MAJORS · 13 OF 19 BY ROI

Is a business and management degree worth it?

On average, yes — the mean lifetime ROI is +$578,915. But the spread is the real story.

MEAN LIFETIME ROI · FREOPP 2021 · COHORT-WEIGHTED

+$578,915

across 4,428 bachelor’s programs · 681,089 graduates

MEDIAN GRADUATE

+$533K

MIDDLE 50% LAND BETWEEN

+$348K ⟷ +$749K

NEVER BREAK EVEN

1.5%

MEDIAN BREAK-EVEN AGE

30

ADJUSTED FOR REAL COMPLETION RATES

+$320K

IF YOU DROP OUT

−$118K

The biggest fields inside Business and Management

  1. Business Administration, Management and Operations. 289,891 grads +$524K
  2. Accounting and Related Services. 86,906 grads +$637K
  3. Marketing. 74,025 grads +$571K
  4. Finance and Financial Management Services. 67,133 grads +$745K
  5. Business/Commerce, General. 44,336 grads +$587K

Mean lifetime ROI per field, cohort-weighted. A category average hides this spread — and the per-school spread inside each field is wider still.

Questions

Is a business and management degree worth it?
On average yes — across 4,428 U.S. bachelor’s programs (FREOPP 2021, cohort-weighted), the mean lifetime ROI for Business and Management is +$578,915 and the median is +$533,050. 1.5% of graduates in this category never break even on the degree. The honest answer depends heavily on the specific program and school: the middle half of graduates land between +$347,986 and +$748,626.
How long until a business and management degree pays off?
Among Business and Management programs that do break even, the median graduate crosses into positive ROI at age 30 (FREOPP 2021). 1.5% of graduates in the category are in programs that never break even at all.
Does the school matter for a business and management major?
Enormously. The middle 50% of Business and Management graduates span +$347,986 to +$748,626 — a +$401K spread within one major. The same field can be a strong trade at one school and a losing one at another, which is why the per-school number matters more than the category average.

↓ Download the data (CSV) · All 19 categories with full statistics. Free to cite with attribution. · Methodology

Cite this:

LE TEEN (2026). “Business and Management: lifetime ROI statistics.” Data: FREOPP 2021. https://le-teen.com/majors/business-and-management