Students should know that it pays to stay in school. A report from the Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce shows median earnings rise with education level, but some occupations pay more than others so across-field comparisons show that workers with less education may earn more than workers with more education in a different field.

Elementary and middle school teachers lead the share of all occupations that require a Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree. A teacher with a Bachelor’s degree will have lifetime earnings of $1,757,000, but with a Master’s degree the earnings rise to $2,155,000. A student’s college major choice can also dramatically impact their future earning potential. New occupations such as chief executives, financial managers, computer software engineers, and marketing and sales managers all have lifetime earnings over $3 million with only a Bachelor’s degree, close to the lifetime earnings of Doctoral degree holders.

As noted in the report and shown in Figure 1 below, median lifetime earnings rise steadily for workers with increasing educational attainment. Overall, the median lifetime earnings for all workers are $1.7 million, which is just under $42,000 per year ($20 per hour). Over a 40-year career, those who didn’t earn a high school diploma or GED are expected to bring in less than $1 million, which translates into slightly more than $24,000 a year ($11.70 per hour). Obtaining a high school diploma adds 33 percent more to lifetime earnings; the average annual earnings of people with a high school diploma are $32,600 ($15.67 per hour). The economic penalty for not finishing high school is steep – almost $9,000 a year.

Figure 1: Median Lifetime Earnings By Highest Educational Attainment, 2009 Dollars