What the Top 1% of Earners Majored In

We got an interesting question from an academic adviser at a Texas university: could we tell what the top 1 percent of earners majored in?

The writer, sly dog, was probably trying to make a point, because he wrote from a biology department, and it turns out that biology majors make up nearly 7 percent of college graduates who live in households in the top 1 percent.

According to the Census Bureau's 2010 American Community Survey, the majors that give you the best chance of reaching the 1 percent are pre-med, economics, biochemistry, zoology and, yes, biology, in that order.

Below is a chart showing the majors most likely to get into the 1 percent (excluding majors held by fewer than 50,000 people in 2010 census data). The third column shows the percentage of degree holders with that major who make it into the 1 percent. The fourth column shows the percent of the 1 percent (among college grads) that hold that major. In other words, more than one in 10 people with a pre-med degree make it into the 1 percent, and about 1 in 100 of the 1 percenters with degrees majored in pre-med.

Of course, choice of major is not the only way to increase your chances of reaching the 1 percent, if that is your goal. There is also the sector you choose.

A separate analysis of census data on occupations showed that one in eight lawyers, for example, are in the 1 percent -- unless they work for a Wall Street firm, when their chances increase to one in three. Among chief executives, fewer than one in five rank among the 1 percent, but their chances increase if the company produces medical supplies (one in four) or drugs (two in five). Hollywood writers? One in nine are 1 percenters. Television or radio writers? One in 14. Newspaper writers and editors? One in 62.

Undergraduate Degree /   Total /   % Who Are 1 Percenters /   Share of All 1 Percenters

Health and Medical Preparatory Programs      142,345     11.8%      0.9%

Economics      1,237,863      8.2%      5.4%

Biochemical Sciences      193,769      7.2%      0.7%

Zoology      159,935      6.9%      0.6%

Biology      1,864,666      6.7%      6.6%

International Relations      146,781      6.7%      0.5%

Political Science and Government      1,427,224      6.2%      4.7%

Physiology      98,181      6.0%      0.3%

Art History and Criticism      137,357      5.9%      0.4%

Chemistry      780,783      5.7%      2.4%

Molecular Biology      64,951      5.6%      0.2%

Area, Ethnic and Civilization Studies      184,906      5.2%      0.5%

Finance      1,071,812      4.8%      2.7%

History      1,351,368      4.7%      3.3%

Business Economics      108,146      4.6%      0.3%

Miscellaneous Psychology      61,257      4.3%      0.1%

Philosophy and Religious Studies      448,095      4.3%      1.0%

Microbiology      147,954      4.2%      0.3%

Chemical Engineering      347,959      4.1%      0.8%

Physics      346,455      4.1%      0.7%

Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences and Administration      334,016      3.9%      0.7%

Accounting      2,296,601      3.9%      4.7%

Mathematics      840,137      3.9%      1.7%

English Language and Literature      1,938,988      3.8%      3.8%

Miscellaneous Biology      52,895      3.7%      0.1%









..