Is a Journalism degree worth it?
Across 171 schools, graduates of Journalism earn a median $54,063 five years out on $22,290 of debt — most often working as Editors. Every figure is a real, published federal number.
Median 5-yr pay
$54,063
Median debt
$22,290
Years to pay off
4
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
61%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+0.7%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
-4.2%
$54,267 vs $56,546
Net price
$19,487/yr
Debt-test failures
5.5%
of programs
'Real' premium
−$9,752
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Journalism 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.