Amber McMullin has a degree in mechanical engineering and works in a Utah medical equipment company. Grey McLean, with a master’s degree in library science, is an associate librarian at a branch of the Salt Lake City Library.
According to data from the Utah Department of Workforce Services, analyzed by The Salt Lake Tribune, they — like most Utahns — generally make more than their peers who don’t have college degrees. But how much they get paid varies, based on their major of choice.
In one career field, those with college degrees even make less than their counterparts who didn’t finish college.
The average median salary for engineers, like McMullin, is just over $90,000 a year, according to the data — while those working, like McLean, in the education, training and library fields have an average median salary of less than $53,000 a year.
Engineers are among the highest-paid job sectors — management is on top — while librarians are in one of the lower-paid job sectors, with personal services ranking at the bottom in The Tribune’s analysis, which looked at data on 656 occupations across 22 broad industry sectors, including art and design, construction and extraction and management.
The difference can add up over time. The average return on investment for Utahns who graduated from any of six major universities also varies widely, from about $545,000 to more than $1.9 million over 20 years.
The Tribune also found that, on average, it’s more beneficial to get a non-degree certificate or start working right out of high school in some fields but not necessarily in every job within those sectors.
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