Graduates earn a median $39,261 two years after finishing, more than 13% of master's majors. Measured across 433 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.
On earnings alone this is among the lowest-paying majors at this level. That does not make it a bad subject, but it does make the debt you take on for it matter more.
| # | University | 1 yr out | 2 yrs out | 3 yrs out | Graduates/yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York University cost & debt at this university → | $60,694 | $58,921 | not published | 4 |
| 2 | George Mason University cost & debt at this university → | $59,522 | $57,770 | $63,298 | — |
| 3 | Bridgewater State University | $51,569 | $54,661 | not published | 12 |
| 4 | Minnesota State University-Mankato cost & debt at this university → | not published | $54,109 | $54,865 | 41 |
| 5 | Simmons University | not published | $50,856 | $52,372 | — |
| 6 | National University cost & debt at this university → | $61,524 | $50,231 | $53,330 | 71 |
| 7 | Georgetown University | $44,916 | $49,840 | $62,382 | 21 |
| 8 | California State University-Stanislaus cost & debt at this university → | not published | $49,644 | not published | 8 |
| 9 | Northern Illinois University cost & debt at this university → | not published | $48,432 | not published | 10 |
| 10 | California State University-Fullerton cost & debt at this university → | $32,210 | $48,041 | $44,644 | 11 |
| 11 | Arcadia University | not published | $47,260 | not published | 1 |
| 12 | Salisbury University cost & debt at this university → | $47,185 | $47,260 | not published | 7 |
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 master's major in this dataset reports $54,713, so English sits below the middle by $15,452.
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.
Whatever the subject pays, the money you do not borrow is the money you keep.
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.
Classified by the Department of Education as English Language and Literature, General (CIP 2301). 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.