Within each degree field profiled on this site, salary expectations are explored.  While salary should not be the sole consideration for a career path, it may be an important factor in job selection. 

Degree-Specific Salary Information
The Sloan Career Cornerstone Center includes current salary data for every degree field covered on our site.  Just click on "earnings" within each field.

Online Resources
There are also a variety of websites that can help define salary expectations field by field:

• CareerJournal from the Wall Street Journal
• Economic Research Institute's Career Salary Calculator and Cost of Living Calculator
• Salary.com
• SalaryExpert.com

In addition, the Salary Wizard which follows accesses Salary.com's proprietary compensation database, which contains salary information on thousands of job titles. The Salary Wizard calculates salaries based on both job title and geographic location.

Reports and Surveys
Many organizations conduct surveys to determine pay scales and starting salaries for different fields.  The Sloan Career Cornerstone Center continually gathers these report and includes summaries.  For example, "Salaries of Scientists, Engineers and Technicians: A Summary of Salary Surveys," was recently released by the Commission on Professionals in Science and Technology.  Among the findings:

Starting Salaries:

• Chemical engineering bachelor's degree recipients received the highest average starting salary offer in summer 2007 ($59,361). In contrast, psychology graduates received an average offer of just $31,631.

• Gains were seen in starting salary offers across all science and engineering fields in summer 2007, with the most significant increases in political science (up 5.9%), chemical engineering (up 5.4%), civil engineering (up 5.4%) and computer engineering (up 4.8%).

• Among new doctorates in mathematics in 2006, those finding employment in business and industry reported the highest median starting salary ($90,000), while those accepting academic postdoctorate positions reported the lowest median starting salary ($48,000).

• New assistant professors earned an average starting salary of $65,205 in 2006-07.

Salaries of Experienced Scientific and Technical Personnel:

• In 2003, the median salary of all full-time employed scientists and engineers in the U.S. was $60,000, ranging from $54,000 for those whose highest degree was a bachelor's, to $63,000 for those with a master's, $77,000 for those with a doctorate, and $102,000 for those with a first professional degree.

• Asian scientists and engineers in the U.S. had a higher median salary in 2003 ($63,000) than non-Hispanic whites ($61,000), and underrepresented minorities ($50,000).

• By occupation, median salaries were highest at the bachelor's level in 2003 in engineering ($70,000) and computer science and mathematics ($68,000), and lowest in the life sciences ($42,000) and social and behavioral sciences ($45,000).

• At the doctorate level in 2003, the top salary went to computer and information scientists at $98,000, followed closely by engineers ($97,300). Social scientists reported the lowest median salary ($73,000).

• In 2006, median salaries of doctoral physicists in industry ranged from a low of $85,000 for individuals who recently received their doctorate to a high of $150,000 for those 35 or more years since the doctorate.

• Information technology (IT) salaries are back on the rise after three years of relatively stagnant pay. In 2007, IT staffers can expect to earn a median base salary of $74,000, and $78,000 in total compensation. IT managers can expect to earn a median base salary of $97,000, and $105,000 in total compensation.

Salaries of Engineers:

• The median salary for all engineers working in industry and government in 2006 was $80,870, up just 0.1% from $80,790 in 2005. By major engineering discipline, median salaries were highest in 2006 in nuclear engineering ($92,015) and materials engineering ($91,063), and lowest in civil engineering ($72,795) and engineering science ($76,763).

• In 2007, the median base salary of full-time employed chemical engineers was $103,730, up 12.6% from $92,150 two years earlier in 2005.

• In 2005, salaries of petroleum engineers ranged from a high of $143,200 for those with 20 or more years of experience to a low of $79,400 for those with less than two years of experience.