The top-paid categories for Class of 2021 master’s degree graduates were computer sciences and engineering, according to results of NACE’s Summer 2022 Salary Survey, which is the final salary report for the Class of 2021. (See Figure 1.)

With an average starting salary of $102,782, computer sciences majors were the only group of Class of 2021 master’s majors to top the $100,000 mark. Meanwhile, engineering graduates earned an average of $92,889.  

These were also the top-paid categories for Class of 2021 bachelor’s degree graduates, although at the master’s degree level, both computer sciences (3.5%) and engineering (2.1%) posted increases in average salaries, whereas engineering majors earning bachelor’s degrees saw a dip of less than 1%.

Master’s degree business graduates earned an average salary that was 2.0% higher than that of their Class of 2020 counterparts. Math and statistics majors and health sciences majors, however, earned salaries that were lower. This is the opposite of what occurred for these categories at the bachelor’s degree level.

The Summer 2022 Salary Survey report provides actual starting salaries (not projections) for the college Class of 2021 and serves as the final salary report for the Class of 2021. The figures reported are for base salaries only and do not include bonuses, commissions, fringe benefits, or overtime rates. Data were gathered from Class of 2021 graduates through December 31, 2021, and reported to NACE through May 13, 2022. The salary data presented here were reported to NACE through its national Class of 2021 First-Destination Survey by approximately 293 colleges and universities nationwide and represent data for almost 686,000 graduates at the associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree levels. Most of the analysis provided here, however, focuses on the data provided for more than 66,976 bachelor’s degree graduates. The Summer 2022 Salary Survey report is available to members through MyNACE.