Bachelor's degree · Social sciences · CIP 45.06
Economics: earnings and debt by college
The College Scorecard lists 696 colleges that award bachelor's degrees in Economics, together awarding 34,393 of these degrees in the most recent year. At the median institution, graduates who received federal aid earn $58,707 one year after finishing and $86,753 five years after finishing (two separate graduating classes). The median institution's graduates leave with $19,500 in federal student loans.
Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Compare Economics programs on one chart
Pick any two measures. Hover a dot to see the college; click it to open the college's page.
Each dot is one institution's program; branch campuses share their institution's figures and appear as one dot. Dashed lines mark the median for all colleges. Showing 237 of 679; programs missing either value are left out (the Scorecard withholds figures for small programs).
Colleges with a bachelor's in Economics
| University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles · Public | CA | 864 | $71,426 | $101,524 | $13,000 |
| University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor · Public | MI | 731 | $75,235 | $119,515 | $20,750 |
| University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara · Public | CA | 702 | $70,608 | $108,010 | $12,000 |
| University of Chicago Chicago · Private nonprofit | IL | 678 | $98,564 | $167,294 | $12,000 |
| University of California-Berkeley Berkeley · Public | CA | 677 | $88,608 | $148,703 | $11,275 |
| New York University New York · Private nonprofit | NY | 619 | $79,212 | $123,074 | $17,500 |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison · Public | WI | 590 | $58,619 | $86,956 | $18,358 |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill · Public | NC | 470 | $69,762 | $110,296 | $13,500 |
| University of California-Davis Davis · Public | CA | 432 | $51,106 | $85,263 | $11,000 |
| University of Connecticut Storrs · Public | CT | 415 | $58,268 | $86,761 | $19,500 |
| University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst · Public | MA | 413 | $55,297 | $92,332 | $22,750 |
| The University of Texas at Austin Austin · Public | TX | 383 | $65,124 | $92,816 | $18,000 |
| University of California-Irvine Irvine · Public | CA | 381 | $50,385 | $88,917 | $11,253 |
| University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville · Public | VA | 379 | $77,018 | $114,533 | $18,000 |
| Texas A&M University-College Station College Station · Public | TX | 374 | $60,752 | $88,202 | $16,802 |
| Boston College Chestnut Hill · Private nonprofit | MA | 364 | $79,225 | $124,494 | $17,500 |
| Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park · Public | PA | 355 | $60,469 | $88,456 | $23,599 |
| University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign · Public | IL | 331 | $64,873 | $96,767 | $17,000 |
| University of Florida Gainesville · Public | FL | 318 | $54,218 | $94,173 | $11,250 |
| Binghamton University Vestal · Public | NY | 316 | $55,220 | $92,981 | $18,127 |
| University of California-Riverside Riverside · Public | CA | 315 | $45,759 | $74,316 | $15,301 |
| Columbia University in the City of New York New York · Private nonprofit | NY | 312 | $97,674 | $134,286 | $17,750 |
| Utah State University Logan · Public | UT | 307 | $67,013 | $92,878 | $13,000 |
| Northwestern University Evanston · Private nonprofit | IL | 304 | $96,688 | $144,639 | $16,000 |
| Vanderbilt University Nashville · Private nonprofit | TN | 285 | $90,777 | $147,395 | $13,750 |
| University of Maryland-College Park College Park · Public | MD | 270 | $65,929 | $92,499 | $14,788 |
| University of Notre Dame Notre Dame · Private nonprofit | IN | 266 | $84,700 | $138,498 | $19,000 |
| Boston University Boston · Private nonprofit | MA | 264 | $63,688 | $96,151 | $19,165 |
| Harvard University Cambridge · Private nonprofit | MA | 260 | $120,683 | $181,244 | $14,000 |
| University of California-San Diego La Jolla · Public | CA | 255 | $56,525 | $91,717 | $13,799 |
| University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle · Public | WA | 255 | $69,514 | $97,444 | $14,515 |
| Michigan State University East Lansing · Public | MI | 249 | $57,194 | $86,011 | $19,000 |
| University of South Florida Tampa · Public | FL | 242 | $52,244 | $72,733 | $20,000 |
| Stony Brook University Stony Brook · Public | NY | 231 | $52,822 | $86,166 | $20,875 |
| Brown University Providence · Private nonprofit | RI | 230 | $108,964 | $129,347 | $12,000 |
| Florida State University Tallahassee · Public | FL | 227 | $49,887 | $83,542 | $15,154 |
| Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick · Public | NJ | 216 | $64,027 | $93,649 | $19,500 |
| Syracuse University Syracuse · Private nonprofit | NY | 212 | $63,076 | $89,530 | $22,997 |
| Yale University New Haven · Private nonprofit | CT | 212 | $108,619 | $170,350 | $15,000 |
| University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis · Public | MN | 207 | $63,012 | $88,564 | $19,500 |
| University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia · Private nonprofit | PA | 206 | $97,624 | $139,805 | $11,250 |
| San Diego State University San Diego · Public | CA | 203 | $49,742 | $78,085 | $15,000 |
| University of Utah Salt Lake City · Public | UT | 203 | $63,161 | $90,589 | $18,916 |
| Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus · Public | OH | 201 | $56,437 | $78,128 | $20,500 |
| University of Colorado Boulder Boulder · Public | CO | 200 | $60,005 | $84,375 | $18,500 |
| CUNY Queens College Queens · Public | NY | 199 | $53,003 | $70,251 | $9,875 |
| Northeastern University Boston · Private nonprofit | MA | 197 | $78,831 | $103,236 | $21,500 |
| University of Southern California Los Angeles · Private nonprofit | CA | 197 | $72,737 | $112,331 | $19,500 |
| Dartmouth College Hanover · Private nonprofit | NH | 196 | $115,308 | $166,274 | $14,833 |
| Duke University Durham · Private nonprofit | NC | 196 | $124,433 | $191,550 | $13,500 |
Quick facts: Economics
- How many colleges offer a bachelor's degree in Economics?
- The College Scorecard lists 696 colleges that award bachelor's degrees in Economics.
- How much do Economics graduates earn?
- Across institutions, the median of graduates' median earnings is $58,707 one year after graduation (325 institutions reporting) and $86,753 five years after graduation (345 institutions reporting). These figures cover graduates who received federal aid and are working and not enrolled in school. Branch campuses share their institution's figures, so each institution counts once.
- Where do Economics graduates earn the most five years after graduation?
- By reported median earnings five years after graduation: Duke University ($191,550), Harvard University ($181,244), Amherst College ($175,020), Williams College ($172,984), and Yale University ($170,350).
- How much student debt do Economics graduates have?
- The median institution's Economics graduates leave with $19,500 in federal student loans (263 institutions reporting). Parent PLUS and private loans are not included.
- Which colleges award the most Economics degrees?
- By bachelor's degrees awarded in the most recent year: University of California-Los Angeles (864), University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (731), University of California-Santa Barbara (702), University of Chicago (678), and University of California-Berkeley (677).
Related majors in social sciences
How these numbers work
Figures cover bachelor's degree programs in Economics (CIP code 45.06), as reported in the College Scorecard. Earnings are medians for graduates who received federal aid, measured one and five years after they finished, among those working and not enrolled in school; the one-year and five-year figures describe different graduating classes. Debt is the median federal loan balance at graduation. The Scorecard withholds figures for programs with few graduates, so many smaller programs show n/a. Summary figures are medians across institutions: the Scorecard reports program earnings and debt for a whole institution, so branch campuses share one figure and count once. All figures are from the Scorecard's most recent field-of-study release. More on the data.