Is a Social Work degree worth it?
Across 414 schools, graduates of Social Work earn a median $49,037 five years out on $23,000 of debt. Most go on to work as Social Workers, All Other (24% of them, per Census ACS). These earnings and debt figures come from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Median 5-yr pay
$49,037
Median debt
$23,000
Years to pay off
4.8
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
27%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+6%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
11.4%
$54,867 vs $48,588
Net price
$17,596/yr
Debt-test failures
9.3%
of programs
'Real' premium
−$10,266
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Social Work 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.