Is a Public Administration degree worth it?
Across 48 schools, graduates of Public Administration earn a median $59,135 five years out on $20,082 of debt — most often working as General and Operations Managers. Every figure is a real, published federal number.
Median 5-yr pay
$59,135
Median debt
$20,082
Years to pay off
3.3
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
48%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+4.8%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
14.5%
$68,129 vs $58,231
Net price
$18,007/yr
Debt-test failures
0%
of programs
'Real' premium
−$1,655
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Public Administration 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.