Social Science
What you can do with Linguistics
The structure of language itself. Feeds interpreting, speech science, and language technology.
- Careers
- 3
- Early career
- $48,000
- Mid-career
- $77,000
- Growing fast
- 1 of 3
How these numbers work: A major does not have its own salary. Early and mid-career pay is what people who hold this degree earn at the start of their careers and midway through them. Career pay comes from the 3 careers a Linguistics degree commonly leads to, and counts everyone in those jobs, including people who have been doing them for thirty years. The two answer different questions, which is why they do not match.
The New York Fed does not report Linguistics on its own. Its early and mid-career figures here are for Foreign Language, the broader group it places this major in.
53% of people with this degree go on to a graduate degree, so the higher-paying careers below usually mean more school after the bachelor's.
1 of 3 careers this degree leads to is projected to grow faster than average from 2024 to 2034. Of those, Speech-Language Pathologist has the most openings, about 13,300 a year.
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3 careers this degree leads to
Speech-Language Pathologist
$97,870Evaluate and treat speech, language, voice, and swallowing disorders across every age group, from early intervention through stroke recovery.
- Middle half of workers
- $77,730 to $114,570
- Growth
- Much faster than average
- Openings a year
- 13,300
Work-life79Remote50- Active Listening
- Critical Thinking
- Learning Strategies
- Patient Assessment
Adult Education / ESL Instructor
$61,540Teach adults the literacy, language, and high-school-equivalency skills that reopen doors.
- Middle half of workers
- $49,100 to $77,690
- Growth
- Declining
- Openings a year
- 3,900
Work-life85Remote61- Adult Learning Strategies
- ESL Instruction
- Curriculum Adaptation
- Cultural Competence
Interpreter / Translator
$60,170Carry meaning across languages in real time or in writing, from courtrooms and hospitals to publishing.
- Middle half of workers
- $46,530 to $80,830
- Growth
- Slower than average
- Openings a year
- 6,900
Work-life67Remote13- Fluency in Two or More Languages
- Interpretation
- Translation
- Active Listening
Related majors
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Where these pay figures come from
Early and mid-career pay is the median annual wage of full-time workers who hold a bachelor's degree in that major, ages 22 to 27 and ages 35 to 45, from 2024 data. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (IPUMS). Published as Outcomes by Major by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Career pay is the annual wage of everyone working in that occupation, not only recent graduates, so it includes people who have done the job for decades. The middle half is the 25th to the 75th percentile. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and O*NET OnLine (median and percentile annual wages May 2025; employment projections 2024-2034).
All figures are national. What you earn depends on where you work, who you work for, and how far you take the degree.