Is a Public Policy Analysis degree worth it?
Across 22 schools, graduates of Public Policy Analysis earn a median $67,467 five years out on $19,500 of debt. Graduates most commonly work as Social Scientists and Related Workers, All Other (modeled from the federal CIP-to-SOC crosswalk). These earnings and debt figures come from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Median 5-yr pay
$67,467
Median debt
$19,500
Years to pay off
3.1
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
57%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+0.4%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
18.5%
$70,695 vs $57,645
Net price
$22,461/yr
Debt-test failures
0%
of programs
'Real' premium
−$817
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Public Policy Analysis in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.