Master's · earnings grade

Is a Taxation degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $77,039 two years after finishing, more than 77% of master's majors. Measured across 83 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 $77,039 2 years after finishing · per graduate
Typical range $66,104–$79,389 middle half of US programmes
Over no degree +$37,519 vs $39,520 high-school median
Graduates a year 968 83 programmes

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

#University1 yr out2 yrs out3 yrs outGraduates/yr
1 Villanova University cost & debt at this university → $124,137 $100,740 $121,765 21
2 Northeastern University Professional Programs $103,863 $100,518 $122,957 12
3 Northeastern University cost & debt at this university → $103,863 $100,518 $122,957 1
4 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign cost & debt at this university → $96,057 $99,404 $96,431 —
5 American University cost & debt at this university → $93,187 $97,907 $111,993 7
6 DePaul University cost & debt at this university → $101,821 $93,076 $106,341 20
7 California State University-Northridge cost & debt at this university → $72,745 $86,867 $97,852 32
8 Thomas Jefferson University cost & debt at this university → not published $81,812 not published 6
9 Fordham University cost & debt at this university → $75,240 $81,702 $96,920 21
10 CUNY Bernard M Baruch College $75,064 $79,389 $102,175 75
11 Golden Gate University cost & debt at this university → $93,862 $79,284 $93,383 85
12 Northern Illinois University cost & debt at this university → $102,369 $78,971 not published —

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $77,039 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $74,953 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 Taxation sits above the middle by $24,202.

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.

Scholarships for Taxation students

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

Institute for Advanced Studies Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individu... Auckland Law School Postgraduate Awards 2023/24, New Zealand.
See all Taxation scholarships →

Study Taxation Programmes listed on ScholarshipsAds.

International Taxation — New York University Master's in Taxation — Portland State University Master's in Taxation — Pace University Master's in Taxation — Golden Gate University Master's in Taxation — Widener University Master's in Taxation — St. John's University

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

Chemical Engineering — $76,460 Quality Control — $76,460 Computer and Information Sciences — $80,705 Health Professions Education — $80,858 Statistics — $81,263 Mechanical Engineering — $81,702

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Taxation: the questions people ask

How much do Taxation graduates earn?
The median master's graduate earns $77,039 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 35 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $73,839.
Is a Taxation degree worth it?
Yes — graduates earn more than most majors at this level. The median graduate earns $37,519 a year more than a US worker whose highest qualification is a high-school diploma.
What is the salary range for Taxation?
Half of US programmes report medians between $66,104 and $79,389. Where you study moves this figure more than most applicants expect.
How many people graduate in Taxation each year?
About 968 students complete a master's in this field each year across 83 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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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.