University of Houston Journalism (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Journalism
- Public university
- Houston, TX
- About 48 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
University of Houston journalism graduates earn about what journalism graduates earn nationally, $36,226 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $21,500 in federal loans, close to the national median of $24,500. Several Texas programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Texas and national columns are the medians across all journalism bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, University of Houston graduates earn less than the national figure and about $4,212 less than the Texas median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Texas journalism program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Texas medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 37% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $1,653 less in their first year than other graduates. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $228 a month, or 7.6% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
94% of graduates (51 of 54) were working in Texas one year after graduating. Prices in the Houston area are about 1% below the national average, so a $36,226 salary here buys what about $36,730 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to journalism, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Editors
$45,950Median pay in Texas. 6,460 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Photographers
$41,280Median pay in Texas. 4,330 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Writers and Authors
$69,990Median pay in Texas. 2,320 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 11,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
News Analysts, Reporters, and Journalists
$48,470Median pay in Texas. 2,670 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About University of Houston
Journalism ranks 39th of 54 bachelor's programs at University of Houston by first-year earnings. The top three are Electrical Engineering ($86,136), Nursing ($85,740), and Chemical Engineering ($84,468).
Other journalism bachelor's programs near Houston
Common questions
The median graduate earns $36,226 one year after graduating and $49,505 five years after. The median across journalism bachelor's programs in Texas is $35,675.
The median federal loan balance is $21,500, which ranks 4th lowest of 8 journalism bachelor's programs in Texas. That works out to about $228 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 59% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 67%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Texas programs report higher pay.
Most do. 94% (51 of 54) were working in Texas one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Texas comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the journalism program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024