Compiled by PlainCollege, College outcomes data analysis
127
Schools
Master's
Credential Level
$84,562
National Avg Earnings
What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Area Studies
Area Studies is tracked across 127 U.S. postsecondary institutions in the College Scorecard field-of-study file, which links CIP code classifications from IPEDS to Treasury earnings records. This profile covers the master's credential level specifically, because the Department of Education reports program-level outcomes separately for associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral awards. The CIP (Classification of Instructional Programs) taxonomy lets analysts roll up specialties into broader families, which is why earnings medians across schools can be compared on a common basis.
Across all reporting institutions, the mean of school-level medians is $84,562, calculated from 10 schools with published earnings data. The earnings distribution stretches from $64,228 at the low end to $116,125 at the top, with a 25th-75th percentile band between $71,404 and $91,661 around a median of $81,697. The top-reporting institution in this program is Stanford University at $116,125. These numbers reflect Treasury-derived wages, deferred compensation, and positive self-employment earnings four years after completion for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled.
Variation across schools matters more than a single national figure. Completer counts and earnings cohort counts are distinct source fields, so the displayed completer count should not be assumed to be the earnings denominator. PlainCollege's debt-to-earnings ratio divides median federal debt by annual median earnings as a descriptive comparison; it is not the Department's formal gainful-employment test. Use the school-by-school table to compare reported outcomes while accounting for cohort size, suppression, program mix, and location.
Georgetown University accounts for 21.1% of all Area Studies master's credential graduates
That dominant concentration — well above the 5% national median for largest-entity share means Area Studies-wide averages lean heavily toward Georgetown University's own figures, masking real variation among the smaller entities that make up the rest of the total. That school produced 99 graduates in the most recent cohort, anchoring a meaningful slice of national supply for this field. When one entity holds this much weight, its programmatic and budget decisions carry outsized influence over the affected population.
Area Studies master's credential median debt varies 3.5× across entities
Area Studies master's credential median debt ranges from $21,500 (lowest) to $76,142 (highest), a spread of $54,642. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. Median debt counts only those students who borrowed federal loans, students who paid out-of-pocket or received institutional grants are excluded from the borrower median, which can flatter low-debt schools.
Area Studies debt-to-earnings ratio is 0.67 — near the typical range (US average ~1) — aligned with the typical 1:1 ratio that defines federal gainful-employment thresholds
debt-to-earnings ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: this ratio uses federal loan principal, not all education debt, private loans, parent PLUS loans not in the borrower’s name, and institutional debt are excluded Variation between sub-units within Area Studies is typically wider than the Area Studies-aggregate figure suggests.
Earnings trajectory. For the 8 schools reporting both horizons, median earnings are
82% higher four years after completion than one year
after. That is the same graduates measured twice, not two different groups, so it
describes how pay develops early in the career rather than a difference between schools.
A school missing from this count reports only one horizon.
Awards and earnings come from different reference periods, so they are not a count and an
average of the same people. Awards is the number of credentials the school reported for the
latest IPEDS year; median earnings is measured four years after completion, for a separate
pooled cohort of earlier graduates. A school can therefore report zero awards in the latest
year and still have earnings on record. The earnings figure is not the awards figure’s
average, and the awards count is not the earnings sample size. Schools are ranked on the
four-year earnings figure only, so every row is compared on the same basis.
Compare beyond the CIP family
Nationwide peers by school count & four-year earnings
Cross-field programs at the same credential level nearest Area Studies on school-count breadth
(127 schools) and mean four-year median earnings ($84,562).
Peers exclude the same two-digit CIP family so neighborhoods are not CIP-containment siblings.
School-count peers include Engineering, General, Public Policy Analysis, Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services. Earnings peers include Human Resources Management and Services, Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General, City/Urban, Community, and Regional Planning.
Neighborhoods are forced disjoint so each axis surfaces a different set of programs.
Similar school count
Nearest programs (≥50 schools) by absolute school-count breadth, outside this CIP family.
Area Studies graduates earn $84,562 on average four years after completion, across the 10 of 127 schools that report earnings for this program. Earnings range from $64,228 to $116,125 depending on the institution.
Which school's Area Studies graduates earn the most? ▼
Stanford University has the highest reported median earnings for Area Studies graduates at $116,125, measured four years after completion in College Scorecard data. This reflects what graduates went on to earn, which depends heavily on who the school admits and which employers recruit there. It is not a figure the school pays.
What credential do you get in Area Studies? ▼
Area Studies programs typically award a Master's credential. Earnings vary by school and credential level.
Top Schools for Area Studies
Closest schools offering this program – compare earnings side by side
Earnings data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field of Study file retrieved in March 2026. The program metric displayed here represents federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled four years after credential completion, using Treasury-derived records published through the Scorecard. Completer counts and debt figures come from the same field-of-study snapshot; the Department refreshes components on schedules documented in its changelog, not one fixed annual date.