Graduates of the typical languages and English course in the UK earn £30,000 five years after graduating, the 14th highest of the 21 subject areas we compare. The best-paying, Ancient Languages at University College London, earns £42,500.
English and modern languages graduates go into publishing, journalism, teaching, marketing and communications, the civil service, law, translation and international business.
Graduates of the typical languages and English course earn £30,000 five years after graduating (£26,500 after 15 months), below the £31,500 median across all subjects and the 14th highest of the 21 subject areas we compare. Behind that median, its 1,987 courses range from £19,500 to £60,000: the best-paying earns 2.0 times the typical course.
There is no single career path, so salaries depend more on the sector a graduate chooses than on the degree itself.
Data last updated · HESA Discover Uni
| Course | After 5 years | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ancient Languages | £42,500 |
| 2 | English and Modern Languages | £42,500 |
| 3 | Russian | £42,500 |
| 4 | Chinese Studies with Year Abroad | £40,000 |
| 5 | English Literature and French BA (Hons) with placement | £40,000 |
| 6 | Asian and Middle Eastern Studies | £39,500 |
| 7 | Linguistics with Spanish | £38,000 |
| 8 | Arabic and French | £38,000 |
| 9 | BA Comparative Literatures and Cultures | £37,500 |
| 10 | Arab and Islamic Studies | £36,500 |
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.
Languages & area studies courses pay the most, at £31,000 for the typical course five years after graduating, and English studies and Celtic studies the least, at £28,500.
| Specialism | After 5 years |
|---|---|
| Languages & area studies | £31,000 |
| English studies | £28,500 |
| Celtic studies | £28,500 |
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, Ancient Languages at University College London, whose graduates earn a median £42,500 five years after graduating. Next are English and Modern Languages at the University of Oxford (£42,500) and Russian at the University of St Andrews (£42,500).
Graduates of the typical languages and English course earn £26,500 15 months after graduating and £30,000 five years after graduating, 13% more than at 15 months. Across all its courses, joint ones included, salaries range from £19,500 to £60,000.
The top 10 courses above ask for between BBB 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 14th of the 21 subject areas we compare, with the typical course paying £30,000 five years after graduating against £31,500 across all subjects. Where you study matters too: the best-paying course earns 2.0 times the typical course.