Business Operations Support and Assistant programs report a median of $28,311 four years after graduation, the lowest figure of any program in the data and less than half the $65,997 average across all 314 fields. That is the floor of American higher education by earnings. But the floor is narrower than the headlines about worthless degrees suggest. Across every program that reports earnings, only 11 pay a median below $40,000, the rough benchmark for what a high-school graduate makes, and exactly one pays below $36,000. The lowest-paying degrees are real, and most of them still beat the alternative they are usually compared against, which is no degree at all.
What Is the Lowest-Paying College Degree
Business Operations Support, at a median of $28,311 four years out. It sits alone at the bottom: the next-lowest program, Publishing, pays $36,148, a $7,800 gap to second place. After that the field bunches tightly, with most of the bottom 12 clustered between $36,000 and $40,000, so the "lowest-paying" label describes a narrow band rather than a long tail of near-zero outcomes.
The Lowest-Paying Programs
Each program below is ranked by median earnings four years after graduation, the federal program-level figure. The 75th-percentile column shows what a graduate in the top quarter of the same program earns, which is where the "low pay" story complicates.
| Rank | Program | Field | Median (4yr) | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Business Operations Support | Business | $28,311 | $49,250 |
| 2 | Publishing | Communication | $36,148 | $48,069 |
| 3 | Alternative Medical Support | Health | $36,371 | $54,965 |
| 4 | Communications Technicians | Comm. Tech | $36,451 | $53,505 |
| 5 | Museology/Museum Studies | Interdisciplinary | $36,787 | $50,482 |
| 6 | Library Science | Library Science | $36,949 | $51,608 |
| 7 | Crafts/Craft Design | Arts | $38,992 | $54,302 |
| 8 | Outdoor Education | Recreation | $39,157 | $51,267 |
| 9 | Practical Nursing | Health | $39,305 | $72,381 |
| 10 | Drama and Theatre | Arts | $39,775 | $55,399 |
One program sits well below the rest of the floor
Median earnings four years after graduation, eight lowest-paying programs
Practical Nursing is the row that breaks the pattern. Its median of $39,305 places it ninth from the bottom, yet its 75th-percentile earnings reach $72,381, the widest spread in the group by far. That is because it is a large entry credential, and many of its graduates use it as a stepping stone into registered nursing rather than a destination. A low median can mean a low ceiling, or it can mean a wide on-ramp. The two look identical until you read the upper percentile.
Why a Low Median Does Not Mean a Bad Degree
Because the honest comparison for any degree is against not having one. Most of the lowest-paying programs still clear the high-school earnings benchmark, and the few fields concentrated at the bottom are predictable: visual and performing arts holds 6 of the 25 lowest-paying programs, more than any other field, followed by health support and interdisciplinary studies. These are fields people often enter for reasons other than pay, and the data reflects that choice rather than a failure of the credential.
The percentile data carries the point further. Even Business Operations Support, the single lowest-paying program, reports a 75th-percentile figure of $49,250. A quarter of its graduates out-earn the median of several mid-ranked fields. The median is the middle of the distribution, not its ceiling, and a low median paired with a high upper percentile describes a degree where outcomes depend heavily on what the graduate does next. For the arts especially, the gap between the median and the top quartile is the difference between a hobby field and a working career.
How We Measured This
The earnings figure is median earnings four years after graduation at the program level (CIP four-digit), from the federal data, taken across every program that reports a non-zero value, 314 in total. The 75th-percentile column is the same source's upper-quartile earnings for that program. The $40,000 benchmark is a round approximation of typical high-school-graduate earnings for younger workers and is used here only as a reference line, not a precise threshold. Programs with missing or zero earnings were excluded so the ranking is not distorted by non-reporting. Full method and source vintages are on the methodology and data sources pages.
What the Numbers Do Not Say
A program median pools every graduate regardless of where they studied, what they paid, or what region they work in, so it cannot tell an individual what a specific school will return. It also reflects who enrolls. Fields that draw students with other priorities, lower-cost regions, or part-time career paths will post lower medians independent of the education's quality. The four-year horizon is early, too: it catches graduates before raises, promotions, or the graduate degrees that many of these fields, library science and museum studies among them, effectively require. A low number four years out is not a life sentence, and these figures should be read as a starting wage, not a career one.
What This Means for Students
A low-paying field is worth it when the cost is low enough that the math still works, and dangerous when it is not. Earnings are only half of return; net price is the other half, and it is the half you control. A $38,000-median degree from a low-cost public school can return more per dollar than a $90,000-median degree that costs four times as much, which is the same logic behind the colleges with the best return on net price. Before ruling a field out on pay alone, run it against its likely cost in the ROI Calculator and check whether the career it leads to has stable demand.
What This Means for Career-Changers
If you are weighing a low-paying field as a second act, compare it to your realistic no-degree alternative, not to the top of the earnings chart. Several of the lowest-paying programs lead to careers that pay near the same range with no degree at all, such as preschool teaching and cosmetology, so the degree only makes sense if it opens a door a certificate does not. Use the Career Path Explorer to trace where a low-paying major actually leads, and weigh it against where your chosen field ranks among all 38 majors. The lowest-paying degree is not the same as a worthless one, but the gap between the two is decided entirely by what you pay to earn it.
