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Physics Degree

75 schools compared · Average earnings $46,482/yr

Students study the fundamental laws governing matter, energy, space, and time, including mechanics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, and thermodynamics through theory and experimentation. Graduates typically pursue careers in engineering, data science, quantitative finance, national laboratories, technology development, and education, or continue to graduate programs in physics or engineering. Physics graduates are among the most versatile STEM professionals, with analytical skills valued across every technical industry.

What Physics Graduates Do

Your physics degree opens doors to the lab, the classroom, and the boardroom. As a research physicist, you might spend your days designing experiments in a government lab, writing code to model cosmic events, and analyzing massive datasets. Or, you could pursue a career in education, either as a postsecondary professor mentoring graduate students and conducting original research, or as a secondary school teacher running hands-on labs to explain Newton’s laws to teenagers. While research and university roles are growing, the high-volume path of high school teaching faces slight headwinds.

With experience, a research-focused career can lead to a leadership position. As a natural sciences manager, you’ll shift from doing the science to directing it—leading teams, securing funding, and setting the strategic vision for an R&D department.

AI will substantially change your day-to-day work. With an average exposure of 50%, routine tasks like data analysis will be increasingly automated. For pure physicists, the exposure is higher; AI will handle complex calculations, shifting your value to designing novel experiments and making judgment calls on AI-generated results. Adaptability will be key.

Schools Offering

Avg Grad Earnings

$46,482/yr

Avg DegreeOutlook Score

50/100

AI Automation Risk

Very High

56% task exposure

Common Career Paths

Where Physics graduates typically work, ranked by salary. Salary ranges show 25th–75th percentile spread. This field has roughly 77,700 combined openings per year.

Career Path	Salary Range	Openings/yr	Growth	AI Risk
Physicists	$166,290 $117K$210K	1,700	+4.0%	75%
Natural sciences managers	$161,180 $114K$215K	8,500	+3.7%	50%
Physics teachers, postsecondary	$97,360 $67K$130K	1,300	+2.5%	42%
Secondary school teachers, except special and career/technical education	$64,580 $58K$83K	66,200	-1.6%	33%

Physicists

$166,290

$117K $210K

1,700 openings/yr +4.0% growth 75% AI risk

Natural sciences managers

$161,180

$114K $215K

8,500 openings/yr +3.7% growth 50% AI risk

Physics teachers, postsecondary

$97,360

$67K $130K

1,300 openings/yr +2.5% growth 42% 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

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

Best Schools for Physics

Top 20 of 75 schools ranked by DegreeOutlook Score. Click any row for full AI scenario analysis and earnings projections.

