20 Best Paying Jobs for College Business Majors: 2018

As any college graduate knows, choosing a major is only the first step on the career path. Every year, ThinkAdvisor compiles this ranking of jobs for business majors that pay the highest salaries.

We sifted through the results of PayScale’s extensive College Salary Report for 2018-19. PayScale collects salary data from 2.3 million alumni of more than 4,000 universities to determine, among other things, mid-career salary potential of these jobs and related majors. Mid-career is determined as 10 years in the chosen field of work.

To figure the salary, PayScale combined base annual salary or hourly wage, bonuses, profit sharing, tips, commissions, overtime, and other forms of cash earnings, but not stock compensation.

Financial Advisors Love Their Jobs More Than Others

In the business arena, most people are gunning for dollars and not a deep, fulfilling experience with their chosen profession. But there are some jobs in the business world that are actually high on the meaningful side. PayScale found that 70% of financial advisors said their jobs were meaningful, which blows away the 19 other jobs listed, with next closest, finance director, at 56%. We guess helping people, whether they’re poor or wealthy, is pretty darn satisfying.

You Can Count on That Accounting Degree

If you get an accounting degree, there’s a really good chance that when you get a job it’ll be with others who have an accounting degree. More than any other business degree in the best paying jobs listed above did accounting degree holders stick together. For instance, 76% of CPAs had an accounting degree — not an earth-shattering revelation, but much higher than supply chain analysts or financial managers, at 37% and 50%, respectively.

So, check out the list above and see what the 20 best paying jobs are for business majors — and if you have an accounting degree, as we’ve found in the other years, feel free to celebrate.

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