Master's · earnings grade

Is a History degree worth it?

Graduates earn a median $38,414 two years after finishing, more than 13% of master's majors. Measured across 395 US programmes by the Department of Education — real graduate pay, not survey answers.

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 $38,414 2 years after finishing · per graduate

Typical range $33,993–$44,468 middle half of US programmes

Over no degree — vs $39,520 high-school median

Graduates a year 3,626 395 programmes

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

#	University	1 yr out	2 yrs out	3 yrs out	Graduates/yr
1	Ashland University cost & debt at this university →	$53,609	$58,221	$61,835	42
2	Norwich University cost & debt at this university →	$49,698	$54,035	$58,905	58
3	The University of Texas at Arlington cost & debt at this university →	not published	$53,810	not published	16
4	New York University cost & debt at this university →	not published	$52,107	$57,142	36
5	American Public University System cost & debt at this university →	$52,904	$51,638	$52,414	150
6	Boston College	$49,394	$51,607	not published	14
7	American University	$39,634	$50,231	$56,282	27
8	University of Houston-Clear Lake	not published	$49,058	not published	5
9	University of Nebraska at Kearney cost & debt at this university →	$50,130	$47,260	$43,213	30
10	California State University-Sacramento cost & debt at this university →	$32,370	$47,260	$52,741	17
11	California State University-Fullerton cost & debt at this university →	$35,997	$46,790	$57,105	22
12	San Jose State University cost & debt at this university →	not published	$45,808	not published	14

What this figure does and does not tell you

Two medians are worth separating. $38,414 is what the typical graduate earns — each programme counted in proportion to how many students it graduates. $39,927 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 master's major in this dataset reports $52,837, so History sits below the middle by $14,423.

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.

History at other levels

Bachelor's — $29,685 (D)

Scholarships for History students

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

150 Fully Funded PhD Degree Scholarships for International Stu... Richard Rogers Fellowship Residencies at Harvard Graduate Scho... 12 Fully-funded Birkbeck Postgraduate Research Scholarships in... Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of Toronto in Canada, 20... School of Philosophy and Art History Research Scholarship Sche... Pears Foundation PhD Scholarships at University of Sussex in U...

See all History scholarships →

Study History Programmes listed on ScholarshipsAds.

History of Religions — Stockholm University PhD in Economic History — Lund University Early Modern History — Uppsala University American History — University of Cambridge PhD in History (University of Cambridge) — University of Cambridge History — University of Cambridge

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

Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, General — $40,506 Sociology — $40,560 Exercise Science — $40,843 Mental and Social Health Services — $41,193 Zoology & Animal Biology — $41,205 Religion & Religious Studies — $41,342

Need a student loan for History students?

Tell us what you need and we will come back with the lenders that actually fund students from your country — including options with no US co-signer. No obligation, and we never charge you.

Free for students. We are not a lender and give no financial advice — we pass your request to partners and may be paid by them if you go ahead. One request per person per service; sending it again simply updates what we hold.

History: the questions people ask

How much do History graduates earn?

The median master's graduate earns $38,414 two years after finishing (weighting each programme by how many students it graduates), across 49 US programmes that publish the figure. One year out it is $39,755.