Mathematics became the highest-paying degree in Mexico, with an average monthly income of 29,887 pesos, displacing Medicine, which had ranked first for the previous three years, according to the “Compara Carreras 2026” report prepared by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO).
At the opposite end is Curriculum Design and Pedagogy, whose professionals earn an average of 15,934 pesos per month. The difference between the two degrees is close to 14,000 pesos per month, equivalent to a 47% gap.
IMCO analyzed the working conditions of 65 bachelor’s degrees and 14 technical careers based on indicators such as income, unemployment, informality, occupational risk, and the connection between education and employment.
What are the 10 highest-paying degrees?
Mathematics tops the list with an average monthly income of 29,887 pesos, followed by Medicine, with 27,823 pesos, and Finance, with 27,290 pesos.
The 10 degrees with the highest incomes are:
- Mathematics: 29,887 pesos per month.
- Medicine: 27,823 pesos.
- Finance: 27,290 pesos.
- Architecture: 26,822 pesos.
- Political Science: 26,095 pesos.
- Electronics and Mechanics: 25,953 pesos.
- Construction and Civil Engineering: 25,603 pesos.
- Fashion and Interior Industrial Design: 25,503 pesos.
- Educational Planning, Evaluation and Research: 25,490 pesos.
- Computer Science: 24,983 pesos.
What are the lowest-paying degrees?
Curriculum Design and Pedagogy ranks last on the list, with an average monthly income of 15,934 pesos. It is followed by Educational Guidance and Social Work and Services, with salaries below 16,300 pesos.
The 10 degrees with the lowest incomes are:
- Curriculum Design and Pedagogy: 15,934 pesos per month.
- Educational Guidance: 16,240 pesos.
- Social Work and Services: 16,266 pesos.
- Social Sciences: 17,056 pesos.
- Sociology and Anthropology: 17,137 pesos.
- Therapy and Rehabilitation: 17,141 pesos.
- Gastronomy and Food Services: 17,532 pesos.
- Preschool Teacher Education: 17,620 pesos.
- Nutrition: 17,773 pesos.
- Literature: 17,973 pesos.
Salary is not everything
IMCO warned that the working conditions associated with a degree cannot be evaluated solely by income, since professionals with similar salaries may face very different rates of unemployment and informality.
Therapy and Rehabilitation has the highest rate of informality, at 52%; followed by Veterinary Medicine, at 42%; Gastronomy and Food Services, 41%; Literature, 39%; and Criminology and Criminalistics, 38%.
In contrast, Software Development and Finance have an informality rate of 11%; Secondary School Teacher Education, 12%; and Primary School Teacher Education and Information Technology and Computing, 15%.
The report indicates that degrees with higher salaries are generally associated with more stable working conditions, although this relationship does not occur in every case. Dentistry and Stomatology, for example, combines above-average incomes with a higher risk of unemployment or informality.
54% do not work in what they studied
The 2026 edition of “Compara Carreras” measured for the first time the connection between professional education and employment and found that 54% of Mexican professionals work in an occupation that is not directly related to what they studied.
Those who work in their field earn an average of 25,964 pesos per month, while professionals working outside their field earn 20,862 pesos, a difference of 20%.
Most people who do not work in their profession hold positions that do not require a bachelor’s degree. More than 1.2 million work in administrative support, sales, and commerce activities, equivalent to one in every five professionals in this situation.
General Medicine has the strongest connection between education and employment, with 81% of its graduates working in the profession. At the opposite end are General Social Science Programs, with only 8%; Computer Science and Curriculum Design and Pedagogy, with 9% each; and Communication and Journalism, with 21%.
Despite the differences between degrees, IMCO highlighted that higher education continues to provide labor benefits: professionals earn an average of 74% more than people who only completed high school.
Between 2020 and 2025, the average monthly income of professionals increased by 10.2% in real terms, rising from 16,151 to 17,795 pesos. During that period, the unemployment rate fell from 5% to 3%, while informality increased from 22% to 24%.
Of the 65 bachelor’s degrees analyzed, 62 reported higher incomes than in 2020. Mathematics recorded the largest real increase, at nearly 41%, while Secondary School Teacher Education experienced a 3% decline.
IMCO proposed incorporating information on income, unemployment, informality, costs, and regional opportunities into career guidance beginning in upper-secondary education, so that students and families can compare the conditions associated with each degree.
Source: eluniversal
