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Pick any two of our 100 majors. See what the jobs pay, how fast BLS expects them to grow, a 20-year outlook range, and how much of the work AI can already speed up.
Read the full Finance vs Accounting guide →
Scorecard
“Edge” marks the stronger number on each line (for AI, lower exposure). No edge when the gap is small (median pay within 1%, AI within 3 points, growth within 1 point). A tally, not a verdict.
AI task exposure
Share of each job's tasks current AI tools could do at least twice as fast (Eloundou et al. 2023). Not a prediction of job losses.
Job growth: 10 years official, 20-year range
Index: 2025 jobs = 100. Lines = BLS projection to 2035. Shaded = our 2035–2045 extrapolation range.
Solid lines: BLS Employment Projections 2025–35. Shaded 2035–2045: our extrapolation range (current yearly rate continues vs no further change). Not a BLS figure.
Pay range
Line = 10th to 90th percentile · box = middle half · dot = median (BLS OEWS, May 2024)
Spread of pay across people working in these jobs today (OEWS May 2024). Not a year-by-year salary path.
| Career | Median pay | Jobs 2025–35 | AI task exposure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Financial Analysts | $101,350 | +7.2% | 48% |
| Personal Financial Advisors | $102,140 | +1.4% | 59% |
| Financial Managers | $161,700 | +9.7% | 47% |
| Loan Officers | $74,180 | +1.1% | 62% |
| Actuaries | $125,770 | +9.3% | 52% |
| Budget Analysts | $87,930 | +1.8% | 58% |
| Career | Median pay | Jobs 2025–35 | AI task exposure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accountants & Auditors | $81,680 | +5.0% | 54% |
| Financial Examiners | $90,400 | +9.3% | 54% |
| Budget Analysts | $87,930 | +1.8% | 58% |
| Financial Managers | $161,700 | +9.7% | 47% |
| Tax Examiners & Revenue Agents | $59,740 | -1.0% | 63% |
| Compliance Officers | $78,420 | +3.8% | 53% |
Popular comparisons
- Finance vs Accounting$101,700 vs $84,800 · AI 54% vs 55%
- Computer Science vs Information Technology$127,600 vs $96,800 · AI 63% vs 60%
- Nursing vs Psychology$118,000 vs $69,000 · AI 37% vs 40%
- Finance vs Economics$101,700 vs $108,400 · AI 54% vs 50%
- Accounting vs Business Management$84,800 vs $105,700 · AI 55% vs 48%
- Biology vs Chemistry$80,100 vs $93,900 · AI 41% vs 39%
- Psychology vs Sociology$69,000 vs $77,000 · AI 40% vs 51%
- Finance vs Business Management$101,700 vs $105,700 · AI 54% vs 48%
- Computer Science vs Cybersecurity$127,600 vs $127,600 · AI 63% vs 60%
- Biology vs Biochemistry$80,100 vs $100,600 · AI 41% vs 43%
- Chemistry vs Biochemistry$93,900 vs $100,600 · AI 39% vs 43%
- Psychology vs Social Work$69,000 vs $58,900 · AI 40% vs 35%
- Marketing vs Business Management$111,000 vs $105,700 · AI 54% vs 48%
- Psychology vs Neuroscience$69,000 vs $102,100 · AI 40% vs 50%
- Computer Science vs Computer Engineering$127,600 vs $133,100 · AI 63% vs 57%
- Marketing vs Communications$111,000 vs $76,100 · AI 54% vs 58%
- Chemistry vs Chemical Engineering$93,900 vs $121,400 · AI 39% vs 44%
- Economics vs Business Management$108,400 vs $105,700 · AI 50% vs 48%
- Computer Science vs Information Systems$127,600 vs $104,200 · AI 63% vs 60%
- Information Technology vs Information Systems$96,800 vs $104,200 · AI 60% vs 60%
- Social Work vs Counseling$58,900 vs $48,600 · AI 35% vs 30%
- Biology vs Environmental Science$80,100 vs $86,100 · AI 41% vs 50%
- Electrical Engineering vs Computer Engineering$127,500 vs $133,100 · AI 46% vs 57%
- Sociology vs Social Work$77,000 vs $58,900 · AI 51% vs 35%
- Mechanical Engineering vs Electrical Engineering$108,300 vs $127,500 · AI 44% vs 46%
- Cybersecurity vs Information Technology$127,600 vs $96,800 · AI 60% vs 60%
- Computer Science vs Data Science$127,600 vs $104,200 · AI 63% vs 67%
- Finance vs Business Analytics$101,700 vs $101,200 · AI 54% vs 55%
- Accounting vs Marketing$84,800 vs $111,000 · AI 55% vs 54%
- Sociology vs Anthropology$77,000 vs $64,900 · AI 51% vs 54%
How to read these comparisons
- Pay is the spread of what people in each major's typical careers earn today (BLS, May 2024), not a promise of a starting salary.
- Job growth is BLS's official 10-year projection (2025–35). For 20 years we show a clearly labelled range, not a forecast.
- AI task exposure is the share of a job's tasks current AI tools can do at least twice as fast. It's from published research, and it is not a prediction of job losses.
- Missing numbers show as “data not available”. We don't guess.
Not sure which major fits you? See which one fits you.
Pay and AI exposure tell you about the jobs. They don't tell you whether you'd enjoy the work. MajorMatch's proprietary scoring matches your interests and strengths to 100 majors. It takes 10 to 20 minutes, and your top 3 matches are free. The full report is optional ($29).
Sources and method
- Pay: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2024 national estimates (annual wage percentiles). For each listed career, the OEWS percentiles of its largest-employment SOC code; the major figure is the median of its careers at each percentile (equal weight), rounded to $100. Where BLS reports a wage only as “$239,200 or more” (marked ≥), we use $239,200, so the real figure is higher.
- Job growth: BLS Employment Projections 2025–35 (Table 1.2, occupational projections). Sum of BLS 2025 and projected 2035 employment over the unique SOC codes behind the major's listed careers; percent = 2035/2025 - 1. All U.S. jobs: +3.5%.
- 20-year view: BLS publishes 10-year projections only. For 2035–2045 we show a range, not a forecast: the top edge assumes the field's 2025–35 yearly rate keeps going for 10 more years; the bottom edge assumes no further change after 2035 (reversed for fields BLS expects to shrink). Real results can land outside this range.
- AI task exposure: share of each job's tasks (from the O*NET 30.0 task list) that current AI tools could do at least twice as fast at the same quality, from Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), “GPTs are GPTs” (Science, 2024; human and GPT-4 ratings averaged; tasks that need extra software count half). Cross-checked against Felten, Raj & Seamans' AI Occupational Exposure scores (rank correlation 0.68 across 170 careers). Major figure = equal-weight average of the careers we list for it. All U.S. jobs (33%) = Employment-weighted mean over 772 detailed occupations (142.8M jobs, OEWS May 2024), same formula as the major figures. Exposure means AI can speed up tasks. It is not a prediction of job losses. The ILO's exposure index wasn't used because it's published on a different occupation system.
- BLS AI notes: where BLS lists artificial intelligence as a factor in its 2025–35 projection for an occupation (Table 1.12), we quote it.
- Careers per major: the same career list MajorMatch uses in its Earnings Continuum and loan calculators. A major doesn't limit you to these jobs.
Updated 2026-10-31. Data: bls.gov/oes, bls.gov/emp, onetcenter.org, github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs, github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE.