Degree ROI Comparison: 29 Degrees Ranked by Payback
Every degree we model, in one table. Ranked by payback period — how many years of the extra earnings it takes to recover the all-in cost of the fastest full-time route.
Updated October 2026. Salaries: BLS OEWS 2023 occupation medians. Costs: College Scorecard net price and published program tuition. Baseline: high school graduate median income $46,748.
Green = payback under 6 years. Amber = 6 to 12 years. Red = over 12 years. *Never = the target salary does not clear the $46,748 no-degree baseline, so the credential does not break even on earnings alone. Every payback figure is computed row by row from that row's own salary column: all-in cost ÷ (salary − $46,748 for bachelor's and associate routes; − $77,636 bachelor's median for graduate routes).
How to read this table
Two numbers decide everything: the all-in cost of the fastest route, and the gap between what you earn with the credential and what you would earn with a high school diploma alone. A cheap credential with a modest salary gap can still beat an expensive one with a huge salary gap — that is why Nursing (5.4 years) sits below Medicine (3.5 years) despite costing less than half as much.
The "work-while-studying" column matters more than most people expect. For every graduate program on this list, the part-time or employer-funded route cuts the cost roughly in half and pulls payback forward by 4 to 6 years, because you stop paying tuition with borrowed money and start earning while you study.
Three patterns worth noticing
- Licensed clinical roles dominate the top. Medicine (3.5 yrs), Computer Science (3.6 yrs), Nurse Practitioner (4.6 yrs) all break even in under 6 years, and all three require a license that caps the supply of competitors.
- Same price tag, wildly different clocks. Every four-year bachelor's route here carries the same $211,225 all-in cost, yet payback runs from Computer Science (2.5 years) and Cybersecurity (2.9) to Graphic Design (17.4), Biology (45.0) and Psychology (125.6). What separates them is the occupation median in each row, not the sticker price.
- Price is not ROI. Medicine costs the most on this list and still breaks even in about 3.5 years; a doctorate in psychology costs nearly as much and needs 28.8.
Run the numbers for your own school
This table uses national medians. Your net price, your state, and your starting salary will move the answer. Enter your own school and major in the ROI report, or start from the cost calculator and the loan payment calculator.
Frequently asked questions
Which degree pays back fastest?
Medicine (MD, 4yr, 3.5 yrs); Computer Science (MS, 2yr, 3.6 yrs). Payback is the all-in cost of Route A (tuition, fees, living, and forgone wages) divided by the extra earnings above a high school graduate, so a short and cheap credential usually wins.
Which degree takes longest to pay back?
Speech-Language Pathology (MS, 2yr, 18.1 yrs); Psychology (PsyD/PhD, 5yr, 28.8 yrs). In these cases the extra earnings above a high-school-only worker are small relative to the total cost, so the break-even point stretches past a decade and a half.
What is the most expensive degree on this list?
Medicine (MD, 4yr, 3.5 yrs); Psychology (PsyD/PhD, 5yr, 28.8 yrs). Medical and doctoral programs carry the largest sticker cost, but cost alone does not decide ROI — Medicine still breaks even in about 3.5 years because the earnings jump is so large.
Does a master's degree beat a bachelor's degree?
Not automatically. Compare the two Computer Science rows: the bachelor's route costs $211,225 against a $130,160 median and clears its cost in 2.5 years, while the MS costs about $34,000 more for a $145,840 median — which stretches payback to 3.6 years. A graduate degree can raise earnings and still take longer to earn itself back: compare the extra cost against the salary gap, not against the degree name.
How is payback calculated in this table?
Payback = total all-in cost of Route A ÷ (target salary − high school graduate median income of $46,748), with four years of forgone wages factored into the cost at a 0.65 opportunity-cost factor. A dash means the page does not publish that figure; 'never' means the target salary does not clear the baseline.
Where does the salary data come from?
Every salary figure is the occupation median from BLS OEWS 2023, matched to the occupation the degree leads to. Costs come from College Scorecard net price and published program tuition. No figure here is an estimate created for this table.