Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a Linguistic, Comparative degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $26,933 two years after finishing, more than 10% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 390 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.

F

The verdict on the money

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.

Median earnings $26,933 2 years after finishing · per graduate
Typical range $23,649–$31,848 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree — vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 4,816 390 programmes

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

#University1 yr out2 yrs out3 yrs outGraduates/yr
1 Mississippi State University cost & debt at this university → $30,100 $52,107 $33,005 30
2 University of Chicago cost & debt at this university → $14,137 $52,107 not published 14
3 Monmouth University not published $50,231 not published —
4 Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus cost & debt at this university → not published $47,394 not published 28
5 Stephen F Austin State University cost & debt at this university → $27,524 $42,682 not published 7
6 Duke University cost & debt at this university → $33,441 $42,682 $50,279 29
7 Cornell University cost & debt at this university → $17,890 $41,193 not published 21
8 James Madison University cost & debt at this university → $36,812 $40,821 $46,781 34
9 Virginia Military Institute cost & debt at this university → $39,025 $39,909 $52,845 16
10 George Mason University cost & debt at this university → $41,771 $39,369 not published 34
11 University of Rochester $23,934 $37,856 not published 23
12 University of North Georgia cost & debt at this university → $28,933 $37,671 $46,704 23

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $26,933 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $27,307 is what the typical programme reports, counting a class of twenty the same as a class of two thousand. The weighted figure is lower here, which means the larger programmes in this field pay less than the small 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 Linguistic, Comparative sits below the middle by $9,564.

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.

Linguistic, Comparative at other levels

Master's — $48,041 (C)

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

Physiology — $27,334 TESOL — $27,439 Rhetoric and Composition & Writing Studies — $28,309 Biology — $28,443 English — $28,598 Health & Medical Preparatory Programs — $28,598

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Linguistic, Comparative: the questions people ask

How much do Linguistic, Comparative graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $26,933 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 107 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $26,684.
Is a Linguistic, Comparative degree worth it?
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.
What is the salary range for Linguistic, Comparative?
Half of US programmes report medians between $23,649 and $31,848. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Linguistic, Comparative each year?
About 4,816 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.
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Classified by the Department of Education as Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services (CIP 1601). 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.