Compiled by PlainCollege, College outcomes data analysis
781
Schools
Bachelor's
Credential Level
$80,303
National Avg Earnings
What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Physics
Physics is tracked across 781 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 bachelor'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 $80,303, calculated from 108 schools with published earnings data. The earnings distribution stretches from $42,790 at the low end to $131,025 at the top, with a 25th-75th percentile band between $72,596 and $89,430 around a median of $78,569. The top-reporting institution in this program is Massachusetts Institute of Technology at $131,025. 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.
Physics bachelor's credential median earnings varies 3.1× across entities
Physics bachelor's credential median earnings ranges from $42,790 (lowest) to $131,025 (highest), a spread of $88,235. That spread is wider than typical and predicts noticeable gaps in service quality between the highest and lowest areas. Earnings are measured four years after completion using Treasury-derived records for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled. They are descriptive early-career outcomes, not forecasts of longer-term earnings.
Physics bachelor's credential median debt varies 4.1× across entities
Physics bachelor's credential median debt ranges from $7,500 (lowest) to $30,847 (highest), a spread of $23,347. That ratio is among the widest observed and reflects extreme cost-of-attendance variation, students at the high end accumulate substantially more debt for the same credential, often without proportionally higher post-graduation earnings. 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.
Physics debt-to-earnings ratio is 0.28 — well below typical (typically associated with unusually small scale or exceptionally high per-unit investment)
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 Values this far below typical often correlate with unusually small scale or population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se — worth checking whether the underlying denominator is itself an outlier.
Earnings trajectory. For the 81 schools reporting both horizons, median earnings are
101% 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 Physics on school-count breadth
(781 schools) and mean four-year median earnings ($80,303).
Peers exclude the same two-digit CIP family so neighborhoods are not CIP-containment siblings.
School-count peers include Economics, Philosophy, Natural Resources Conservation and Research. Earnings peers include Industrial Production Technologies/Technicians, Business/Managerial Economics, Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering.
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.
Physics graduates earn $80,303 on average four years after completion, across the 108 of 781 schools that report earnings for this program. Earnings range from $42,790 to $131,025 depending on the institution.
Which school's Physics graduates earn the most? ▼
Massachusetts Institute of Technology has the highest reported median earnings for Physics graduates at $131,025, 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 Physics? ▼
Physics programs typically award a Bachelor's credential. Earnings vary by school and credential level.
Top Schools for Physics
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.