Is a Computer Science degree worth it?
Across 263 schools, graduates of Computer Science earn a median $105,149 five years out on $21,551 of debt — most often working as Software Developers. Every figure is a real, published federal number.
Median 5-yr pay
$105,149
Median debt
$21,551
Years to pay off
2.1
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
76%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+14.6%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
6.8%
$160,001 vs $149,178
Net price
$19,751/yr
Debt-test failures
0%
of programs
'Real' premium
+$45,982
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Computer Science in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.