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Linguistic & Comparative Degree

79 schools compared · Average earnings $27,797/yr

Students study the scientific analysis of language structures, how languages evolve and relate to one another, and applications like translation, interpretation, and computational linguistics. Graduates typically pursue careers as translators, interpreters, computational linguists, forensic linguists, and language technology specialists at companies developing speech recognition and NLP systems. The growth of AI language technology has created new high-paying career paths for linguistics graduates.

What Linguistic & Comparative Graduates Do

Your command of language opens doors to several distinct careers, primarily in education and communication. Many graduates become secondary school teachers, where your day involves managing a classroom of teenagers, making literature relevant, and grading essays. Others pursue the advanced degrees required to teach at the college level, which means leading seminars, mentoring students, and publishing research. A different path is translation and interpretation—either high-stakes, real-time work in courtrooms or more focused, solitary work translating technical documents.

Career progression often means moving from teacher to administrator or from a freelance translator to owning an agency. However, be aware that most of these roles face headwinds, with flat or declining job growth. AI is also a major factor. For translators, its high exposure is fundamentally changing the job; value is shifting from creation to editing AI output and handling cultural nuance. In teaching, the impact is more moderate, with AI acting as a tool for grading and planning rather than replacing the core human interaction of the classroom.

Schools Offering

Avg Grad Earnings

$27,797/yr

Avg DegreeOutlook Score

32/100

AI Automation Risk

Very High

60% task exposure

Common Career Paths

Where Linguistic & Comparative graduates typically work, ranked by salary. Salary ranges show 25th–75th percentile spread. This field has roughly 83,300 combined openings per year.

Career Path	Salary Range	Openings/yr	Growth	AI Risk
Social scientists and related workers, all other	$100,340 $79K$128K	3,200	-1.7%	52%
English language and literature teachers, postsecondary	$78,270 $60K$104K	5,100	0.0%	53%
Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary	$77,010 $60K$102K	1,900	-0.2%	53%
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education	$64,580 $58K$83K	66,200	-1.6%	33%
Interpreters and translators	$59,440 $45K$80K	6,900	+1.7%	88%

Social scientists and related workers, all other

$100,340

$79K $128K

3,200 openings/yr -1.7% growth 52% AI risk

English language and literature teachers, postsecondary

$78,270

$60K $104K

5,100 openings/yr 0.0% growth 53% AI risk

Foreign language and literature teachers, postsecondary

$77,010

$60K $102K

1,900 openings/yr -0.2% growth 53% AI risk

Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education

$64,580

$58K $83K

66,200 openings/yr -1.6% growth 33% AI risk

Interpreters and translators

$59,440

$45K $80K

6,900 openings/yr +1.7% growth 88% AI risk

Source: BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics, May 2024. Salary range shows 25th–median–75th percentile (national).

Best Schools for Linguistic & Comparative

Top 20 of 79 schools ranked by DegreeOutlook Score. Click any row for full AI scenario analysis and earnings projections.

