Is Mathematics Worth It?

Mathematics posts a strong national average ROI Score of 95/100 across 79 reporting schools — a Grade A profile that holds up across most cohorts in the College Scorecard data. The dominant signal is debt-to-income: at a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.29x 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 Mathematics usually matters more than the major label itself.

Median debt at completion across the 79 U.S. schools reporting Mathematics data to the College Scorecard is $22K, against a national all-major average of $26K. The range across schools is wide — $16K at the top of the table to $40K at the bottom.

Earnings explode from $78K in year 1 to $126K by year 5 — 61% growth, a steep ramp typical of fields where graduate credentialing or partnership-track economics dominate the curve. National average first-year earnings across all 30,224 school + major combinations on the site is $58K — for context, Mathematics sits above that benchmark.

Boston College leads the field with a 98/100 ROI Score (Grade A). Median debt at completion is $16K against $78K in first-year earnings — a debt-to-income ratio of 0.21x. On the other end, Bowie State University sits at the bottom of the field with a 90/100 ROI Score (Grade A). Median debt at completion is $40K against $78K in first-year earnings — a debt-to-income ratio of 0.52x.

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.