MAJORS · 6 OF 19 BY ROI
Is an english, liberal arts, and humanities degree worth it?
On average, yes — the mean lifetime ROI is +$144,506. But the spread is the real story.
MEAN LIFETIME ROI · FREOPP 2021 · COHORT-WEIGHTED
+$144,506
across 2,021 bachelor’s programs · 179,107 graduates
MEDIAN GRADUATE
+$124K
MIDDLE 50% LAND BETWEEN
−$18K ⟷ +$266K
NEVER BREAK EVEN
27.5%
MEDIAN BREAK-EVEN AGE
37
ADJUSTED FOR REAL COMPLETION RATES
+$51K
IF YOU DROP OUT
−$112K
The biggest fields inside English, Liberal Arts, and Humanities
- Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities. 71,272 grads +$207K
- English Language and Literature, General. 56,747 grads +$65K
- History. 35,841 grads +$123K
- Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies. 14,141 grads +$220K
- English Language and Literature/Letters, Other. 617 grads +$17K
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 English, Liberal Arts, and Humanities
- Is a liberal arts & general studies degree worth it? 71,272 grads +$204K
- Is an english language & literature degree worth it? 56,747 grads +$64K
- Is a history degree worth it? 35,841 grads +$99K
- Is a rhetoric & writing studies degree worth it? 14,141 grads +$202K
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 English, Liberal Arts, and Humanities, judged on where its graduates actually work — not where the degree theoretically leads.
Where English, Liberal Arts, and Humanities graduates actually work — and how much of each job today’s AI is reaching for (0–1 applicability):
- 9% Lawyers 0.24
- 6% Managers, All Other 0.19
- 3% Chief Executives 0.21
- 2% First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers 0.17
- 2% Writers and Authors 0.55
And what people in this field actually bring to AI — the job tasks most taken to Claude, from Anthropic’s usage data:
- Determine existence and amount of liability according to current laws, administrative and judicial precedents, and available evidence.
- Write original or adapted material for dramas, comedies, puppet shows, narration, or other performances.
- Review class material with students by discussing text, working solutions to problems, or reviewing worksheets or other assignments.
- Interpret laws, rulings and regulations for individuals and businesses.
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 an english, liberal arts, and humanities degree worth it?
- On average yes — across 2,021 U.S. bachelor’s programs (FREOPP 2021, cohort-weighted), the mean lifetime ROI for English, Liberal Arts, and Humanities is +$144,506 and the median is +$124,276. 27.5% 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 −$18,026 and +$265,637.
- How long until an english, liberal arts, and humanities degree pays off?
- Among English, Liberal Arts, and Humanities programs that do break even, the median graduate crosses into positive ROI at age 37 (FREOPP 2021). 27.5% of graduates in the field are in programs that never break even at all.
- Does the school matter for an english, liberal arts, and humanities major?
- Enormously. The middle 50% of English, Liberal Arts, and Humanities graduates span −$18,026 to +$265,637 — a +$284K 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 english, liberal arts, and humanities 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, English, Liberal Arts, and Humanities lands in the elevated-exposure tier: the largest place these grads actually work is lawyers (9% of them), where AI applicability sits at 0.24 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. Solidly within AI's reach, but not at the frontier — a lot of the work is still judgment, people, and rooms.
↓ Download the data (CSV) · All 19 categories with full statistics. Free to cite with attribution. · Methodology
Cite this:
LE TEEN (2026). “English, Liberal Arts, and Humanities: lifetime ROI statistics.” Data: FREOPP 2021. https://le-teen.com/majors/english-liberal-arts-and-humanities