Does a Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics Degree Pay Off? Earnings, Debt & Schools

This page shows what graduates with a bachelor's degree in Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics earn four years after graduating, what they typically owe, the schools that report these figures (listed alphabetically), and the occupations linked to this field by the federal CIP-to-SOC crosswalk. It covers 210 reporting units (schools, or groups of campuses that report together) with these figures.

Median earnings, 4 years after graduation

$55,000

All graduates nationally

Middle half of graduates nationally

$38,411–$73,324

25th to 75th percentile

Typical federal debt of graduates

$21,700

Median across reporting units

In context: across the 132 bachelor's-degree fields with earnings reported by at least 30 schools or school groups, the typical field's median is $58,911; this field's median of $55,000 is 7% below that. The middle half of its graduates differ by $34,913 (25th to 75th percentile), close to the typical field's $36,476, so where a graduate lands within the field varies a lot. Typical federal debt of $21,700 is about 39% of one year of that median (debt and earnings cover different graduating years). These are group figures, not predictions for any graduate.

Schools reporting earnings for Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics graduates

Listed alphabetically to start; MajorPays does not rank schools. Click a column heading to sort; shift-click more headings to sort by several columns as a group. Median earnings four years after graduation, bachelor's degree, for programs with at least 30 graduates measured (88 reporting units; campuses that share one federal school ID report together and appear once). Schools with fewer graduates in the major, or whose figure the Department of Education withholds, are not listed.

School	State	Median earnings, 4 years after	Graduates measured
Arizona State University Campus Immersion (reported together with 1 other campus under one federal school ID)	AZ	$55,428	93
Augustana College	IL	$55,909	38
Ball State University	IN	$51,294	35
Binghamton University	NY	$66,841	34
Boise State University	ID	$44,684	34
Brigham Young University	UT	$63,189	69
California State University-Chico	CA	$56,144	31
California State University-Fresno	CA	$45,063	54
California State University-Fullerton	CA	$47,581	35
California State University-Long Beach	CA	$52,961	51
California State University-Sacramento	CA	$52,028	34
Calvin University	MI	$50,218	38
Central Michigan University	MI	$48,409	40
College of the Holy Cross	MA	$76,301	45
Concordia College at Moorhead	MN	$53,732	31
Florida State University	FL	$51,157	50
Georgia State University	GA	$52,415	33
Grand Valley State University	MI	$53,715	37
Hope College	MI	$53,328	32
Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	$61,757	68
Indiana University-Indianapolis	IN	$50,700	31
Iowa State University	IA	$61,697	45
Kean University	NJ	$50,854	40
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College	LA	$51,592	35
Marquette University	WI	$55,795	34
Miami University-Oxford	OH	$58,750	34
Michigan State University	MI	$59,315	47
New Jersey City University	NJ	$55,075	35
Northern Illinois University	IL	$51,151	31
Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	$58,235	78
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	PA	$62,831	41
Portland State University	OR	$50,241	49
Rowan University	NJ	$50,367	55
Rutgers University-Camden (reported together with 2 other campuses under one federal school ID)	NJ	$66,519	59
San Diego State University	CA	$49,167	82
Smith College	MA	$58,304	34
Sonoma State University	CA	$53,489	42
St Olaf College	MN	$53,232	37
Temple University	PA	$60,672	63
Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$53,563	41
Texas State University	TX	$54,541	80
Texas Tech University	TX	$47,290	35
The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	$51,653	52
The University of Texas at Austin	TX	$58,697	51
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	TX	$42,224	70
Tulane University of Louisiana	LA	$79,925	30
University of Arizona	AZ	$48,487	82
University of Arkansas	AR	$49,636	33
University of California-Berkeley	CA	$75,715	36
University of California-Davis	CA	$60,797	137
University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$55,946	66
University of California-Riverside	CA	$42,692	55
University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	$68,496	68
University of California-Santa Cruz	CA	$51,519	35
University of Connecticut	CT	$63,733	32
University of Delaware	DE	$64,350	48
University of Florida	FL	$65,765	33
University of Georgia	GA	$63,942	35
University of Houston	TX	$56,442	38
University of Illinois Chicago	IL	$57,594	41
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$61,801	59
University of Iowa	IA	$54,530	49
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$64,426	103
University of Minnesota-Duluth	MN	$57,886	30
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	$53,276	66
University of Nebraska-Lincoln	NE	$60,001	41
University of Nevada-Reno	NV	$51,433	50
University of New Hampshire-Main Campus	NH	$57,523	33
University of New Mexico-Main Campus	NM	$45,343	73
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	$64,570	84
University of North Carolina at Charlotte	NC	$50,218	76
University of North Carolina at Greensboro	NC	$50,695	39
University of North Carolina Wilmington	NC	$45,289	43
University of North Texas	TX	$55,259	60
University of Notre Dame	IN	$85,619	42
University of Oregon	OR	$57,106	91
University of Portland	OR	$53,853	38
University of Puget Sound	WA	$56,052	53
University of Rhode Island	RI	$67,384	85
University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	$67,904	52
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire	WI	$54,074	77
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse	WI	$55,614	48
University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$58,565	135
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee	WI	$47,574	88
Western Michigan University	MI	$37,013	30
Western Washington University	WA	$65,380	59
Winona State University	MN	$55,113	37
Wofford College	SC	$61,200	48

