Check out this chart tracking college majors and average lifetime earnings from the Census Bureau. Here’s what you need to know to read them. The Census folks calculate that your generic worker whose highest degree is a bachelor’s makes $2.4 million total over 40 years. But what you actually earn is highly dependent both on what you study and what job you actually take.

The job / major combinations in blue make more than the average. The ones in yellow are likely to make less. The ones in teal don’t deviate enough to show a statistical difference.

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