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It’s the classic college-age query: “What’s your major?” But maybe the real question should be: What kind of house do you want to live in?
Here’s a non-shocker: Not all college majors are created equal, especially when you consider those four years of tuition as an investment in future earnings. A few years down the road, when you’re ready to settle down and purchase a home, your specific college concentration may very well have a lot to do with how much you can afford.
This, it turns out, is very good news for engineers. But it’s not so great, sadly, for horticulturists.
And we have proof! Recently, Realtor.com’s data team hit the books to take on this eternal college question from a real estate perspective. Using PayScale’s midcareer (10+ years of experience with a bachelor’s degree) salary estimate and their affordability calculator, they calculated the max price a typical grad can afford after working for 10 years, according to his or her major.
Check out the following graphic for the top 10 most popular majors. So given another chance, would you have picked the same subject? Despite the controversy around rising tuition and student debt that make some doubt whether a college degree is still worth it, a 2014 analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York shows the average value of a college degree has remained near its all-time high since 1970.
According to PayScale, a mid-career employee with a bachelor’s degree earns a median salary of $77,006, meaning he or she can afford a house costing up to $341,000. That’s about 60% more than a high school graduate.
Out of all 300-plus majors, petroleum engineering came out on top: With a mid-career salary of $168,000, these grads can afford to buy as high as $744,000, more than three times the national median list price. Even those fresh out of college land impressive starting salaries of $101,000. Unsurprisingly, other engineering branches (e.g., chemical engineering, computer science engineering) are also more likely to earn six-figure salaries with a few years’ experience.
At the bottom of the list: liberal arts and education majors. Early-childhood education brings up the rear with a mid-career salary of $38,000—barely enough to buy a house priced at $168,000 (not even the national median). Social work, another popular major for an awfully good cause, is also among the lowest paid, with a mid-career salary of just $45,700.
Don’t be too discouraged, however! Those numbers don’t factor in geographic differences. Teaching jobs are up for grabs all over the country, but engineering positions are concentrated in a few technology hubs where the booming economy has driven housing prices up significantly. Nowhere is this truer than in Silicon Valley.
In the San Jose, CA, metro area, engineers make up 4% of the area’s workforce and earn a mean income of nearly $120,000 a year, according to NerdWallet. However, this deep reservoir of well-paid talent also faces a median home price of $878,000, one of the highest among metro areas.
Bottom line: That hard-earned biblical studies degree might still snag you a fine home. Eventually.
Photo: GaryAlvis/Getty Images: graduation cap: 3dfoto/iStock
Source: www.realtor.com
Author: Yuqing Pan