#	School	DW Score	Earnings	ROI
1	University of North Georgia Dahlonega, GA	54 46–54	$32,521/yr	38.1x
2	James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA	51 42–52	$45,122/yr	10.6x
3	Virginia Military Institute Lexington, VA	49 41–50	$43,923/yr	7.8x
4	Brigham Young University Provo, UT	47 39–47	$34,279/yr	19.5x
5	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA	44 36–45	$37,389/yr	9.2x
6	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA	44 38–45	$30,524/yr	12.1x
7	George Mason University Fairfax, VA	42 33–42	$40,105/yr	8.4x
8	Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, FL	41 33–41	$32,756/yr	15.8x
9	West Virginia University Morgantown, WV	41 33–41	$32,684/yr	12.4x
10	University of Florida Gainesville, FL	41 34–41	$30,205/yr	18.0x
11	Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY	41 37–41	$24,407/yr	14.8x
12	East Carolina University Greenville, NC	40 31–40	$35,561/yr	11.1x
13	Binghamton University Vestal, NY	40 35–41	$26,353/yr	13.9x
14	Stephen F Austin State University Nacogdoches, TX	39 30–39	$38,375/yr	8.1x
15	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX	39 32–40	$32,185/yr	10.7x
16	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC	39 35–39	$24,658/yr	15.0x
17	Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ	38 29–38	$38,177/yr	6.5x
18	Western Illinois University Macomb, IL	36 28–37	$37,155/yr	5.2x
19	Middle Tennessee State University Murfreesboro, TN	36 28–37	$34,856/yr	10.3x
20	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC	36 28–36	$34,099/yr	8.6x
21	University of Nebraska at Omaha Omaha, NE	36 28–36	$33,828/yr	11.1x
22	Montana State University Bozeman, MT	36 29–37	$33,415/yr	9.3x
23	The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX	36 29–36	$31,993/yr	8.2x
24	CUNY Queens College Queens, NY	36 32–36	$24,900/yr	15.5x
25	California State University-Northridge Northridge, CA	36 33–37	$21,501/yr	17.3x
26	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh, PA	35 26–35	$37,859/yr	4.7x
27	Ashford University San Diego, CA	35 26–35	$37,853/yr	6.8x
28	University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO	35 27–35	$35,409/yr	5.3x
29	Ramapo College of New Jersey Mahwah, NJ	35 28–36	$31,622/yr	7.6x
30	Metropolitan State University of Denver Denver, CO	35 29–35	$29,803/yr	10.4x
31	New Mexico State University-Main Campus Las Cruces, NM	35 30–36	$27,720/yr	13.4x
32	California State University-San Bernardino San Bernardino, CA	35 31–36	$24,961/yr	14.9x
33	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH	34 28–34	$27,788/yr	9.4x
34	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA	34 29–34	$25,059/yr	9.0x
35	University of South Florida Tampa, FL	33 27–33	$28,658/yr	10.2x
36	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN	33 27–33	$28,340/yr	7.4x
37	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville Knoxville, TN	32 24–32	$31,713/yr	4.9x
38	University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT	32 25–32	$30,251/yr	7.1x
39	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Milwaukee, WI	32 28–32	$25,285/yr	11.1x
40	Montclair State University Montclair, NJ	32 29–33	$23,754/yr	8.9x
41	California State University-Fullerton Fullerton, CA	32 28–32	$22,723/yr	14.4x
42	The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX	31 24–32	$30,895/yr	5.6x
43	Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA	31 24–31	$30,635/yr	6.4x
44	Missouri State University-Springfield Springfield, MO	31 25–32	$29,830/yr	7.3x
45	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI	31 25–31	$27,699/yr	6.8x
46	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA	31 26–32	$27,629/yr	7.8x
47	Iowa State University Ames, IA	31 27–32	$25,065/yr	10.5x
48	University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY	30 25–30	$26,703/yr	9.6x
49	University of Southern Maine Portland, ME	29 23–29	$27,895/yr	5.4x
50	Wichita State University Wichita, KS	29 24–29	$27,284/yr	6.3x
51	University of Memphis Memphis, TN	29 25–29	$23,533/yr	10.1x
52	University of Kentucky Lexington, KY	28 22–28	$27,449/yr	4.2x
53	Appalachian State University Boone, NC	28 23–28	$24,657/yr	7.2x
54	Western Washington University Bellingham, WA	28 24–28	$24,232/yr	10.1x
55	University of Maryland-Baltimore County Baltimore, MD	28 25–29	$23,742/yr	8.5x
56	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA	28 25–28	$18,393/yr	13.3x
57	University of Georgia Athens, GA	28 26–29	$17,864/yr	10.2x
58	Clemson University Clemson, SC	27 21–27	$29,560/yr	5.5x
59	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL	27 23–28	$25,921/yr	6.5x
60	Reed College Portland, OR	27 22–27	$25,561/yr	-0.0x
61	University of North Carolina at Greensboro Greensboro, NC	27 23–27	$24,058/yr	6.9x
62	University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA	27 24–27	$19,809/yr	7.6x
63	Georgetown University Washington, DC	26 20–26	$28,278/yr	1.8x
64	University of New Mexico-Main Campus Albuquerque, NM	26 20–26	$27,366/yr	8.3x
65	Southern Illinois University-Carbondale Carbondale, IL	26 22–27	$25,921/yr	3.9x
66	Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ	26 24–26	$16,796/yr	6.8x
67	San Diego State University San Diego, CA	25 22–26	$22,001/yr	5.6x
68	University of Oregon Eugene, OR	24 21–25	$23,615/yr	6.2x
69	Georgia State University Atlanta, GA	24 22–24	$16,568/yr	10.1x
70	University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras San Juan, PR	24 22–25	$9,605/yr	12.4x
71	The University of Texas at El Paso El Paso, TX	23 18–23	$26,475/yr	5.4x
72	University of California-Davis Davis, CA	23 19–23	$22,965/yr	5.8x
73	Wayne State University Detroit, MI	23 20–23	$20,939/yr	6.7x
74	University of North Texas Denton, TX	23 20–23	$20,522/yr	3.6x
75	University of Massachusetts-Amherst Amherst, MA	23 21–24	$20,334/yr	5.8x
76	University of California-Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA	22 19–23	$21,793/yr	6.2x
77	University of Missouri-St Louis Saint Louis, MO	22 19–22	$20,319/yr	6.5x
78	University of California-Riverside Riverside, CA	21 19–22	$20,212/yr	6.1x
79	University of Vermont Burlington, VT	18 16–18	$14,094/yr	0.9x

