According to the Federal Reserve, student loans added up to $1.6 trillion in Q2 2023, making them the third largest category of U.S. household debt behind auto loans ($1.8 trillion) and mortgages ($12 trillion).

The current student debt figure represents a 40% increase from a decade ago, resulting in greater pressure for the federal government to do more to help debtors. For example, on Oct 4. 2023, the Biden administration announced an additional $9 billion in student debt cancellations, bringing the total relief amount to $127 billion.

With student debt becoming a broader social issue, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu has visualized data from the Education Data Initiative to show you the median debt per major for a bachelor’s degree in the country.

The following table includes all of the data we used to create this graphic. Note that we’re showing median student debt, which differs from the mean average.

To understand how this works, imagine a list of every student’s debt for a given major. The median represents the middle value, meaning half of students owe less than that amount, while the other half owes more.

MajorField of Study2022 Median Debt
(USD thousands)Behavioral SciencesSocial Sciences$42.8Religious EducationArts and Humanities$32.0Culinary Arts and
Related ServicesArts and Humanities$28.6Human ServicesSocial Sciences$28.6EducationOther$28.0Clinical, Counseling, and
Applied PsychologyHealth and Medicine$27.4LiteratureArts and Humanities$27.0Natural SciencesSciences$26.9Physical SciencesSciences$26.6MusicArts and Humanities$26.6ArchitectureArts and Humanities$26.5Arts, Entertainment, and
Media ManagementArts and Humanities$26.5Visual and Performing ArtsArts and Humanities$26.5Health Professions and
Related Clinical SciencesHealth and Medicine$26.0Communication, Journalism, and
Related ProgramsOther$25.9Drama/ Theater Arts
and StagecraftArts and Humanities$25.8Astronomy and AstrophysicsSciences$25.6Engineering, GeneralEngineering$25.5Multi-/Interdisciplinary StudiesOther$25.4Aerospace, Aeronautical,
and Astronautical EngineeringEngineering$25.2Biological and Physical SciencesSciences$25.2Foods, Nutrition, and
Related ServicesHealth and Medicine$25.2Biochemical EngineeringEngineering$25.1Information Science/StudiesSciences$25.1Film/Video and
Photographic ArtsArts and Humanities$25.0Social WorkHealth and Medicine$24.9Zoology/Animal BiologySciences$24.7Civil EngineeringEngineering$24.6City/Urban, Community,
and Regional PlanningSocial Sciences$24.5Criminal Justice and CorrectionsSocial Sciences$24.5Mechanical EngineeringEngineering$24.5Radio, Television, and
Digital CommunicationOther$24.4Business Administration, Management,
and OperationsOther$24.4Health and
Physical Education/ FitnessHealth and Medicine$24.2AccountingOther$24.1Computer & Information SciencesSciences$24.0Public Relations, Advertising,
and Applied CommunicationOther$23.9Chemical EngineeringEngineering$23.8BiologySciences$23.7JournalismOther$23.4CriminologySocial Sciences$23.4Liberal Arts and Sciences,
General Studies and HumanitiesSocial Sciences$23.3Botany/Plant BiologySciences$23.3PsychologySocial Sciences$23.3Public HealthHealth and Medicine$23.1ArcheologySocial Sciences$23.0Communication and
Media StudiesOther$22.8Social SciencesSocial Sciences$22.8ChemistrySciences$22.8Hospitality Administration/ManagementHealth and Medicine$22.8PhysicsSciences$22.8HistorySocial Sciences$22.8Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration,
Nursing Research, and Clinical NursingHealth and Medicine$22.6English Language and LiteratureArts and Humanities$22.5SociologySocial Sciences$22.3Computer ScienceSciences$22.3Marine SciencesSciences$22.2Political Science and GovernmentSocial Sciences$22.0Science, Technology, and
SocietySciences$21.8MathematicsSciences$21.8Geography and CartographySocial Sciences$21.7AnthropologySocial Sciences$21.7Animal SciencesSciences$21.6Environmental DesignSocial Sciences$21.2AgriculturalSciences$20.8EconomicsOther$20.7StatisticsOther$20.6Public AdministrationSocial Sciences$20.6PhilosophySocial Sciences$20.6International/Global StudiesOther$19.9Business Operations Support and
Assistant ServicesOther$19.1Cognitive ScienceSciences$18.1International and
Comparative EducationOther$13.0

From this dataset we can see that median debt for most Bachelor’s degrees is in the mid $20,000s range. Two outliers at the upper end are Behavioral Sciences ($42,800) and Religious Education ($32,000), while at the lower end we can see Comparative Education ($13,000) and Cognitive Science ($18,100).

Comparative education is a social science that involves the study of education systems, processes, and outcomes across different countries or cultures.

Looking at this data from a broader perspective, we can also see some trends emerge based on field of study. For starters, most Arts and Humanities degrees fall in the upper half of the ranking, while the bottom quarter of the ranking appears to be largely made up of Social Sciences, Sciences, and various business studies.

Education Data Initiative also includes median debt data for master’s degrees.

MajorField of Study2022 Median Debt
(USD thousands)Advanced/Graduate Dentistry
and Oral SciencesHealth and Medicine$158,155Visual and Performing ArtsArts and Humanities$63,830Radio, Television, and
Digital CommunicationOther$55,554Social SciencesSocial Sciences$54,554PhilosophySocial Sciences$54,260JournalismOther$53,213StatisticsOther$53,174Clinical, Counseling, and
Applied PsychologyHealth and Medicine$51,888Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration,
Nursing Research, and Clinical NursingHealth and Medicine$51,420Multi/Interdisciplinary StudiesOther$48,693Public Relations, Advertising, and
Applied CommunicationOther$48,366SociologySocial Sciences$46,871Health Professions and
Related Clinical SciencesHealth and Medicine$44,598English Language and LiteratureArts and Humanities$44,301Political Science and GovernmentSocial Sciences$43,853Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies
and HumanitiesSocial Sciences$43,408Finance and
Financial Management ServicesOther$43,408PsychologySocial Sciences$43,408Business Administration, Management,
and OperationsOther$43,251EconomicsOther$43,053LiteratureArts and Humanities$42,826Computer EngineeringEngineering$42,647Public AdministrationSocial Sciences$42,154Arts, Entertainment,
and Media ManagementArts and Humanities$41,238HistorySocial Sciences$40,948Computer & Information SciencesSciences$40,579AnthropologySocial Sciences$40,428BiologySciences$40,265ArchitectureArts and Humanities$39,788Communication and Media StudiesOther$39,270International/Global StudiesOther$37,180Zoology/Animal BiologySciences$37,056Hospitality Administration/ManagementOther$36,203MarketingOther$35,738CriminologySocial Sciences$35,318Computer ScienceSciences$35,301EngineeringEngineering$33,235Health and Physical Education/FitnessHealth and Medicine$32,372AgricultureSciences$30,676Geography and CartographySocial Sciences$30,657EducationOther$29,434ChemistrySciences$28,912AccountingOther$28,212Mechanical EngineeringEngineering$26,775Civil EngineeringEngineering$26,180International AgricultureSciences$23,275

While obtaining a master’s typically results in a greater amount of student debt, it can actually depend on your major. For instance, the median debt for a master’s in Computer Science is $35,300, which is $7,500 lower than a bachelor’s in Behavioral Science.

The biggest outlier from this list is Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences, with a median debt of $158,155. While this may sound like a lot, it should be compared to the average salary of a U.S. dentist, which according to Indeed is $225,400 per year.