Social Studies Topic

Social Studies Majors

What social studies majors earn, the people-centered careers they lead to, and when graduate school is what lifts the pay.

By US College Data · Last updated June 2026

By the Numbers

$53,667 Average earnings across Social Studies majors

5 Fields of study in this category

$63,293 Top-paying field: Social Sciences

The highest-paying Social Studies majors

Median earnings four years after graduation, nationally

Social Sciences$63,293

Criminal Justice$55,378

Psychology$50,706

Education$50,499

Family & Consumer Sciences$48,460

Social Studies Majors by Earnings Median earnings four years out and projected 10-year job growth, by field

#	Major	Median earnings	Job growth	Colleges
1	Social Sciences	$63,293	+3.6%	1,693
2	Criminal Justice	$55,378	+3%	2,085
3	Psychology	$50,706	+4.7%	1,818
4	Education	$50,499	+0.4%	2,359
5	Family & Consumer Sciences	$48,460	+2.2%	1,199

What Social Studies Majors Earn

Social studies covers the fields focused on people and society, from psychology and the social sciences to education, criminal justice, and family sciences. As a category it averages about 53,700 dollars four years out. The internal range is wide: social sciences lead near 63,000, lifted by economics and political science, while psychology and education sit closer to 50,000. These are mid-to-modest figures at the bachelor's level, and they reflect a category whose work is essential but often publicly funded or entry-level until further credentials are added. The starting numbers are only part of the story, because many of these fields are built around a graduate step.

The People-Centered Career Path

What unites these majors is a focus on understanding people and institutions, and that shapes the careers they lead to: teaching, counseling, social work, policy, research, human resources, and public service. These are roles with real social value and steady demand, even if they rarely top the pay tables. For students drawn to working with and for people, the category offers a coherent path into meaningful work. The trade-off is that much of that work sits in public and nonprofit sectors where pay is moderate, so the case for these majors rests as much on the nature of the work as on the salary.

When Graduate School Pays Off

Social studies is a category where the bachelor's is frequently a foundation rather than a finish line. The higher-paying and more specialized roles, clinical psychologist, licensed counselor, social worker, policy analyst, often require or strongly reward a graduate degree, and earnings climb meaningfully with that credential. The practical approach is to treat the undergraduate degree as the first step: choose the field for the career it leads to, keep undergraduate costs low so debt stays manageable, and plan the graduate credential that unlocks the higher pay. Chosen with that ladder in mind, social studies leads to durable, people-centered careers worth the investment.

The Findings on This Topic

Original data analyses built from the same federal sources. Rankings, outliers, and patterns, no opinions.

The Lowest-Paying Degrees, and Whether They Are Worth It

The lowest-paying college program pays a median of $28,311 four years out. Only 11 of 314 programs land below the high-school benchmark. Here is the floor.
- Lowest-paying degrees
- Program earnings
- Worth it
- Net price
- Major choice
All 38 Majors, Ranked by What Graduates Earn

The highest-earning college major out-pays the lowest by a factor of two and a half. The full ranking of all 38 fields by median graduate earnings, with job growth alongside.
- Major earnings
- Highest paying majors
- Job growth
- STEM
- Field of study
The Most Common Majors vs the Most Lucrative

The five most-awarded majors graduate 2.9 million students a year, yet only one of them cracks the top five by pay. Popularity and paychecks barely overlap.
- Most common majors
- Major earnings
- Completions
- Popular degrees
- Major pay gap
The Sweet Spot: Majors With High Pay and High Growth

Only 12 of 38 college majors clear both an above-median salary and above-median job growth. Two of them, math and computer science, stand alone with double-digit growth.
- Job growth
- Major earnings
- Computer science
- Mathematics
- STEM majors
The Best Major Out-Earns the Worst by 2.5 to 1

The top-paying major returns $93,843 a decade out. The bottom returns $36,949. The gap is 2.5x, and the two ends share almost nothing in common.
- Major earnings
- Engineering tech
- Library science
- Earnings gap
- Field of study
Does a Master's Degree Pay Off? Barely, on Average

Group every career by the degree it requires and master's-level jobs pay a median of about $91,000, statistically tied with bachelor's-level work. The premium hides in a few fields.
- Master's degree
- Bachelor's degree
- Median wage
- Graduate school
- Career outcomes

Tools for This Topic

Career Path Explorer Start with a career, find the majors and colleges that lead there. College ROI Calculator See whether a degree pays off, on real earnings and net-price data.

What This Means for You

Social studies opens broad, people-centered careers, but bachelor's pay is modest and many of the best paths run through graduate school. Choose the field for the work it leads to, keep undergraduate costs low, and plan the credential that lifts earnings.

Career Path Explorer →

Questions you might still have

Are social science majors worth it?

They can be, especially with a plan for graduate training. Social studies majors average about 53,700 dollars four years out, with social sciences leading near 63,000. The fields lead to broad, people-centered careers, and many reward an advanced degree.

Which social studies major pays the most?

Social sciences, the cluster that includes economics and political science, leads the category at about 63,000 dollars four years out, well ahead of psychology and education near 50,000. Economics in particular tends to pay at the higher end.

Is a psychology degree worth it?

Psychology pays about 51,000 dollars four years out at the bachelor's level, and it is one of the most popular majors. Its fuller value often arrives through graduate training in counseling, clinical, or organizational psychology, where earnings climb.

Is education a good major?

Education leads to stable, meaningful work but modest pay, about 50,000 dollars four years out with slow projected growth. Its value is mission and job security rather than high earnings, and advanced degrees raise pay on most public-school scales.

Do social studies majors need graduate school?

Often, to reach the higher-paying roles. Many social-studies careers in counseling, social work, policy, and clinical psychology require or strongly reward a graduate degree, so it is worth planning the advanced step from the start.

What can you do with a social science degree?

A wide range of people-centered roles: in policy, research, education, social services, human resources, law, and government. The major builds an understanding of people and institutions that applies across many fields, though specific careers often need further training.