Graduates of the typical physics and chemistry course in the UK earn £36,000 five years after graduating, the 6th highest of the 21 subject areas we compare. The best-paying, Physics at Imperial College London, earns £59,000.
Physics and chemistry graduates are recruited well beyond the lab: into finance, data science and software, engineering, energy and pharmaceuticals, as well as research and teaching.
Graduates of the typical physics and chemistry course earn £36,000 five years after graduating (£30,000 after 15 months), above the £31,500 median across all subjects and the 6th highest of the 21 subject areas we compare. Behind that median, its 960 courses range from £22,500 to £72,000: the best-paying earns 2.0 times the typical course.
Physics in particular trains the mathematical problem-solving that banks and tech firms hire for.
Data last updated · HESA Discover Uni
| Course | After 5 years | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Physics | £59,000 |
| 2 | Physics | £56,500 |
| 3 | Astrophysics | £50,500 |
| 4 | Physics | £46,500 |
| 5 | BSc Chemistry | £46,000 |
| 6 | Physics | £45,500 |
| 7 | Biology and Chemistry | £45,000 |
| 8 | Physics (International Study) BSc | £43,500 |
| 9 | BSc Physics | £42,500 |
| 10 | Astrophysics MPhys | £42,500 |
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.
Physics & astronomy courses pay the most, at £37,000 for the typical course five years after graduating, and general, applied & forensic sciences the least, at £30,000.
| Specialism | After 5 years |
|---|---|
| Physics & astronomy | £37,000 |
| Chemistry | £34,000 |
| General, applied & forensic sciences | £30,000 |
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, Physics at Imperial College London, whose graduates earn a median £59,000 five years after graduating. Next are Physics at the University of Oxford (£56,500) and Astrophysics at University College London (£50,500).
Graduates of the typical physics and chemistry course earn £30,000 15 months after graduating and £36,000 five years after graduating, 20% more than at 15 months. Across all its courses, joint ones included, salaries range from £22,500 to £72,000.
The top 10 courses above ask for between AAA and A*A*A at A level. Many also require particular subjects, so check each course's entry requirements.
Yes, on average: it ranks 6th of the 21 subject areas we compare, with the typical course paying £36,000 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.