{ "meta": { "source": "LE TEEN", "url": "https://le-teen.com/api/v1/rankings/worst-roi-majors.json", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "doi": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21351602", "data_vintage": "FREOPP 2021", "generated": "2026-06-16", "attribution": "Data: LE TEEN — le-teen.com — college ROI, decoded", "attribution_html": "Data: LE TEEN (CC BY 4.0)", "cite": "LE TEEN (2026). College ROI Data. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21351602" }, "title": "Bachelor’s major categories ranked by lifetime ROI, worst-first", "description": "All 19 major categories ranked by median lifetime ROI, worst-first — with the share of graduates who never break even. Field averages may be negative; no institution is named. Per-major detail (subfields included): /api/v1/majors/{slug}.json.", "page_url": "https://le-teen.com/rankings/worst-roi-majors", "count": 19, "rankings": [ { "rank": 1, "slug": "philosophy-and-religious-studies", "name": "Philosophy and Religious Studies", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": -81669, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": -111915, "pct_never_breakeven": 59.8, "median_breakeven_age": 38, "graduates": 20114, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/philosophy-and-religious-studies" }, { "rank": 2, "slug": "visual-arts-and-music", "name": "Visual Arts and Music", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": -92704, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": -68014, "pct_never_breakeven": 67.9, "median_breakeven_age": 38, "graduates": 167416, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/visual-arts-and-music" }, { "rank": 3, "slug": "psychology", "name": "Psychology", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 63059, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 68424, "pct_never_breakeven": 27.9, "median_breakeven_age": 41, "graduates": 183922, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/psychology" }, { "rank": 4, "slug": "life-sciences-and-biology", "name": "Life Sciences and Biology", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 104063, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 106017, "pct_never_breakeven": 31.5, "median_breakeven_age": 39, "graduates": 130420, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/life-sciences-and-biology" }, { "rank": 5, "slug": "education", "name": "Education", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 126853, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 121114, "pct_never_breakeven": 23.1, "median_breakeven_age": 36, "graduates": 172453, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/education" }, { "rank": 6, "slug": "english-liberal-arts-and-humanities", "name": "English, Liberal Arts, and Humanities", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 124276, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 144506, "pct_never_breakeven": 27.5, "median_breakeven_age": 37, "graduates": 179107, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/english-liberal-arts-and-humanities" }, { "rank": 7, "slug": "social-sciences-excluding-economics", "name": "Social Sciences excluding Economics", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 157959, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 183047, "pct_never_breakeven": 19.1, "median_breakeven_age": 36, "graduates": 184110, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/social-sciences-excluding-economics" }, { "rank": 8, "slug": "miscellaneous", "name": "Miscellaneous", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 124545, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 189612, "pct_never_breakeven": 30.1, "median_breakeven_age": 35, "graduates": 162405, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/miscellaneous" }, { "rank": 9, "slug": "public-administration-and-human-services", "name": "Public Administration and Human Services", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 166271, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 199831, "pct_never_breakeven": 15.6, "median_breakeven_age": 36, "graduates": 251657, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/public-administration-and-human-services" }, { "rank": 10, "slug": "communications-and-journalism", "name": "Communications and Journalism", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 239246, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 228465, "pct_never_breakeven": 16.4, "median_breakeven_age": 33, "graduates": 196380, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/communications-and-journalism" }, { "rank": 11, "slug": "agriculture-and-natural-resources", "name": "Agriculture and Natural Resources", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 267348, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 303357, "pct_never_breakeven": 15.5, "median_breakeven_age": 33, "graduates": 62977, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/agriculture-and-natural-resources" }, { "rank": 12, "slug": "physical-sciences", "name": "Physical Sciences", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 390901, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 404220, "pct_never_breakeven": 6.8, "median_breakeven_age": 33, "graduates": 26514, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/physical-sciences" }, { "rank": 13, "slug": "business-and-management", "name": "Business and Management", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 533050, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 578915, "pct_never_breakeven": 1.5, "median_breakeven_age": 30, "graduates": 681089, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/business-and-management" }, { "rank": 14, "slug": "mathematics-and-statistics", "name": "Mathematics and Statistics", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 517327, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 593764, "pct_never_breakeven": 2.9, "median_breakeven_age": 30, "graduates": 26245, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/mathematics-and-statistics" }, { "rank": 15, "slug": "economics", "name": "Economics", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 511467, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 638790, "pct_never_breakeven": 1.9, "median_breakeven_age": 30, "graduates": 48052, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/economics" }, { "rank": 16, "slug": "health-and-nursing", "name": "Health and Nursing", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 802488, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 775786, "pct_never_breakeven": 6.8, "median_breakeven_age": 27, "graduates": 401246, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/health-and-nursing" }, { "rank": 17, "slug": "transportation-construction-and-architecture", "name": "Transportation, Construction, and Architecture", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 772566, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 816671, "pct_never_breakeven": 0.8, "median_breakeven_age": 29, "graduates": 20784, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/transportation-construction-and-architecture" }, { "rank": 18, "slug": "computer-and-information-sciences", "name": "Computer and Information Sciences", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 873705, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 936339, "pct_never_breakeven": 2.3, "median_breakeven_age": 27, "graduates": 123543, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/computer-and-information-sciences" }, { "rank": 19, "slug": "engineering", "name": "Engineering", "median_lifetime_roi_usd": 1125922, "mean_lifetime_roi_usd": 1132553, "pct_never_breakeven": 0, "median_breakeven_age": 26, "graduates": 208317, "url": "https://le-teen.com/majors/engineering" } ] }