Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a Computer Science degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $66,073 two years after finishing, more than 90% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 767 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.

A

The verdict on the money

Yes, on the money — this is one of the best-paying majors at this level in the country.

Median earnings $66,073 2 years after finishing
Typical range $57,995–$74,576 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree +$26,553 vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 43,677 767 programmes

Where a Computer Science degree pays best US programmes ranked on their own graduates' median earnings two years out.

#University1 yr out2 yrs out3 yrs outGraduates/yr
1 Carnegie Mellon University cost & debt at this university → $161,723 $160,116 $201,541 270
2 Brown University cost & debt at this university → $130,101 $153,718 $184,762 236
3 Harvey Mudd College cost & debt at this university → $123,339 $142,581 $159,657 55
4 Stanford University cost & debt at this university → $136,126 $136,499 $165,375 293
5 Harvard University cost & debt at this university → $140,072 $128,737 $163,896 183
6 Pomona College cost & debt at this university → $110,738 $128,737 not published 49
7 Massachusetts Institute of Technology cost & debt at this university → $118,191 $127,993 $163,496 389
8 University of California-Berkeley cost & debt at this university → $125,250 $125,388 $161,399 994
9 University of Pennsylvania cost & debt at this university → $127,623 $125,015 $137,229 83
10 Cornell University cost & debt at this university → $127,764 $122,485 $158,076 507
11 Dartmouth College cost & debt at this university → $111,259 $113,015 $128,856 136
12 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology cost & debt at this university → $77,382 $111,992 $131,382 63

What this figure does and does not tell you

It is the median of what real graduates of this exact major earned, taken from tax records two years after they completed. It is not a starting salary, not an average of job adverts, and not a projection. The median bachelor's major in this dataset reports $37,568, so Computer Science sits above the middle by $28,505.

Two years is early in a career. Fields with long training pipelines — medicine, law, research — look weaker at this point than they will at ten, while trades and applied technical fields peak sooner. Read a low figure in a long-pipeline subject as "slow start", not "bad degree".

There is no debt figure here on purpose. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not borrowing, so nobody can honestly tell you the debt of a specific major. Debt is published per institution — that is where our university cost pages carry it.

Computer Science at other levels

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We may earn a commission if you take a loan through a provider here. It never changes the earnings figures on this page — those come from the US Department of Education.

Computer Science: the questions people ask

How much do Computer Science graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $66,073 two years after finishing, across 326 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $63,428.
Is a Computer Science degree worth it?
Yes, on the money — this is one of the best-paying majors at this level in the country. The median graduate earns $26,553 a year more than a US worker whose highest qualification is a high-school diploma.
What is the salary range for Computer Science?
Half of US programmes report medians between $57,995 and $74,576. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Computer Science each year?
About 43,677 students complete a bachelor's in this field each year across 767 US programmes.
Does this include student debt?
No — and deliberately. The Department of Education publishes earnings by field of study but not debt, so any "debt by major" figure you see elsewhere is an estimate. Debt is published per institution, which is why our university pages carry it and this page does not.

Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard, field-of-study earnings (median earnings of graduates who received federal financial aid, measured 1–3 years after completion). Figures are per major and credential level, pooled across US programmes. Information only, not financial advice.