Master's · earnings grade

Is a Real Estate degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $98,847 two years after finishing, more than 91% of master's majors. Measured across 45 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.

A

The verdict on the money

Yes, on the money — this is one of the best-paying majors at this level in the country.

Median earnings $98,847 2 years after finishing · per graduate
Typical range $77,213–$105,245 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree +$59,327 vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 1,130 45 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 Pennsylvania cost & debt at this university → $119,383 $169,894 $224,847 25
2 University of Wisconsin-Madison cost & debt at this university → not published $115,339 $104,219 51
3 Cornell University cost & debt at this university → not published $108,649 not published 34
4 Southern Methodist University cost & debt at this university → $90,176 $106,421 not published
5 CUNY Bernard M Baruch College not published $105,245 $130,530
6 New York University cost & debt at this university → $102,871 $104,597 $117,508 267
7 Georgetown University cost & debt at this university → $103,021 $98,847 $102,169 205
8 University of San Diego cost & debt at this university → not published $89,530 not published 18
9 Georgia State University cost & debt at this university → not published $89,305 not published
10 University of Denver cost & debt at this university → $70,435 $83,546 not published 49
11 Texas A&M University-College Station cost & debt at this university → $75,282 $82,685 $97,319 69
12 Clemson University cost & debt at this university → not published $78,343 not published 22

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $98,847 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $89,418 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 master's major in this dataset reports $52,837, so Real Estate sits above the middle by $46,010.

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

Scholarships for Real Estate students

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

See all Real Estate scholarships →

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Real Estate: the questions people ask

How much do Real Estate graduates earn?
The median master's graduate earns $98,847 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 16 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $91,240.
Is a Real Estate degree worth it?
Yes, on the money — this is one of the best-paying majors at this level in the country. The median graduate earns $59,327 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 $77,213 and $105,245. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Real Estate each year?
About 1,130 students complete a master's in this field each year across 45 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.

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.