#	School	DW Score	Earnings	ROI
1	Brigham Young University Provo, UT	74 73–76	$68,664/yr	36.5x
2	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona Pomona, CA	70 68–72	$64,045/yr	24.0x
3	Portland State University Portland, OR	70 68–71	$62,749/yr	17.7x
4	California State University-San Marcos San Marcos, CA	70 68–71	$56,018/yr	25.0x
5	Salisbury University Salisbury, MD	69 67–70	$54,548/yr	19.3x
6	University of Wisconsin-La Crosse La Crosse, WI	69 67–70	$54,428/yr	20.9x
7	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA	69 67–70	$53,597/yr	16.4x
8	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA	66 64–68	$60,495/yr	13.6x
9	Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH	65 63–67	$53,504/yr	14.6x
10	University of South Florida Tampa, FL	65 65–67	$46,094/yr	29.4x
11	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg, VA	64 62–65	$58,061/yr	11.7x
12	Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY	64 63–65	$44,562/yr	19.3x
13	Texas State University San Marcos, TX	63 65–64	$41,737/yr	21.2x
14	University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC	62 60–64	$70,150/yr	23.3x
15	University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA	62 61–64	$48,951/yr	12.8x
16	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA	62 63–63	$42,057/yr	27.3x
17	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD	61 64–62	$39,825/yr	21.0x
18	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA	60 58–61	$54,773/yr	4.2x
19	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI	60 58–61	$53,019/yr	10.0x
20	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC	59 57–60	$62,647/yr	16.4x
21	Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA	59 57–60	$62,478/yr	16.4x
22	University of Wisconsin-River Falls River Falls, WI	59 57–61	$62,196/yr	17.1x
23	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY	59 58–61	$60,348/yr	3.5x
24	University of Central Florida Orlando, FL	59 57–61	$55,826/yr	20.9x
25	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL	59 57–60	$51,019/yr	10.3x
26	California State University-San Bernardino San Bernardino, CA	58 56–60	$57,114/yr	17.6x
27	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN	58 56–59	$54,350/yr	9.1x
28	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA	58 60–60	$41,474/yr	15.4x
29	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA	58 60–60	$41,474/yr	15.5x
30	Southern Arkansas University Main Campus Magnolia, AR	57 55–58	$58,870/yr	14.0x
31	CUNY City College New York, NY	55 53–56	$48,908/yr	15.7x
32	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX	55 61–56	$36,832/yr	18.7x
33	Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX	54 52–56	$57,435/yr	11.1x
34	Texas A & M University-College Station College Station, TX	51 49–52	$53,329/yr	9.2x
35	University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO	51 53–53	$41,874/yr	9.6x
36	Colorado State University-Fort Collins Fort Collins, CO	50 49–52	$51,927/yr	9.1x
37	University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE	50 49–52	$47,670/yr	10.8x
38	Boise State University Boise, ID	50 50–51	$45,813/yr	12.0x
39	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI	50 56–51	$36,878/yr	14.6x
40	Rowan University Glassboro, NJ	50 56–51	$36,435/yr	12.5x
41	The University of Texas at Arlington Arlington, TX	50 57–50	$34,611/yr	16.0x
42	University of Delaware Newark, DE	49 47–51	$52,741/yr	7.2x
43	Rutgers University-Camden Camden, NJ	49 56–50	$35,689/yr	11.9x
44	Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ	49 56–50	$35,689/yr	11.8x
45	Rutgers University-Newark Newark, NJ	49 56–50	$35,689/yr	12.3x
46	Whitworth University Spokane, WA	48 46–49	$65,316/yr	2.2x
47	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA	48 47–50	$50,219/yr	7.5x
48	Oregon State University Corvallis, OR	48 46–49	$48,169/yr	7.9x
49	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus Bend, OR	48 47–50	$48,169/yr	8.6x
50	North Carolina State University at Raleigh Raleigh, NC	48 48–49	$43,740/yr	11.3x
51	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA	47 45–48	$68,215/yr	1.6x
52	University of Massachusetts-Lowell Lowell, MA	47 45–48	$48,324/yr	6.3x
53	Virginia Military Institute Lexington, VA	45 44–46	$46,641/yr	4.7x
54	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA	43 44–44	$43,144/yr	6.6x
55	Michigan State University East Lansing, MI	43 52–44	$33,400/yr	10.7x
56	Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe, AZ	43 53–44	$30,503/yr	14.3x
57	Cornell University Ithaca, NY	42 40–43	$50,933/yr	0.9x
58	Northeastern University Boston, MA	41 40–43	$49,399/yr	1.0x
59	Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY	41 40–42	$48,374/yr	1.1x
60	Georgia State University Atlanta, GA	41 50–42	$31,001/yr	15.9x
61	University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT	40 45–41	$38,748/yr	9.4x
62	Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA	39 42–40	$39,804/yr	5.0x
63	Montclair State University Montclair, NJ	39 42–40	$39,740/yr	5.7x
64	The University of Texas at San Antonio San Antonio, TX	37 43–38	$36,328/yr	9.1x
65	University of California-Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA	36 41–37	$37,859/yr	5.5x
66	University of Northern Colorado Greeley, CO	32 40–33	$34,373/yr	6.2x
67	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT	28 37–29	$32,341/yr	3.6x
68	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT	28 37–29	$32,341/yr	3.6x
69	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT	28 37–29	$32,341/yr	3.6x
70	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT	28 37–29	$32,341/yr	3.6x
71	Purdue University-Main Campus West Lafayette, IN	28 38–29	$30,203/yr	6.6x
72	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT	27 36–28	$32,341/yr	3.0x
73	Arizona State University Digital Immersion Scottsdale, AZ	27 37–28	$30,503/yr	—
74	University of California-Riverside Riverside, CA	23 25–24	$19,977/yr	2.5x
75	New York University New York, NY	20 27–21	$24,802/yr	0.0x

Highest Earning Physics Programs

Schools where Physics graduates earn the most in their first year after graduation.

School	1-Year Earnings	DW Score
University of North Carolina at Charlotte	$70,150/yr	62
Brigham Young University	$68,664/yr	74
University of Pennsylvania	$68,215/yr	47
Whitworth University	$65,316/yr	48
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	$64,045/yr	70
Portland State University	$62,749/yr	70
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	$62,647/yr	59
Georgia College & State University	$62,478/yr	59
University of Wisconsin-River Falls	$62,196/yr	59
University of California-Los Angeles	$60,495/yr	66

Best ROI for Physics

Schools with the highest earnings-to-tuition ratio for Physics.

School	ROI Multiple	Earnings	DW Score
Brigham Young University	36.5x	$68,664/yr	74
University of South Florida	29.4x	$46,094/yr	65
California State University-Long Beach	27.3x	$42,057/yr	62
California State University-San Marcos	25.0x	$56,018/yr	70
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	24.0x	$64,045/yr	70
University of North Carolina at Charlotte	23.3x	$70,150/yr	62
Texas State University	21.2x	$41,737/yr	63
University of Maryland-College Park	21.0x	$39,825/yr	61
University of Central Florida	20.9x	$55,826/yr	59
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse	20.9x	$54,428/yr	69

Want to compare two Physics programs side by side? Use the comparison tool →

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Frequently Asked Questions

How much do Physics graduates earn?

Across 75 schools, Physics graduates earn an average of $46,482 per year in their first year after graduation. Earnings range from $19,977 to $70,150 depending on the school.

What is the AI automation risk for Physics?

Physics is rated "Very High" for AI automation risk, with an average of 56% 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 Physics program?

Based on our DegreeOutlook Score (combining earnings, AI resilience, job market size, and ROI), Brigham Young University ranks #1 for Physics with a score of 74/100 and graduate earnings of $68,664/yr.

What's the outlook for a Physics degree?

On average, Physics graduates earn 11.8x their in-state tuition over 10 years. This is a strong return on investment.

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