Average Starting Salary Projections for 2025 College Graduates: What to Know
Credit: SDI Productions / Getty Images- Starting salary projections for 2025 college graduates show a mixed bag among majors, according to the NACE.
- Bachelor-level business, agriculture and natural resources, engineering, and computer science graduates are projected to see increased starting salaries.
- Grads from math and sciences, social sciences, and communications are projected to see decreases.
- That might reflect employer demand, according to the report.
A new report shows a mixed bag of potential starting salaries as 2025 college graduates head into the workforce.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) winter 2025 salary survey showed increased salary projections for graduates with a bachelor’s degree in areas like business, computer science, and agriculture — but declines for grads who majored in math and science, social sciences, and communications.
That data is based on responses from 158 organizations across industries.
Here’s what you need to know about starting salaries for 2025 college graduates.
Undergraduate Business, Computer Science Majors Projected to See Salary Wins
Degrees with year-over-year salary projection increases had a common theme: Technical skills.
The positive salary projections for computer science and engineering graduates reflect the overwhelming employer need for workers with artificial intelligence (AI) skills.
Business schools have also embraced tech in their curriculum in recent years. Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), AI, and financial technology (fintech) are all set to be major focus areas for business schools in 2025 and beyond.
Data analytics, for instance, is incorporated across business degree types. Individual programs with a tech focus have shown positive earnings results for bachelor’s of business administration graduates, with grads from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business landing median salaries of more than $100,000 in 2024.
In the NACE survey, agriculture and natural resources led the pack for projected year-over-year salary increases at 2.8%. That comes amid rising demand for agricultural and food scientists, who look for ways to boost production and efficiency at farms.
| Broad Category | 2024 Salary Projection | 2025 Salary Projection | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering | $76,736 | $78,731 | 2.6% |
| Computer Sciences | $74,778 | $76,251 | 2.0% |
| Business | $63,907 | $65,276 | 2.1% |
| Agriculture and Natural Resources | $61,399 | $63,122 | 2.8% |
The rise in technical-focused occupations alongside business degrees coincides with another employer trend.
Employers said in a previous Graduate Management Admission Council survey that the human skills emphasized in business education, like strategic thinking and decision-making, will continue to be important even amid the rise of AI.
Math and Sciences, Social Sciences, Communications Starting Salary Projections Drop
Projected salary drops in NACE’s report don’t coincide with employment drops.
In fact, many jobs in the fields of math and sciences, social sciences, and communications are expected to grow over the next decade.
Social sciences as a whole saw the greatest projected decline in starting salaries for graduates — roughly 3.6%. That doesn’t mean there aren’t jobs in the field, however.
Despite the NACE salary report, the employment rates for sociologists, psychologists, and social workers are all projected to grow from 2023-2033, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Communications starting salary projections dropped from $62,205 in 2024 to $60,353 in 2025, although the hiring landscape for this field is more of a mixed bag.
Careers in the field, like public relations specialists and managers, are projected to see employment growth, according to the BLS, while other communications jobs like news reporters are projected to decline.
Math and sciences majors still remained the third-highest paid — behind engineering and computer science — of all the bachelor-level degree types on the NACE report at $69,802. This is despite the year-over-year drop in salary projections.
This field in particular is set to remain in demand over the next several years: The BLS projects that employment of mathematicians and statisticians alone will grow at 11%, much faster than the national average, from 2023-2033.
| Broad Category | 2024 Salary Projection | 2025 Salary Projection | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Math and Sciences | $71,076 | $69,709 | -1.9% |
| Social Sciences | $69,802 | $67,316 | -3.6% |
| Communications | $62,205 | $60,353 | -3.0% |
Starting salaries don’t always reflect the long-term return on investment (ROI) of a liberal arts education.
A Georgetown study previously found that while the 10-year ROI of a liberal arts degree is below the median, it pays out in the long run.
The return on investment of a liberal arts degree is 25% above the median 40 years after graduation, according to that study.
The number of liberal arts bachelor’s degrees is falling across higher education, and a number of colleges have phased out liberal arts degrees in recent years. Other schools, however, have moved to spread that curriculum across arts and sciences rather than eliminating it altogether.
Engineering Dominates Projected Master’s Salary Wins
Engineering master’s salary projections increased by more than 12% year-over-year. That comes amid high employer demand, with both mechanical and electrical engineering making the top five degrees in demand for employers.
Both electrical and mechanical engineers are projected to grow much faster than average by the BLS from 2023-2033.
Computer science was at the top of employers’ hiring plans — 22.2% of employers surveyed said they plan to hire these graduates. However, the starting salary for computer science master’s graduates is projected to fall by 0.5%.
Computer science is one of the fastest-growing job areas in the country: The BLS projects employment of computer and information research scientists alone will grow by a meteoric 26% from 2023-2033.
Schools have responded to that demand: Vanderbilt University, for instance, is developing a computing and data science college as employers scramble to implement AI.
| Broad Category | 2024 Salary Projection | 2025 Salary Projection | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engineering | $83,628 | $94,086 | 12.5% |
| Computer Sciences | $85,403 | $84,960 | -0.5% |
| Business | $75,303 | $77,632 | 3.1% |
| Math and Sciences | $83,380 | $75,140 | -9.9% |
Business was another area that saw both salary increases and high demand among employers. Master of business administration (MBA) and master of accounting degrees both made the top five in-demand degrees for employers, tying at 17.7%.
Master of accounting degrees are on the rise nationwide amid a shortage of certified public accountants. That shortage is driven by retirements and years of falling interest in master of accounting programs, although that trend has reversed as students flock to the job security and higher pay that accounting can provide.
Employers have shown an increased interest in specialized business master’s degrees like accounting and business analytics in recent years.
The MBA is one of the most reflective degree types of employer demand and is historically tied to higher earnings. MBA programs have embraced STEM fields, including high-demand areas like cybersecurity and AI, in recent years.