MAJORS · 5 OF 19 BY ROI
Is a education degree worth it?
On average, yes — the mean lifetime ROI is +$121,114. But the spread is the real story.
MEAN LIFETIME ROI · FREOPP 2021 · COHORT-WEIGHTED
+$121,114
across 1,632 bachelor’s programs · 172,453 graduates
MEDIAN GRADUATE
+$127K
MIDDLE 50% LAND BETWEEN
+$6K ⟷ +$226K
NEVER BREAK EVEN
23.1%
MEDIAN BREAK-EVEN AGE
36
ADJUSTED FOR REAL COMPLETION RATES
+$28K
IF YOU DROP OUT
−$108K
The biggest fields inside Education
- Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods. 100,172 grads +$120K
- Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas. 42,021 grads +$154K
- Special Education and Teaching. 17,378 grads +$108K
- Education, General. 9,093 grads +$6K
- Education, Other. 2,511 grads +$86K
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 education degree worth it?
- On average yes — across 1,632 U.S. bachelor’s programs (FREOPP 2021, cohort-weighted), the mean lifetime ROI for Education is +$121,114 and the median is +$126,853. 23.1% 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 +$5,765 and +$225,657.
- How long until a education degree pays off?
- Among Education programs that do break even, the median graduate crosses into positive ROI at age 36 (FREOPP 2021). 23.1% of graduates in the category are in programs that never break even at all.
- Does the school matter for a education major?
- Enormously. The middle 50% of Education graduates span +$5,765 to +$225,657 — a +$220K 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). “Education: lifetime ROI statistics.” Data: FREOPP 2021. https://le-teen.com/majors/education