College Degrees With the Highest Starting Salaries

A new salary survey from the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has some good news for 2013 college graduates. The average starting salary for 2013 grads earning bachelor’s degrees has risen to $45,000, up 5.3% from the average starting salary for the class of 2012. (I’ve rounded NACE’s numbers to the nearest $1,000).

“The sizable gains in several disciplines—particularly in health sciences and business—have helped to drive up the average starting salary for the class of 2013,” said NACE Executive Director Marilyn Mackes in a statement.

Health sciences grads are enjoying the biggest increase, 9.4%, over 2012, with a starting salary of $50,000.The gain for business majors is 7.1%, bringing the average salary for the discipline to $54,000. Salaries are also increasing for education and computer science grads. Education majors are making $40,000, 5.1% more than in 2012, and computer science grads are earning $60,000, a 4.3% hike from 2012.

Though salaries for engineers didn’t increase as much as salaries for other specialties, engineering is still the top-earning degree, with an average 2013 starting salary of $63,000. That’s up 4% from 2012. Computer science majors come in second. Business majors make the third-highest salaries at $54,000.

As they did last year, humanities and social science majors make the least, with average 2013 starting salaries of $37,000. The major also has the smallest increase from 2012, just 1.9%.

Here is a list of average starting salaries by discipline:

Engineering                                        $63,000
Computer Science                             $60,000
Business                                              $54,000
Communications                               $43,000
Math & Sciences                               $42,700
Education                                          $40,000
Humanities & Social Sciences         $37,000