MAJORS · 10 OF 19 BY ROI
Is a communications and journalism degree worth it?
On average, yes — the mean lifetime ROI is +$228,465. But the spread is the real story.
MEAN LIFETIME ROI · FREOPP 2021 · COHORT-WEIGHTED
+$228,465
across 1,463 bachelor’s programs · 196,380 graduates
MEDIAN GRADUATE
+$239K
MIDDLE 50% LAND BETWEEN
+$65K ⟷ +$384K
NEVER BREAK EVEN
16.5%
MEDIAN BREAK-EVEN AGE
33
ADJUSTED FOR REAL COMPLETION RATES
+$125K
IF YOU DROP OUT
−$114K
The biggest fields inside Communications and Journalism
- Communication and Media Studies. 109,334 grads +$257K
- Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication. 28,380 grads +$323K
- Journalism. 26,180 grads +$236K
- Radio, Television, and Digital Communication. 19,584 grads +$63K
- Graphic Communications. 5,978 grads +$39K
Mean lifetime ROI per field, cohort-weighted. A category average hides this spread — and the per-school spread inside each field is wider still.
Subfield deep-dives inside Communications and Journalism
- Is a communication & media studies degree worth it? 109,334 grads +$257K
- Is a public relations & advertising degree worth it? 28,380 grads +$336K
- Is a journalism degree worth it? 26,180 grads +$250K
- Is a radio, television & digital media degree worth it? 19,584 grads +$41K
- Is a graphic communications degree worth it? 5,978 grads −$106K
Median lifetime ROI per subfield, cohort-weighted. Each page carries the full statistics — spread, break-even age, the share who never break even.
How much of this work is AI already reaching for?
We read what the AI labs measured about their own machines. Microsoft and Anthropic scored how much of real occupations their AI is already used for — then warned it is not a measure of jobs being replaced. Here is where that lands Communications and Journalism, judged on where its graduates actually work — not where the degree theoretically leads.
Where Communications and Journalism graduates actually work — and how much of each job today’s AI is reaching for (0–1 applicability):
- 7% Managers, All Other 0.19
- 5% Marketing Managers 0.25
- 3% Customer Service Representatives 0.56
- 3% Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists 0.44
- 3% Chief Executives 0.21
And what people in this field actually bring to AI — the job tasks most taken to Claude, from Anthropic’s usage data:
- Write original or adapted material for dramas, comedies, puppet shows, narration, or other performances.
- Answer customers' questions, and provide information on procedures or policies.
- Develop or apply data mining and machine learning algorithms.
- Prepare, rewrite and edit copy to improve readability, or supervise others who do this work.
Exposure isn’t replacement. The score is how much of the task AI touches — not whether the job survives, which turns on judgment, licensure, physical presence, and trust. Sources: Microsoft Research “Working with AI” (CC BY 4.0), the Anthropic Economic Index (CC BY), and U.S. Census ACS field-of-degree. Applicability scores are le-teen-derived, not original Microsoft figures; the task list is Anthropic’s observed Claude usage.
Questions
- Is a communications and journalism degree worth it?
- On average yes — across 1,463 U.S. bachelor’s programs (FREOPP 2021, cohort-weighted), the mean lifetime ROI for Communications and Journalism is +$228,465 and the median is +$239,246. 16.5% of graduates in this field never break even on the degree. The honest answer depends heavily on the specific program and school: the middle half of graduates land between +$65,369 and +$384,020.
- How long until a communications and journalism degree pays off?
- Among Communications and Journalism programs that do break even, the median graduate crosses into positive ROI at age 33 (FREOPP 2021). 16.5% of graduates in the field are in programs that never break even at all.
- Does the school matter for a communications and journalism major?
- Enormously. The middle 50% of Communications and Journalism graduates span +$65,369 to +$384,020 — a +$319K 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 field average.
- Will AI replace communications and journalism jobs?
- Careful with that word. Two AI labs — Microsoft and Anthropic — measured how much of real occupations their own AI is *already being used for*, then explicitly warned it is NOT a measure of jobs being eliminated. On that measure, Communications and Journalism lands in the high-exposure tier: the largest place these grads actually work is managers, all other (7% of them), where AI applicability sits at 0.19 on a 0–1 scale. Exposure means how much of the *task* AI touches — not whether the job survives, which also depends on judgment, licensure, physical presence, and trust. Communications and Journalism is work of words, symbols, and screens — exactly what today's AI is built to manipulate.
↓ Download the data (CSV) · All 19 categories with full statistics. Free to cite with attribution. · Methodology
Cite this:
LE TEEN (2026). “Communications and Journalism: lifetime ROI statistics.” Data: FREOPP 2021. https://le-teen.com/majors/communications-and-journalism