Graduates of the typical social sciences course in the UK earn £30,500 five years after graduating, the 13th highest of the 21 subject areas we compare. The best-paying, Early Childhood Education at University College London, earns £57,500.
Social science graduates go into the civil service, policy and research, local government, charities, social work, marketing and consultancy.
Graduates of the typical social sciences course earn £30,500 five years after graduating (£27,000 after 15 months), below the £31,500 median across all subjects and the 13th highest of the 21 subject areas we compare. Behind that median, its 2,627 courses range from £18,000 to £89,500: the best-paying earns 2.9 times the typical course.
Economics is the exception: its graduates mostly go into banking, finance and economic consulting, and earn far more than the rest of the group, so it has its own page and is left out of the top 10 below (it still shows in the chart).
Data last updated · HESA Discover Uni
| Course | After 5 years | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Early Childhood Education | £57,500 |
| 2 | International Relations | £51,000 |
| 3 | Politics and International Relations | £50,500 |
| 4 | International Relations | £48,000 |
| 5 | Human, Social, and Political Sciences | £47,000 |
| 6 | BSc Childhood Studies | £46,500 |
| 7 | Criminology | £44,000 |
| 8 | Global Health & Social Medicine | £42,500 |
| 9 | International Relations | £42,500 |
| 10 | Global Politics with Integrated Year Abroad in Brussels | £41,500 |
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.
Economics courses pay the most, at £38,500 for the typical course five years after graduating, and sociology, social policy & anthropology; and health & social care the least, at £29,000.
| Specialism | After 5 years |
|---|---|
| Economics | £38,500 |
| Politics | £32,000 |
| Sociology, social policy & anthropology | £29,000 |
| Health & social care | £29,000 |
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, Early Childhood Education at University College London, whose graduates earn a median £57,500 five years after graduating. Next are International Relations at London School of Economics and Political Science (£51,000) and Politics and International Relations at the University of Bath (£50,500).
Graduates of the typical social sciences course earn £27,000 15 months after graduating and £30,500 five years after graduating, 13% more than at 15 months. Across all its courses, joint ones included, salaries range from £18,000 to £89,500.
9 of 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 13th of the 21 subject areas we compare, with the typical course paying £30,500 five years after graduating against £31,500 across all subjects. Where you study matters too: the best-paying course earns 2.9 times the typical course.