Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a International & Globalization Studies degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $34,660 two years after finishing, more than 30% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 362 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 $34,660 2 years after finishing · per graduate
Typical range $27,822–$36,049 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree — vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 5,169 362 programmes

Where a International & Globalization Studies 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 Pennsylvania cost & debt at this university → not published $84,653 not published 47
2 University of Notre Dame cost & debt at this university → not published $57,318 not published 48
3 American Public University System cost & debt at this university → $56,758 $56,484 $64,031 103
4 Brandeis University cost & debt at this university → $40,384 $45,249 $41,129 38
5 University of California-Los Angeles cost & debt at this university → $43,229 $43,798 $53,535 52
6 Southern Methodist University cost & debt at this university → not published $42,682 not published 15
7 Boston College $39,636 $42,682 $55,849 90
8 Colby College cost & debt at this university → $44,350 $42,682 $53,638 38
9 University of Dayton cost & debt at this university → $28,277 $41,565 $54,483 16
10 University of California-San Diego cost & debt at this university → $41,542 $41,087 $51,521 511
11 The University of Texas at Austin cost & debt at this university → $35,418 $40,473 $45,563 147
12 Arizona State University Digital Immersion cost & debt at this university → $36,234 $39,467 $36,505 49

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $34,660 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $32,004 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 International & Globalization Studies sits below the middle by $1,837.

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.

International & Globalization Studies at other levels

Master's — $46,478 (C)

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

Allied Health — $32,162 Social Work — $32,249 Biological and Physical Sciences — $32,391 Journalism — $32,429 Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology — $32,515 Genetics — $32,916

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International & Globalization Studies: the questions people ask

How much do International & Globalization Studies graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $34,660 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 78 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $29,348.
Is a International & Globalization Studies 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 International & Globalization Studies?
Half of US programmes report medians between $27,822 and $36,049. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in International & Globalization Studies each year?
About 5,169 students complete a bachelor's in this field each year across 362 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 International/Globalization Studies (CIP 3020). 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.