Graduates of the typical history, philosophy and religion course in the UK earn £29,500 five years after graduating, the 17th highest of the 21 subject areas we compare. The best-paying, Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at London School of Economics and Political Science, earns £55,500.
Graduates go into law, the civil service, teaching, heritage and museums, journalism, consultancy and graduate schemes in finance and business.
Graduates of the typical history, philosophy and religion course earn £29,500 five years after graduating (£26,000 after 15 months), below the £31,500 median across all subjects and the 17th highest of the 21 subject areas we compare. Behind that median, its 1,382 courses range from £20,500 to £55,500: the best-paying earns 1.9 times the typical course.
Classics, philosophy and history at the most selective universities pay best, with many of their graduates going into law, consulting and finance.
Data last updated · HESA Discover Uni
| Course | After 5 years | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method | £55,500 |
| 2 | Classics | £50,500 |
| 3 | History | £47,500 |
| 4 | Classics | £46,500 |
| 5 | Classical Studies and Philosophy | £41,000 |
| 6 | Ancient History | £40,000 |
| 7 | BA Ancient History | £39,000 |
| 8 | History and Philosophy | £38,500 |
| 9 | Philosophy | £37,500 |
| 10 | Philosophy | £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.
Philosophy & religious studies courses pay the most, at £30,500 for the typical course five years after graduating, and history & archaeology the least, at £29,500.
| Specialism | After 5 years |
|---|---|
| Philosophy & religious studies | £30,500 |
| History & archaeology | £29,500 |
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, Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at London School of Economics and Political Science, whose graduates earn a median £55,500 five years after graduating. Next are Classics at the University of Oxford (£50,500) and History at Durham University (£47,500).
Graduates of the typical history, philosophy and religion 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 £20,500 to £55,500.
The top 10 courses above ask for between ABB 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 17th 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 1.9 times the typical course.