The average starting salary for new college graduates for the class of 2020 was $55,260, according to research from the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The salary was up 2.5% from the average starting salary of $53,889 for the class of 2019 and up 8.5% from the average starting salary of $50,944 for the class of 2018.
Technical majors remained the highest paid among the class of 2020 grads earning bachelor’s degrees.
“In some cases, salary increases most likely reflect these unique times,” NACE Executive Director Shawn VanDerziel said. “For example, the increased demand for nurses as frontline workers during the Covid-19 pandemic may have fueled the 2.1% increase in the average starting salary for registered nursing majors, from $57,416 for these graduates from the Class of 2019 to $58,626 for Class of 2020 registered nursing graduates.”
Here’s a list of the top majors from the class of 2020 in terms of average starting salaries:
| Petroleum engineering | $87,989 |
| Computer programming | $86,098 |
| Computer engineering | $85,996 |
| Computer science | $85,766 |
| Electrical, electronics and communications engineering | $80,819 |
| Operations research | $80,166 |
| Computer and information science | $78,603 |
| Statistics | $75,916 |
| Applied mathematics | $73,558 |
| Chemical engineering | $72,713 |
