Bankrate ranks the most valuable college majors in 2021

Sarah Foster, Bankrate.com Analyst, joined Yahoo Finance Live to discuss the most and least valuable college majors in 2021.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: Bankrate is out with its latest ranking on the most valuable college degrees. Now they took into account a number of factors, but among them, of course, is average salary. Also, the average unemployment rate for people with those concentrations. So for more on this, let's bring in Sarah Foster, an analyst with bankrate.com.

Sarah, it's good to see you. We know college degrees are getting more and more expensive every single year. So people who do go to college when they're choosing their majors, of course, they want to make sure that they're getting a return on their investment. Adam mentioned it in the tease. Broadcast journalism isn't anywhere to be found near the top of this list. So what makes the most sense. I guess, what majors are most valuable right now?

SARAH FOSTER: Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for having me. And Bankrate, we looked at 159 majors. And we looked at the graduates' median income when they were done with school, their unemployment rates, and then how many of them go on to receive a higher degree. And kind of spoiler alert, STEM degrees, that really pays to be scientifically inclined.

So, taking the top spot was architectural engineering. And that's because when those students were finished, they made a median salary of $90,000. Very few of them had to go on and pay for a higher degree. And then they also encountered very low unemployment rates. And we saw those trends really continue as you go down the list. So number two was construction services. Number three was computer engineering. Number four, aerospace engineering. Number five, transportation sciences and technology.

Again, these are high demand careers that are highly specialized. And job seekers really aren't having to spend a lot of time or money on higher education when it comes to finding their career opportunities.

ADAM SHAPIRO: When you look at getting the basic-- the Bachelor of Science or the Bachelor of Arts, whichever the degree is for those kinds of degrees, do you need the four years, or could you get it at a technical school? Does an architectural engineer need to have the liberal arts component?

SARAH FOSTER: Well, I think when we looked at this data, this is all based on four-year bachelor's programs. And so I think it's a little deceiving when you see number two being construction services. I think you automatically kind of assume that these maybe are the ones who are on the ground, getting their hands dirty, really leading the construction projects.

But when we wanted to look at the top earning majors, we really found that these were the engineers who were in charge of the projects. These were the ones really leading the initiatives. And that requires a bachelor's degree. But the good news is, is as we were talking about before, you don't really have to defer your income opportunities, or you don't really have to take out the added expense of receiving a master's or a PhD program, when you're entering this field.

SEANA SMITH: Sarah, let's flip this around. What's the bottom five rankings look like, just in terms of majors and the lack of return for your investment?

SARAH FOSTER: Absolutely. Well, when we looked at the bottom five, we really found that these were dominated by fine arts and liberal arts programs. So checking the 159 out of 159-- that's the least valuable major-- that was visual and performing arts. And that's because those graduates, they earned a median income of $35,500, which is about half as much as the median income in the United States. They also had elevated unemployment rates when they were done with school.

Slightly more than a quarter of them had to go on to receive a higher degree. Again, that's an added expense. It's a deferred income opportunity. Number two was miscellaneous fine arts. Number three was drama and theater arts. So I think what we really can show here is that while these are important degrees, it's a lot harder to become, really, the next Meryl Streep than it is to become the next engineer.

ADAM SHAPIRO: Do you have any stories you can share with us about potential students who might look at this kind of data and say, you know what? I'm not going into debt for $250,000 to get a job that's going to pay me $35,000 a year.

SARAH FOSTER: Yeah, well, I think I want to take a step back here, too, and really say that I empathize with this list. I was a journalism major in college. That ranked at 101 out of 159. So it didn't fare very well in our rankings. But I think what's really important about a list like this is it's not necessarily meant to dissuade you from pursuing something you're passionate about. It's more so about arming you with the knowledge you need to succeed in your career.

So if you're someone who's extremely passionate about visual and performing arts and that's something that you really want to pursue, maybe you can find a way to cut back on your college education. Maybe that's pursuing community college for the first two years or reducing your housing costs by living with roommates. Maybe even if you're someone who's interested in another career, you could pursue a minor in something that you're passionate about.

Again, it's really not realistic to expect someone to pursue something that they're not passionate about. And it's not good necessarily even for your career longevity. But there's little ways that we can find to strike a balance between your passion and your finances.

SEANA SMITH: Sarah, how does this stack up to previous lists? Are there any major changes, either majors that jumped many spots or ones that significantly fell compared to previous years?

SARAH FOSTER: Well, I think the bottom line here is that STEM fields really always tend to dominate our rankings. And while architectural engineering, that might be the first time we've ever seen it top the list as the most valuable major, it always tends to be those that are concentrated in science, technology, engineering, and math. And I think when you even kind of expand the list and look at the top 25, you'll be pretty hard pressed to find a career that isn't in one of these fields, at least when it comes to finding something that's the most valuable.

SEANA SMITH: All right, Sarah Foster, analyst with bankrate.com, thanks so much for joining us today.