Economics jobs divide into four main tracks, and federal wage data rank them with unusual clarity. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median wage for economists at $124,720 in May 2025. That is nearly two and a half times the $50,980 median recorded across all occupations in the same federal series.
The ranking shifts with the measure a candidate cares about most. Policy work inside the federal government paid economists a median of $144,680 in May 2025, the top figure among the industries the statisticians list. The data track shows the fastest projected growth at 35 percent over the decade. Each route also has a different entry door, from the master's degree most economists hold to the bachelor's degree listed for analysts and data scientists. This connects to our earlier piece, Where programmatic ad money actually goes before publishers get paid.
What do economists earn in policy and consulting?
The policy track holds the wage ceiling. Federal government economists had a median of $144,680 in May 2025, with management, scientific, and technical consulting services close behind at $141,010. The occupation itself is small, with 18,600 jobs in 2025, and projected to grow 5 percent from 2025 to 2035, a bit faster than the 3 percent average for all occupations. Entry typically runs through a master's degree, and about 1,100 openings a year are projected. The handbook entry lists the industry medians.
How does the banking track compare on scale?
Banking and markets trade the wage ceiling for volume. The handbook counts 443,100 financial analyst jobs in 2025, with employment projected to grow 7 percent from 2025 to 2035, much faster than average, and about 29,500 openings a year. The median wage for the occupation was $103,570, and financial risk specialists, a senior specialty inside the field, measured $117,330. A bachelor's degree is the typical entry credential, and the summary lists no required prior work experience. The quick facts carry those figures.
Is the data track the strongest bet for growth?
The growth numbers concentrate here. Data scientists, a title many econometrics graduates now hold, numbered 275,600 in 2025, with employment projected to grow 35 percent from 2025 to 2035, a change of 95,400 jobs. The median wage was $120,230 in May 2025. The industry table puts publishing, broadcasting, and content providers at $142,240, a media-adjacent figure worth noting for graduates who want to stay near news and entertainment. The typical entry credential is a bachelor's degree. The outlook entry states the projection.
Which weaknesses does each track carry?
Skepticism applies evenly across the four routes. The policy and consulting premium rests on a small occupation where most openings replace retirees and transfers, not new demand. The analyst median sits below the economist figure even at its specialty level, and its 7 percent projection still trails the data track. The data track's 35 percent forecast is exactly that, a forecast, the kind of number that has missed before in technology fields. None of the three entries promises easy entry, and each notes that openings arise largely from workers leaving.
How should a graduate choose among the four routes?
The federal table answers three different questions, so the first task is picking the question. A candidate who wants the highest observed wage should target the economist track and its government or consulting desks. One who wants the widest hiring funnel should look at the analyst route and its 443,100 jobs. One who wants projected expansion should study the data numbers, while weighing how often growth forecasts get revised.
Conclusion: match the track to the metric that matters
On wages, the ranking runs policy first, consulting next, then data, then banking, on the May 2025 medians cited above. On growth, data leads at 35 percent, banking follows at 7 percent, and the economist track sits at 5 percent, with each ahead of the 3 percent all-occupation average. On entry cost, the analyst and data routes ask for a bachelor's degree while the economist track asks for a master's. The federal numbers do not pick a winner. They price the trade-offs, and the choice depends on which price a candidate can pay. For related coverage, see Cloudflare's crawler deadline puts a price on AI's use of news.
