Is a Sociology degree worth it?
Across 474 schools, graduates of Sociology earn a median $50,335 five years out on $22,500 of debt. Most go on to work as Elementary and middle school teachers (5% of them, per Census ACS). These earnings and debt figures come from the U.S. Dept. of Education.
Median 5-yr pay
$50,335
Median debt
$22,500
Years to pay off
4.4
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
66%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+4.3%
BLS 2024–2034
Gender pay gap
10.8%
$56,036 vs $50,000
Net price
$19,139/yr
Debt-test failures
8.4%
of programs
'Real' premium
−$12,285
vs avg, adjusted
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Sociology 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.