Graduates of the typical biology and sport science course in the UK earn £29,500 five years after graduating, the 16th highest of the 21 subject areas we compare. The best-paying, Biochemistry at Imperial College London, earns £49,000.
Graduates spread across laboratory and research roles, the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, teaching, the fitness and sport sector, and graduate schemes that recruit from any discipline. Many go on to postgraduate study first.
Graduates of the typical biology and sport science course earn £29,500 five years after graduating (£26,000 after 15 months), below the £31,500 median across all subjects and the 16th highest of the 21 subject areas we compare. Behind that median, its 1,225 courses range from £21,000 to £49,000: the best-paying earns 1.7 times the typical course.
The more quantitative, lab-based courses, such as biochemistry, lead most directly into the pharmaceutical, biotech and data roles that pay best.
Data last updated · HESA Discover Uni
| Course | After 5 years | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Biochemistry | £49,000 |
| 2 | Biochemistry (Molecular and Cellular) | £48,500 |
| 3 | Biochemistry | £43,000 |
| 4 | Biochemistry | £42,000 |
| 5 | Biochemistry | £41,000 |
| 6 | Biochemistry | £40,000 |
| 7 | Biochemistry | £39,500 |
| 8 | Microbiology | £38,000 |
| 9 | BSc (Hons) Biochemistry | £37,500 |
| 10 | BSc Biochemistry | £37,000 |
The best-paying course at each university, ranked by salary five years after graduating. Each figure is the median of each course's own median graduate salary (HESA Discover Uni). Salaries 15 months after graduating come from the Graduate Outcomes survey; three and five years on, from LEO tax data. Joint courses that HESA also files under another subject are left out of this list but appear in the chart below.
Biosciences courses pay the most, at £30,750 for the typical course five years after graduating, and sport & exercise sciences the least, at £27,500.
| Specialism | After 5 years |
|---|---|
| Biosciences | £30,750 |
| Sport & exercise sciences | £27,500 |
HESA's own subject groups. A joint course can count towards more than one.
A median salary is one number standing in for hundreds of courses. This chart plots every course individually, so you can see the spread behind it: how tightly courses in a subject cluster together, or how far apart the best- and worst-paying ones sit.
Each dot is one course's own median graduate salary (not individual graduates' pay), from the HESA Discover Uni dataset. Courses with a cohort too small to report are excluded, and postgrad/top-up/alternate-entry courses are excluded site-wide. Figures compare courses, not people.
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Each dot is one course, positioned by its salary along the horizontal axis (never shifted by more than one dot-width). Vertical position means nothing. It only spreads dots apart so they don't overlap. Hover a dot for details, or click it to open that course's page.
| Course | Institution | Subject | Salary |
|---|
← See the highest paying degrees across every subject
Not counting joint courses, Biochemistry at Imperial College London, whose graduates earn a median £49,000 five years after graduating. Next are Biochemistry (Molecular and Cellular) at the University of Oxford (£48,500) and Biochemistry at University College London (£43,000).
Graduates of the typical biology and sport science course earn £26,000 15 months after graduating and £29,500 five years after graduating, 13% more than at 15 months. Across all its courses, joint ones included, salaries range from £21,000 to £49,000.
The top 10 courses above ask for between AAB and A*AA at A level. Many also require particular subjects, so check each course's entry requirements.
Below average, though the best courses pay well: it ranks 16th of the 21 subject areas we compare, with the typical course paying £29,500 five years after graduating against £31,500 across all subjects. Where you study matters too: the best-paying course earns 1.7 times the typical course.