this field attractive, Bickel says.
“It’s not just about technology,” he says. “It’s about how people interface with that technology, so there’s a very strong human element to it which is why I was attracted to it. You get to work on very diverse problems and across a range of industries.”
Students in this major usually can expect courses in data science for engineers, decision analysis, operations research models, and production and inventory management.
The average annual early-career pay for operations research and industrial engineers is $98,300, per Payscale, and it rises to $191,800 for mid-career professionals.
According to Bickel, other career fields that this major can lead to are data science, consulting, revenue management and health care.
Interaction Design
Interaction design is a growing and interdisciplinary field, combining technology and design, says Rebecca Mushtare, professor of interaction design and associate dean of graduate studies at SUNY Oswego.
This major leads to a variety of careers, she notes, such as digital design, experience design, motion design, multimedia design, user interface, extended reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, 3D printing, app design and responsive web design.
“I think it’s a really interesting space,” Mushtare says. “It’s creative. It can be fun. There are elements of motion, time, touch, audio and voice. You can play with all the digital media elements in one place. It’s a place where you can experiment and play, but also a space where there’s a lot of problem-solving technology.”
Common core courses in this major are graphic design, app design, sound design, user experience and creative technology.
Payscale reports that early-career annual pay averages $74,700 and mid-career salaries average $173,600.
Applied Economics and Management
Students in this business degree program are taught to think like economists to make profit-maximizing decisions, says Olga Isengildina Massa, a professor in the agricultural and applied economics department at Virginia Tech.
The core curriculum in this major varies by school but typically includes courses in macroeconomics, microeconomics, finance, management and econometrics.
[7 Hot Jobs for Engineering Graduate Degrees]
“It’s an important skill for the new graduates to be able to think critically, think like an economist, give them theoretical and quantitative skills as well as the soft skills to succeed in the workplace,” Massa says.
Examples of jobs in this major are operations manager, associate merchant, research analyst, project manager and business analyst.
An early-career worker with a degree in applied economics and management earns an average of $76,500 a year and $164,400 in mid-career.
Building Science
Building science is a construction management degree, says Richard Burt, head of the McWhorter School of Building Science at Auburn University in Alabama.
As construction managers, the school’s graduates often get jobs with commercial construction companies working on large projects such as schools, hospitals and sports stadiums.
In addition to learning construction terminology and the various documents used, students spend a lot of time reading architectural plans to understand how to convert drawings into actual buildings. Common courses are physics, introduction to construction, structure of buildings and construction project analysis.
Early-career annual salaries with this major average $69,000, and in mid-career pay averages $163,100, according to Payscale. The salary is high because of the demand — there are more jobs than students to fill them, Burt says.
“It’s a really brilliant, exciting job,” Burt says. “The fact that you can pretty much work anywhere means a lot of opportunities to work. Also, you are part of a team, team-oriented. You are working with other people constantly.”
Gruver at Payscale says there is significant growth potential in career fields related to all five majors.
“These jobs cannot be replaced by artificial intelligence, nor performed by just anyone,” Gruver says. “As the economy grows, so too will the demand for technical skills and STEM experts.”
Although salary is important, students should have a genuine interest in the subject, Sue Harbour, associate dean and executive director at Berkeley Career Engagement at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote in an email.
“My team discusses more about what (students) enjoy doing,” she says. “On occasion, students will disclose that getting paid really well is one of their values. In those cases, advising goes into more depth about salary for a given career path.”
More from U.S. News
4 Tips to Complete College Applications on Time
Avoid These Big College Application Mistakes
Nonacademic Factors to Consider When Choosing a College
5 College Majors With Great Job Prospects originally appeared on usnews.com
Correction 08/22/24: A previous version of this story misstated Virginia Tech’s name.
