The worth of a college degree can vary widely across Alabama schools and majors – at least in terms of post-graduate salaries.

Auburn University chemical engineering graduates made a median salary of $75,285 one year after graduation, the highest of any Alabama bachelor’s program, according to the 2022 U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard.

Read more: Students at this Alabama college go on to earn the most money, according to these two rankings

Still, graduates of two-year associate’s degree programs can go on to high-paying jobs, often for more technical fields or add-on certifications. And recently, graduates of community college nursing programs appear to be frequent high earners, recognizing the need for trained health care workers across the state.

AL.com analyzed pre-pandemic earnings data for college graduates one, two and three years after earning a degree. The scorecard matched up 2018 and 2019 earnings data from the national treasury, which surveyed alumni who graduated in 2015 through 2018.

The numbers are adjusted to 2020 dollars and, for privacy reasons, don’t include earnings data from smaller programs. They also only measure earnings of graduates who received some amount of federal aid while in school, are working and are not currently enrolled in another degree program.

Highest earnings by degree programs and fields of study of Alabama associate’s degrees.

Average median earnings for bachelor’s degree programs in Alabama amounted to $37,368 one year after graduation and $43,945 three years after graduation.

Alabama master’s degree graduates earned an average median salary of $55,290 straight after graduating.

Graduates of two-year programs earned an average median salary of $35,898 one year out of college.

Across degree levels, engineering, business and medical programs topped earnings charts for new graduates.

Community colleges offering registered nursing and nursing administration programs, including Chattahoochee Valley and Wallace State’s Selma campus, reported median salaries as high as $60,000. Among master’s programs, business administration and health diagnostics degrees reported median salaries higher than $100,000.

Mental health, education and biology master’s programs were more likely to produce lower-earning graduates, while some liberal and fine arts programs reported lower salaries among associate’s and bachelor’s graduates.

The numbers don’t account for graduates who are currently unemployed, which varied among programs, or those enrolled in more education.

The treasury also tracked differences in salaries between male and non-male graduates three years after earning a credential. Of the 163 degree-granting programs that provided gender pay data in Alabama, 145 reported higher median salaries among male graduates.

Top-earning Alabama associate’s programs, one year out of college:

• George C Wallace State Community College-Selma – Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing: $60,556
• Chattahoochee Valley Community College – Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing: $60,027
• Lawson State Community College – Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing: $59,340
• Herzing University-Birmingham – Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing: $58,918
• Bishop State Community College – Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing: $55,330

Search your school and program below to see how much alumni made one year after graduation. (Can’t see the chart? View it here.)