UIUC Economics (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Economics
- Public university
- Champaign, IL
- About 315 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
UIUC economics graduates earn about what economics graduates earn nationally, $58,921 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $21,228 in federal loans, close to the national median of $22,717. Several Illinois programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Illinois and national columns are the medians across all economics bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, UIUC graduates earn more than the national figure and about $15,199 more than the Illinois median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois economics program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois 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 55% 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 $7,854 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 $225 a month, or 4.6% 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. Separately, 159 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $41,041.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
82% of graduates (267 of 326) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Champaign area are about 7% below the national average, so a $58,921 salary here buys what about $63,558 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 economics, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education
$79,990Median pay in Illinois. 44,670 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 63,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
$79,120Median pay in Illinois. 40,560 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 82,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Data Scientists
$106,560Median pay in Illinois. 10,520 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 35% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Social Science Research Assistants
$64,890Median pay in Illinois. 250 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About UIUC
Economics ranks 24th of 71 bachelor's programs at UIUC by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($124,530), Computer and Information Science ($113,503), and Mathematics and Computer Science ($109,843).
Other economics bachelor's programs near Champaign
Common questions
The median graduate earns $58,921 one year after graduating and $91,191 five years after. The median across economics bachelor's programs in Illinois is $47,048.
The median federal loan balance is $21,228, which ranks 5th lowest of 13 economics bachelor's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $225 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 36% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 43%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 5% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Illinois programs report higher pay.
Most do. 82% (267 of 326) were working in Illinois 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 Illinois 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 economics 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