Is a professional degree worth it?
Nine degrees, priced against what the work actually pays. Cost is the median across the schools whose per-programme price we hold; pay is the national median for the occupation. Each is measured against $79,084, what a bachelor’s-degree holder earns working full time (ACS PUMS 2024).
- Medicine (MD)$251,972 over 4 years · median pay $244,1802.2 yrsto pay for itself
- Osteopathic Medicine (DO)$299,368 over 4 years · median pay $244,1802.6 yrsto pay for itself
- Law (JD)$174,897 over 3 years · median pay $159,6703.1 yrsto pay for itself
- Podiatry (DPM)$243,724 over 4 years · median pay $160,3004.3 yrsto pay for itself
- Dentistry (DDS/DMD)$290,166 over 4 years · median pay $170,9504.5 yrsto pay for itself
- Pharmacy (PharmD)$207,152 over 4 years · median pay $140,9104.8 yrsto pay for itself
- Veterinary Medicine (DVM)$182,384 over 4 years · median pay $130,1005.1 yrsto pay for itself
- Optometry (OD)$231,074 over 4 years · median pay $136,5705.7 yrsto pay for itself
- Chiropractic (DC)$206,204 over 4 years · median pay $79,200Not on median paysee why
How to read these
- The pay figure is what people employed in that occupation earn — not everyone who finishes the degree.
- Payback counts the earnings increase over a bachelor’s holder, after an approximate 30% for tax. It does not count the pay given up while studying, which each page states and quantifies.
- These are national medians. A cheaper school, a dearer city or a different specialty moves them a long way. Work out your own borrowing and payments.