Best College Majors for Getting a Job (Employment Rate + Salary Data)
Published January 7, 2026 · Updated March 18, 2026 · 8-minute read
Employment rate after graduation is one of the most searched criteria for choosing a college major — and also one of the most misleading if you look at it in isolation. This guide gives you real employment data, explains what actually drives post-graduation job success, and helps you identify the majors with the strongest job market outcomes.
What the Data Actually Shows
Based on Federal Reserve Bank of New York and BLS research on recent college graduates (ages 22–27):
- Overall bachelor's degree holders have an employment rate of 85–88% — roughly similar across most majors
- The bigger differences show up in underemployment (working jobs that don't require a college degree) and earnings — not raw employment rates
- Underemployment ranges from ~18% for engineering majors to ~50%+ for some arts majors
Majors with the Strongest Employment Outcomes
1. Nursing
Employment rate: 97%+ — one of the highest of any major. BSN graduates who pass the NCLEX have near-universal employment because demand structurally exceeds supply. Underemployment is essentially zero.
2. Computer Science / Software Engineering
Employment rate: 91–93%. High demand across industries means CS graduates have strong employment outcomes even outside pure software roles — finance, healthcare, defense, and e-commerce all hire heavily. Underemployment is low (~15%) relative to other fields.
3. Engineering (All Branches)
Employment rate: 89–94% depending on branch. Electrical and Computer Engineering have the lowest underemployment; Civil Engineering benefits from consistent public infrastructure demand. Engineering degrees have the lowest underemployment rate of any major cluster.
4. Accounting
Employment rate: 91–93%. CPA-track graduates have near-guaranteed Big 4 or regional firm offers at graduation. Financial reporting requirements create a structural floor for accounting demand.
5. Health Information Management / Health Administration
Employment rate: 88–92%. Growing healthcare administration sector, aging population, and regulatory complexity all drive demand. Less visible than nursing or medicine but consistently strong employment.
6. Education
Employment rate: 90%+ — teacher shortages in most states mean education graduates who want jobs have them. However, compensation is significantly lower than other high-employment majors, and it varies sharply by state.
7. Information Systems (MIS)
Employment rate: 88–91%. Corporate IT roles remain plentiful. MIS graduates occupy business analyst, systems analyst, and IT project manager roles at companies in every industry — broad exposure reduces sector-specific risk.
What Actually Determines Post-Graduation Employment
Major is one variable among several. The factors that most predict employment success at graduation:
- Internship experience: NACE data consistently shows internship experience is the single strongest predictor of full-time job offers. Students with 2+ internships land jobs faster and at higher salaries.
- Portfolio quality: In technical, creative, and data fields — what you've built matters as much as where you went to school.
- Network: Professional relationships formed through campus recruiting, internships, clubs, and professors produce referrals that bypass competitive applicant pools.
- Certifications: CPA for accounting, PE for engineering, Google Analytics for marketing, AWS certifications for CS — these add concrete credibility in specific hiring markets.
- Communication skills: Consistently cited by hiring managers across all industries as a differentiator — writing clearly and presenting confidently are undervalued in most degree programs.
Majors With Higher Underemployment Risk (And What to Do About It)
Some majors have higher underemployment rates — meaning graduates more often end up in jobs that don't use their degree. This is not a reason to avoid these majors, but a reason to be more intentional about your strategy:
- Liberal Arts, Humanities, History: ~45–55% underemployment without additional credential or experience
- Psychology (standalone BA): ~40% underemployment without graduate school or specific certification
- Fine Arts, Film: ~50%+ underemployment — portfolio and networking matter enormously
The fix for all of these is the same: internships + a specific skill stack + a clear professional narrative. English majors who learn data analytics, film majors who build production reels, and psychology majors who pursue HR certifications all dramatically improve their outcomes versus waiting for the degree alone to deliver results.
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Take our free quiz to match your interest profile to the majors with the strongest job market fit for your specific strengths.
What employers actually screen for
When recruiters review resumes from recent graduates, they look for three things in rapid succession: relevant skills, demonstrated experience, and educational background. Notice that education comes third, not first. A strong major gets your resume past the initial filter, but relevant internships, portfolio projects, and demonstrable skills determine whether you advance to an interview.
This means that the best major for getting a job is not just the one with the highest employment rate—it is the one that gives you the most opportunities to build demonstrable skills during your undergraduate years. Majors with built-in practicum experiences, capstone projects, co-op programs, and industry partnerships provide these opportunities structurally. Majors without them require more self-directed effort to build the same portfolio.
High-demand fields and why they hire consistently
Healthcare occupations consistently show the lowest unemployment rates among college graduates because demand is driven by demographics rather than economic cycles. People need medical care regardless of whether the economy is growing or contracting. Nursing, Health Informatics, and Public Health graduates benefit from this structural demand, which is projected to grow as the population ages.
Technology fields remain strong employers because digital transformation continues across every industry. Computer Science, Information Systems, and Data Science graduates find opportunities not only at technology companies but also at banks, hospitals, retailers, manufacturers, and government agencies that are all investing in digital infrastructure. The breadth of demand across industries provides a significant employment buffer even when any single sector contracts.
Accounting maintains reliable employment because every organization—regardless of size, industry, or economic conditions—needs financial record-keeping, tax compliance, and audit functions. The CPA credential adds an additional layer of job security because it creates a regulated barrier to entry that limits competition.
Building employability regardless of major
If your chosen major is not on traditional high-employment lists, you can still build strong employability through deliberate action. Complete at least two relevant internships before graduation—this single factor has a larger impact on post-graduation employment than any specific major choice. Start applying for internships in your sophomore year, not your junior year, to maximize your opportunities.
Develop one technical skill that complements your major. For Humanities students, this might be data visualization, basic SQL, or digital marketing analytics. For Social Science students, it might be statistical software proficiency or survey design methodology. For Arts students, it might be web development fundamentals or digital production tools. These complementary skills do not need to be deep—they need to be demonstrable and relevant to the roles you are targeting.
Everyday Royalties Editorial — Employment data sourced from Federal Reserve Bank of New York "College Majors, Unemployment, and Earnings" and BLS. Published March 2026