Bachelor's · earnings grade

Is a Real Estate degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $52,941 two years after finishing, more than 66% of bachelor's majors. Measured across 68 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.

B

The verdict on the money

Yes — graduates earn more than most majors at this level.

Median earnings $52,941 2 years after finishing · per graduate
Typical range $40,626–$55,964 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree +$13,421 vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 1,944 68 programmes

Where a Real Estate 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 Wisconsin-Madison cost & debt at this university → $69,730 $73,949 $91,306 169
2 University of Southern California cost & debt at this university → $75,665 $71,643 not published —
3 Villanova University cost & debt at this university → $70,782 $71,351 $91,484 44
4 Texas Christian University cost & debt at this university → $59,869 $63,005 $86,418 85
5 University of San Diego cost & debt at this university → $58,970 $63,005 $84,277 125
6 Baylor University cost & debt at this university → $51,139 $55,964 not published —
7 Ohio State University-Main Campus cost & debt at this university → $55,093 $53,775 $58,150 66
8 University of Georgia $52,848 $52,941 $62,620 162
9 Marquette University cost & debt at this university → not published $52,107 $72,989 57
10 University of North Texas cost & debt at this university → $43,823 $52,107 not published 38
11 Florida State University cost & debt at this university → $46,748 $49,588 $58,769 133
12 University of St Thomas not published $49,019 $67,082 16

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $52,941 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $49,588 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 Real Estate sits above the middle by $16,444.

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.

Real Estate at other levels

Master's — $89,418 (A)

Scholarships for Real Estate students

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

TC Singapore Government Undergraduate Scholarships, 2017 RREF Bursary 2023-24, Henley Business School, University of Re...
See all Real Estate scholarships →

Study Real Estate Programmes listed on ScholarshipsAds.

Real Estate — University of Cambridge Real Estate Finance — University of Cambridge Bachelor of Property and Real Estate and Bache... — Deakin University Bachelor of Property and Real Estate and Bache... — Deakin University Real Estate Investment — Harvard University City and Regional Planning and Real Estate — Cornell University

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

Finance — $49,864 Fire Protection — $50,105 Information Technology Management — $51,035 Science, Technology and Society — $52,107 Management Sciences — $52,107 Environmental Engineering — $52,941

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Real Estate: the questions people ask

How much do Real Estate graduates earn?
The median bachelor's graduate earns $52,941 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 21 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $51,372.
Is a Real Estate degree worth it?
Yes — graduates earn more than most majors at this level. The median graduate earns $13,421 a year more than a US worker whose highest qualification is a high-school diploma.
What is the salary range for Real Estate?
Half of US programmes report medians between $40,626 and $55,964. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Real Estate each year?
About 1,944 students complete a bachelor's in this field each year across 68 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

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.