STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Choosing a major is a difficult decision for many college students — but some majors are associated with lower earning annual salaries than others.
Using PayScale’s 2021-22 College Salary Report, data journalism website Stacker found college majors that earn the least money. The report surveyed 3.5 million college graduates and over 82,000 bachelor’s degrees that were ranked by mid-career median salary to find what a person earns after working in the field for more than a decade.
Here are the top 25 college majors that have the lowest salaries, according to Stacker’s analysis.
25. Youth ministry
Early-career pay: $37,400
Mid-career pay: $54,200
Job description, according to Stacker: Youth ministers work with children and teens to coordinate related activities at a church or religious organization. Churches typically operate as nonprofits, and therefore the salaries of their workers, including youth ministers, cannot respond to the wider market and offer higher salaries.
24. Elementary education
Early-career pay: $40,000
Mid-career pay: $53,800
Job description, according to Stacker: Majoring in elementary education means teaching and instructing young students. Majors in the program must choose a specific subject to study, such as math, history, science, or English. Some who major in the subject consider careers as guidance counselors, juvenile correction officers, long-term substitute teachers, online instructors, preschool teachers, or adjunct professors.
23. Voice and opera
Early-career pay: $34,500
Mid-career pay: $53,300
Job description, according to Stacker: Voice and opera students preparing to perform professionally after graduation must learn theatrical techniques and stage repertory through courses such as diction, foreign languages, music theory, and humanities. While receiving private instruction during the undergraduate curriculum, students also perform in choral ensembles. Students who choose not to sing opera after studying the major can easily transition into other careers, including teaching art, drama, music, or becoming a musical director or composer.
21. Christian education (tie)
Early-career pay: $38,700
Mid-career pay: $53,200
Job description, according to Stacker: A degree in Christian education prepares students to work in ministry and service in practicing and spreading the Christian worldview. Graduates often go on to work in churches, religious organizations, or other educational settings. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 58% of those who major in philosophy or religious disciplines go on to earn their master’s degrees.
21. Conflict resolution (tie)
Early-career pay: $44,400
Mid-career pay: $53,200
Job description, according to Stacker: Whether on an international scale or between two individuals, where there is conflict, there is a need for conflict resolution. Conflict resolution specialists and mediators often require advanced degrees and many years of experience to be established in the field.
19. Baking and pastry arts (tie)
Early-career pay: $37,500
Mid-career pay: $53,000
Job description, according to Stacker: These days, it seems everyone is a food blogger. This means that more people than ever are likely to be trying their hands at baking and pastry-making at home, reducing the need for specialized bakers.
19. Human services management (tie)
Early-career pay: $45,600
Mid-career pay: $53,000
Job description, according to Stacker: Human services management jobs are a specific role for those interested in helping or managing others in social work or related fields. Although the average salary is not extremely high, these positions pay more than nonsupervisory roles in the same field. Some of these roles require additional licensing.
18. Hospitality and culinary arts
Early-career pay: $38,800
Mid-career pay: $52,900
Job description, according to Stacker: Some career choices for holders of a hospitality and culinary arts degree include restaurant manager, food service director, chef, caterer, and food safety specialist, among others. But the hospitality industry, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, is notoriously understaffed, underpaid, and undervalued.
17. Human services
Early-career pay: $38,700
Mid-career pay: $52,500
Job description, according to Stacker: Although careers in human services vary widely, their common denominator is that they help people who are likely unable to help themselves. As such, these jobs, which include family court advocates and crisis support workers, serve a population with limited resources that may be unable to compensate them highly.
16. Counseling
Early-career pay: $39,900
Mid-career pay: $51,700
Job description, according to Stacker: Counselors are in high demand, but many of the people who need their help aren’t able to pay well, and dealing with insurance companies for reimbursem*nt is challenging at best.
15. Recreational therapy
Early-career pay: $38,400
Mid-career pay: $51,600
Job description, according to Stacker: Recreational therapists help many Americans, especially older adults, deal with disabilities, injuries, and illnesses—typically via arts and crafts, aquatics, games, and other activities. Although the pay is not high, these professions are projected to increase in demand as an aging generation of Americans looks to the future.
Early-career pay: $37,400
Mid-career pay: $51,400
Job description, according to Stacker: Childcare workers have an average hourly wage of just $13.71. Some advocacy groups and politicians have advocated paying these workers more to meet growing demands for a $15 minimum child care wage.
