Is a Economics degree worth it?
Across 352 schools, graduates of Economics earn a median $77,912 five years out on $20,500 of debt — most often working as Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education. Every figure is a real, published federal number.
Median 5-yr pay
$77,912
Median debt
$20,500
Years to pay off
2.6
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
46%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+5.3%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
-1.4%
$82,872 vs $84,015
Net price
$20,111/yr
Debt-test failures
0%
of programs
'Real' premium
+$14,289
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Economics 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.