Is Chemistry Worth It?

Chemistry holds a solid national average ROI Score of 79/100 across 48 reporting schools — Grade B territory, where repayment math works for most graduates at most institutions. The dominant signal is debt-to-income: at a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.33x on average, the field shows a strong cushion — typical graduates carry less than half a year of starting salary in debt, leaving room to switch jobs or pursue graduate study without distress. Outcomes vary sharply by institution, so the school you choose within Chemistry usually matters more than the major label itself.

Median debt at completion across the 48 U.S. schools reporting Chemistry data to the College Scorecard is $21K, against a national all-major average of $26K. The range across schools is wide — $9K at the top of the table to $37K at the bottom.

Earnings rise sharply from $65K in year 1 to $90K by year 5 — 38% growth in four years. That is a strong promotion curve, common in technology, engineering, and finance tracks where early-career skill compounding pays off fast. National average first-year earnings across all 30,224 school + major combinations on the site is $58K — for context, Chemistry sits above that benchmark.

Central State University leads the field with a 84/100 ROI Score (Grade A). Median debt at completion is $9K against $65K in first-year earnings — a debt-to-income ratio of 0.14x. On the other end, Bethany College sits at the bottom of the field with a 74/100 ROI Score (Grade B). Median debt at completion is $37K against $65K in first-year earnings — a debt-to-income ratio of 0.56x.

Every figure on this page comes from federal public datasets — the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (collegescorecard.ed.gov) for debt and earnings, IPEDS (nces.ed.gov/ipeds) for graduation rates, and BLS Employment Projections for the job-growth outlook component of the ROI Score. Borrower-rights guidance: the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (consumerfinance.gov). The dataset was last refreshed March 2026.