Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a Construction Management degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $65,131 two years after finishing, more than 90% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 98 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 $65,131 2 years after finishing · per graduate
Typical range $61,020–$68,219 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree +$25,611 vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 2,911 98 programmes

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

#University1 yr out2 yrs out3 yrs outGraduates/yr
1 California State University-Chico cost & debt at this university → $78,190 $83,091 $93,961
2 California State University-East Bay $80,056 $80,309 $85,641 43
3 Pratt Institute-Main cost & debt at this university → not published $78,343 not published
4 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities $68,050 $75,204 not published 26
5 Boise State University cost & debt at this university → $68,628 $72,274 $87,469 64
6 University of Alaska Anchorage cost & debt at this university → $80,711 $72,274 $78,757 8
7 Central Washington University cost & debt at this university → $73,538 $71,168 $82,194 31
8 Arizona State University Campus Immersion $70,195 $70,829 $81,721
9 Washington State University cost & debt at this university → $72,092 $69,691 $78,747
10 Drexel University cost & debt at this university → $69,427 $69,338 $79,952 23
11 University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus $65,420 $69,338 not published 36
12 Wentworth Institute of Technology cost & debt at this university → $72,808 $68,821 $80,956 106

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $65,131 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $64,851 is what the typical programme reports, counting a class of twenty the same as a class of two thousand. The weighted figure is higher here, which means the larger programmes in this field are the better-paying ones.

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 $36,497, so Construction Management sits above the middle by $28,634.

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.

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Construction Management: the questions people ask

How much do Construction Management graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $65,131 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 50 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $65,332.
Is a Construction Management 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 $25,611 a year more than a US worker whose highest qualification is a high-school diploma.
What is the salary range for Construction Management?
Half of US programmes report medians between $61,020 and $68,219. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Construction Management each year?
About 2,911 students complete a bachelor's in this field each year across 98 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.