$35,036
Grouped estimate · Medium evidence.
Related subjects at 12 matched peer institutions · bachelor's
Historical archive, not a current salary estimate.
Physical sciences
Physical Sciences
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus · University Park, PA
Medium evidenceMatched peers12 institutions · related subjectsSee the evidence
The degree in numbers
Cost & earnings.
Earnings context
One career stage.
A clearer comparison.
USD · Bachelor's · 1 year after completion
Same source release. National references exclude this degree.
Behind the number
Your comparison group.
Related subjects at 12 matched peer institutions · bachelor's
Grouped estimate. Middle half of comparison values: $29,026–$39,009.
Historical earnings archive. College Scorecard legacy FOS archive (file dated 2022-01-19; cohorts vary). Do not interpret this as today's graduate salary. Further study and career changes are not modelled by this early-career figure.
| Institution & subject | Reported earnings |
|---|---|
| Purdue University-Main CampusPhysics | $36,141 |
| University of Massachusetts-AmherstAstronomy and Astrophysics | $39,009 |
| Auburn UniversityChemistry | $29,685 |
| Rutgers University-New BrunswickPhysics | $39,009 |
| Texas A & M University-College StationPhysics | $42,615 |
| University of Washington-Seattle CampusAstronomy and Astrophysics | $33,993 |
| North Carolina State University at RaleighAtmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physics | $36,080 |
| The University of Tennessee-KnoxvillePhysics | $27,048 |
| University of Central FloridaChemistry | $26,353 |
| Binghamton UniversityPhysics | $24,035 |
| The University of Texas at DallasChemistry | $31,127 |
| University of Minnesota-Twin CitiesAstronomy and Astrophysics | $44,942 |
How matching & uncertainty work
We first look for the same subject code (or exact subject name), qualification, country, currency, source release and earnings horizon. Peer institutions are matched using admissions selectivity, completion rates, undergraduate size and institution type, with a small preference for the same region. These are institutional proxies, not a ranking of programme quality.
If subject-matched peers are sparse, we try related subjects at closely matched universities, related degrees at this university, then an explicitly labelled national reference. We never multiply a salary by a university prestige score.
Peer and national estimates give each reporting institution one vote, after taking the median of its related programmes. Shared branch-campus outcomes count once. The middle-half range describes variation between reporting institutions. It is not an individual salary range or a statistical confidence interval.
Evidence labels describe match quality and coverage, not validated prediction accuracy. Admissions and size are undergraduate institutional measures, so graduate-degree comparisons are especially approximate.
Historical cohort outcomes are not promised salaries or a causal effect of attending this programme. College Scorecard earnings cover eligible federal-aid recipients, not every graduate or international student. Source definitions ↗