13. Educational psychology
Early-career pay: $36,900
Mid-career pay: $51,200
Job description, according to Stacker: Educational psychologists study how people learn, which can inform various teaching methods, classroom strategies, and ideally, improve academic outcomes. But as many schools struggle with shrinking budgets, professionals in this field are either unaffordable or underpaid and are often expected to work beyond a reasonable capacity.
12. Middle school education
Early-career pay: $41,200
Mid-career pay: $50,800
Job description, according to Stacker: After majoring in middle school education, graduates teach students in grades five through nine. Preparing to teach that specific age group entails taking undergraduate courses in various subjects, including English, science, mathematics, and social studies.
11. Mental health counseling
Early-career pay: $36,100
Mid-career pay: $50,000
Job description, according to Stacker: Becoming a licensed mental health counselor requires time, study, and practice—years of it. Professionals can focus on working with specific populations, like children, military veterans, or people with addiction. And there is no shortage of need for these services. More than 156 million people in the U.S. live in areas with documented mental health care professional shortages.
10. Early childhood and elementary education
Early-career pay: $38,000
Mid-career pay: $48,400
Job description, according to Stacker: Students who major in early childhood and elementary education prepare to teach in both preschool and after-school programs, as well as kindergarten through sixth grade. Graduates must usually become certified to instruct students in whatever state they choose for work. With further schooling, some graduates of the major go on to become administrators, such as principals, superintendents, directors of curriculum, and college deans.
9. Equine studies
Early-career pay: $35,700
Mid-career pay: $47,100
Job description, according to Stacker: An equine studies major prepares you for just about any career pertaining to horse training, breeding, or showing. While the equine world is often equated with wealth, workers in this field are among the lowest paid on this list. For those working with horses competing in major races and events, the purse earnings divided among winning team members can be very lucrative.
8. Addiction studies
Early-career pay: $38,000
Mid-career pay: $47,000
Job description, according to Stacker: Addiction studies majors can typically expect to work as addiction counselors or drug or alcohol treatment specialists. There is a large pay range for those who work in the field, with salaries dependent largely on the level of education attained, geographic location, and the type of setting in which treatment is performed.
7. Child and family studies
Early-career pay: $36,400
Mid-career pay: $46,500
Job description, according to Stacker: Childcare is one of the lowest-paying professions in the United States. One reason may be that many teenagers and other younger adults will work as babysitters and tutors to make side money, which makes it more difficult for professionals to demand higher wages.
6. Rehabilitation counseling
Early-career pay: $39,200
Mid-career pay: $46,400
Job description, according to Stacker: Rehabilitation counselors typically work to serve people living with disabilities. These services can range from mental health to physical health to practical life-skills training and can be performed everywhere, from detention centers to unemployment offices. Recipients typically do not pay for such services, and as such, the salaries of rehabilitation counselors are limited by the budgets of the government or nonprofit agencies that employ them.
5. Outdoor education
Early-career pay: $37,400
Mid-career pay: $46,300
Job description, according to Stacker: Outdoor education professionals help people enjoy the great outdoors. However perfect they may be for the outdoors enthusiast, some of these jobs are run by the government, which means they are capped within a certain pay bracket.
4. Early childhood education
Early-career pay: $36,100
Mid-career pay: $45,400
Job description, according to Stacker: A child’s cognitive, emotional, and language development occurs in the first five years of life, making early childhood education critical in an adolescent’s academic career. However, it is one of the lowest-paying majors on the list, indicating that those who enter the field are likely more concerned about the community than salary.
3. Mental health
Early-career pay: $36,900
Mid-career pay: $45,000
Job description, according to Stacker: Mental health is a field that encompasses many different settings. Some mental health specialists may work in assisted living facilities, helping residents with dementia, while others may work with working professionals stressed and depressed about their jobs. Those working in private practice theoretically have no salary caps, while those working in institutions may be more constrained by salary caps.
2. Medical assisting
Early-career pay: $36,000
Mid-career pay: $44,800
Job description, according to Stacker: Medical assisting wages may be low partly because it’s a job that requires fewer qualifications than other health care jobs and because of high turnover.
1. Metalsmithing
Early-career pay: $40,000
Mid-career pay: $40,300
Job description, according to Stacker: Many workers with degrees in metalsmithing find work as jewelers. Those working in the retail trade tend to make the most, but it’s still not very much.
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