Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a International Relations degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $38,889 two years after finishing, more than 44% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 390 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 $38,889 2 years after finishing · per graduate
Typical range $30,305–$40,467 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree — vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 8,079 390 programmes

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

#University1 yr out2 yrs out3 yrs outGraduates/yr
1 Stanford University cost & debt at this university → $60,442 $58,221 $65,830 61
2 Middlebury College cost & debt at this university → $43,313 $55,964 not published 48
3 Bucknell University cost & debt at this university → $44,905 $55,964 $55,173 24
4 Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey cost & debt at this university → $43,313 $55,964 not published 6
5 University of Pennsylvania cost & debt at this university → not published $55,547 $73,702 46
6 Colgate University cost & debt at this university → not published $53,775 $67,401 44
7 Yale University cost & debt at this university → $69,045 $52,107 not published 66
8 Johns Hopkins University cost & debt at this university → $57,526 $50,231 $51,409 80
9 Brown University cost & debt at this university → $37,882 $50,105 $65,953 137
10 Dickinson College cost & debt at this university → not published $48,823 $55,723 18
11 Georgetown University cost & debt at this university → $44,920 $48,752 $52,018 283
12 Lafayette College cost & debt at this university → $47,229 $48,198 $60,266 25

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $38,889 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $35,060 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 Relations sits above the middle by $2,392.

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 Relations at other levels

Master's — $53,984 (C)

Scholarships for International Relations students

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

Square Mile International Scholarship 2016 UK Hedley Bull Scholarship Australia 2016 2017 Aberystwyth University’s AberDoc PhD Scholarship Scheme in UK,... Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Toronto in Canada, 20... Transatlantic Postdoctoral Fellowship for International Relati... MA Scholarship,Political Science and International Relations a...
See all International Relations scholarships →

Study International Relations Programmes listed on ScholarshipsAds.

International Relations — Bilkent University International Relations — Bilkent University International Relations — Bilkent University Political Science and International Relations — Istanbul Medipol Universit... Master of International Relations and Journali... — Monash University Master of International Relations - Peace and... — University of Queensland

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

Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology — $35,238 Geography — $35,420 Cognitive Science — $35,601 Teaching — $35,605 Specialized Sales — $35,849 Sustainability Studies — $35,903

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International Relations: the questions people ask

How much do International Relations graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $38,889 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 136 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $35,647.
Is a International Relations 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 Relations?
Half of US programmes report medians between $30,305 and $40,467. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in International Relations each year?
About 8,079 students complete a bachelor's in this field each year across 390 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 Relations and National Security Studies (CIP 4509). 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.