Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a Geography degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $35,420 two years after finishing, more than 40% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 302 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.

C

The verdict on the money

It pays around the middle. What you earn will depend more on where you study and what you do with it than on the subject label.

Median earnings $35,420 2 years after finishing
Typical range $31,133–$38,829 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree — vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 3,429 302 programmes

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

#University1 yr out2 yrs out3 yrs outGraduates/yr
1 University of North Carolina at Charlotte cost & debt at this university → $35,230 $46,869 $54,449 31
2 Dartmouth College cost & debt at this university → $40,623 $46,478 $60,277 —
3 University of Nevada-Reno cost & debt at this university → not published $46,087 not published 11
4 University of California-Berkeley cost & debt at this university → not published $46,087 $63,751 —
5 Binghamton University $50,425 $45,696 $53,585 22
6 George Washington University cost & debt at this university → not published $44,971 not published 26
7 Northern Arizona University cost & debt at this university → not published $44,384 not published 4
8 Northern Illinois University cost & debt at this university → $39,698 $44,189 not published 14
9 Kennesaw State University cost & debt at this university → $37,238 $42,682 $46,454 44
10 Eastern Washington University cost & debt at this university → not published $42,682 not published —
11 Miami University-Oxford $39,769 $42,682 $47,584 19
12 Towson University cost & debt at this university → not published $42,682 $46,279 22

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 $37,705, so Geography sits below the middle by $2,285.

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.

Geography at other levels

Master's — $54,713 (C)

Scholarships for Geography students

Whatever the subject pays, the money you do not borrow is the money you keep.

Science@Leuven Scholarship at K.U.Leuven University Belgium Peter Carpenter African Climate Scholarship 2016 School Funding for Postgraduate Study at Newcastle University... PhD Scholarship in Geography For International Students at Uni... International Life and Environmental Scientist Scholarships in... GCRF Networking Grants for International Applicants in UK, 201...
See all Geography scholarships →

Study Geography Programmes listed on ScholarshipsAds.

Sciences, Physical Geography and Ecosystem Sci... — Lund University Applied Computational Science, Physical Geogra... — Lund University Earth Science - Physical Geography — Uppsala University Physical Geography — Umeå University PhD in Geography — University of Cambridge Geography — University of Cambridge

Majors that pay more at this level Closest first — useful if you are still choosing.

Teaching — $35,605 Hospitality Management — $36,497 Special Education — $37,568 Pharmacy — $37,705 Family and Consumer Sciences — $38,108 Chemistry — $38,289

Funding the degree Lenders that fund US and international students — compare the rate before you sign.

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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.

Geography: the questions people ask

How much do Geography graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $35,420 two years after finishing, across 143 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $34,640.
Is a Geography degree worth it?
It pays around the middle. What you earn will depend more on where you study and what you do with it than on the subject label.
What is the salary range for Geography?
Half of US programmes report medians between $31,133 and $38,829. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Geography each year?
About 3,429 students complete a bachelor's in this field each year across 302 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.
All degree grades Highest paying majors Most popular majors University costs & payback

Classified by the Department of Education as Geography and Cartography (CIP 4507). 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.