A college degree can help you financially get ahead, compared to a high school diploma alone.
In 2022, workers ages 25 to 34 with a bachelor’s degree earned a median annual salary of $66,600, according to the latest National Center for Education Statistics data. Their counterparts with only a high school education earned $41,800 a year.
But not all college grads see that salary boost. Degree holders in studio arts, for example, earn a median salary of just $40,000, according to a recent Bankrate analysis of the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data.
Bankrate looked at median salaries among workers and job seekers with at least a bachelor’s degree, along with unemployment rates and advanced degree rates, to rank the most and least valuable college degrees.
DON’T MISS: The ultimate guide to negotiating a higher salary
Studio arts degree-holders have low earnings prospects and an unemployment rate of 4.6%, nearly double the rate for all college graduates — 2.4% in June 2024, per New York Fed data — all of which factored into it being named the least valuable college degree.
Here are the 10 least valuable college degrees in 2024, according to Bankrate:
1. Studio arts
- Median salary: $40,000
- Unemployment rate: 4.6%
- Percentage of workers with advanced degrees: 28.1%
2. Drama and theater arts
- Median salary: $44,000
- Unemployment rate: 4.9%
- Percentage of workers with advanced degrees: 29.0%
3. Visual and performing arts
- Median salary: $40,000
- Unemployment rate: 3.8%
- Percentage of workers with advanced degrees: 28.7%
4. Film, video and photographic arts
- Median salary: $46,000
- Unemployment rate: 5.5%
- Percentage of workers with advanced degrees: 13.8%
5. Miscellaneous fine arts
- Median salary: $45,000
- Unemployment rate: 4.8%
- Percentage of workers with advanced degrees: 15.0%
6. Clinical psychology
- Median salary: $45,500
- Unemployment rate: 2.9%
- Percentage of workers with advanced degrees: 69.1%
7. Communication technologies
- Median salary: $50,000
- Unemployment rate: 5.3%
- Percentage of workers with advanced degrees: 11.9%
8. Library science
- Median salary: $48,000
- Unemployment rate: 3.2%
- Percentage of workers with advanced degrees: 69.1%
9. Fine arts
- Median salary: $45,000
- Unemployment rate: 3.7%
- Percentage of workers with advanced degrees: 25.0%
10. Other foreign languages (excluding French, German, Latin and other more common foreign languages)
- Median salary: $53,000
- Unemployment rate: 4.8%
- Percentage of workers with advanced degrees: 45.2%
The most valuable bachelor’s degrees, by Bankrate’s standards, have a trifecta of high salaries, low unemployment rates and low rates of workers with advanced degrees.
The arts-related degrees on the least-valuable list do have low rates of workers with advanced degrees — but they fall short on the other two factors, with median annual salaries below $50,000 and high unemployment rates, compared to other grads.
Among the 10 least valuable bachelor’s degrees, just two see grads earning at least $50,000 a year: communications technologies and other foreign languages. Communications tech majors have a relatively high unemployment rate of nearly 5.3%, though, suggesting that higher paying jobs may be harder to come by.
People with bachelor’s degrees in less-common foreign languages have a slightly lower unemployment rate, but nearly half (45%) of these grads have advanced degrees. Even larger shares (roughly 69%, each) of library science and clinical psychology undergrads hold higher credentials.
That data suggests an advanced degree — and the years of school required to to earn it — may be needed to to fare better financially in those careers.
Want to earn more money at work? Take CNBC’s new online course How to Negotiate a Higher Salary. Expert instructors will teach you the skills you need to get a bigger paycheck, including how to prepare and build your confidence, what to do and say, and how to craft a counteroffer. Pre-register now and use coupon code EARLYBIRD for an introductory discount of 50% off through Nov. 26, 2024.
Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life.