Highest Earning Linguistic & Comparative Programs

Schools where Linguistic & Comparative graduates earn the most in their first year after graduation.

School	1-Year Earnings	DW Score
James Madison University	$45,122/yr	51
Virginia Military Institute	$43,923/yr	49
George Mason University	$40,105/yr	42
Stephen F Austin State University	$38,375/yr	39
Northern Arizona University	$38,177/yr	38
University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	$37,859/yr	35
Ashford University	$37,853/yr	35
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	$37,389/yr	44
Western Illinois University	$37,155/yr	36
East Carolina University	$35,561/yr	40

Best ROI for Linguistic & Comparative

Schools with the highest earnings-to-tuition ratio for Linguistic & Comparative.

School	ROI Multiple	Earnings	DW Score
University of North Georgia	38.1x	$32,521/yr	54
Brigham Young University	19.5x	$34,279/yr	47
University of Florida	18.0x	$30,205/yr	41
California State University-Northridge	17.3x	$21,501/yr	36
Florida Atlantic University	15.8x	$32,756/yr	41
CUNY Queens College	15.5x	$24,900/yr	36
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	15.0x	$24,658/yr	39
California State University-San Bernardino	14.9x	$24,961/yr	35
Stony Brook University	14.8x	$24,407/yr	41
California State University-Fullerton	14.4x	$22,723/yr	32

Want to compare two Linguistic & Comparative programs side by side? Use the comparison tool →

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Consider the Trade Route

Not sure a 4-year degree is the right path? Trade programs in Linguistic & Comparative offer shorter timelines, lower debt, and strong AI resilience for hands-on careers.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much do Linguistic & Comparative graduates earn?

Across 79 schools, Linguistic & Comparative graduates earn an average of $27,797 per year in their first year after graduation. Earnings range from $9,605 to $45,122 depending on the school.

What is the AI automation risk for Linguistic & Comparative?

Linguistic & Comparative is rated "Very High" for AI automation risk, with an average of 60% of job tasks exposed to large language models and AI tools. This means most career tasks in this field could be augmented or replaced by AI over the next decade.

Which school has the best Linguistic & Comparative program?

Based on our DegreeOutlook Score (combining earnings, AI resilience, job market size, and ROI), University of North Georgia ranks #1 for Linguistic & Comparative with a score of 54/100 and graduate earnings of $32,521/yr.

What's the outlook for a Linguistic & Comparative degree?

On average, Linguistic & Comparative graduates earn 9.1x their in-state tuition over 10 years. This is a moderate return — school choice matters significantly.

Scores use College Scorecard earnings, BLS employment projections, and AI task-exposure research. See full methodology →