See every school that awarded bachelor's degrees in Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics in 2023-24, including schools that do not report earnings, with the number of degrees awarded (IPEDS Completions).

Occupations O*NET associates with this field

Occupations that U.S. Department of Labor O*NET data links to Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics programs, with each occupation's national median pay, projected job growth and yearly openings. They are listed in the order O*NET links them to this field; click a column heading to sort. This is a classification crosswalk, not evidence that graduates enter these jobs, and many of these occupations require more education, a license or experience beyond this credential. The figures describe the occupation, not the graduates of this major.

Career	Median pay, 2025	Projected growth, 2025–2035	Openings per year
Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary	$79,350	+0.2%	1,600
Interpreters and Translators	$60,170	+2.0%	6,000
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	$72,040	-0.2%	63,500

Frequently asked questions

Does a Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics degree pay off?

Graduates with a bachelor's degree in Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics earn a median of $55,000 four years after graduating, and typically owe about $21,700 in federal loans. Earnings four years out are early-career pay, and they vary widely by school, job and place. Compare the pay with the cost of your own school on its graduate earnings page.

How much do college graduates earn overall?

See earnings by education level and by state.

Do Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics graduates work in their field?

The National Survey of College Graduates (2023) asked employed graduates whose highest degree is a bachelor's in art and humanities fields how closely their job relates to their degree. About 32% said closely related, 28% somewhat related and 40% not related (roughly 4.0 million graduates). This is a broad group of fields, not only Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics, and a job outside the field is not a bad outcome by itself.

Closely relatedSomewhat relatedNot related

Source: U.S. National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, National Survey of College Graduates, 2023 (Table 1-3, bachelor's level, all occupations). Survey estimates, rounded by NSF. MajorPays selected and reorganized these figures; NSF has not approved or endorsed them.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, College Scorecard field-of-study data (June 2026 release), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution; careers from O*NET 31.0 by the U.S. Dept. of Labor, ETA, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Career pay, growth and openings: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025) and Employment Projections (2025-2035). MajorPays has selected and reorganized these figures; neither agency has approved or endorsed them. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. MajorPays has modified all or some of the O*NET information; USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications. Earnings are for graduates who received federal financial aid and were working and not enrolled four years after finishing (graduates of academic years 2014-15 and 2015-16, in 2021 dollars; the debt figures are for graduates of 2018-19 and 2019-20); the data says nothing about how much a school added to its graduates' earnings.