Multimedia: Charts

Any replication of this chart should be credited to The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution.

Rate of Return of College Compared to Alternative Investments

June 25, 2011

When the various costs of college are totaled, the total investment for a four-year college degree is about $102,000. When you compare the rates of return of a $102,000 investment in bonds, stocks, gold, treasury bills, and housing to the investment in a bachelor’s degree, higher education is the clear winner. The investment in a four-year college yields a rate of return of 15.2 percent per year — more than double the average return over the last 60 years experienced in the stock market (6.8 percent), and more than five times the return to investments in corporate bonds (2.9 percent), gold (2.3 percent), long-term government bonds (2.2 percent), or housing (0.4 percent). Also, at first glance the associate’s degree stands out with returns over 20 percent, but this simply reflects the much lower cost of an associate’s degree relative to a four-year degree. When compared to the lifetime earnings of four-year college graduates, workers with an associate’s degree still earn significantly less.

Recent Charts

Evolution of the “Job Gap” and Possible Scenarios for Growth

April 6, 2012 • Charts

The Hamilton Project tracks the monthly “job gap,” which is the number of jobs that need to be created in order to return to pre-recession employment levels while still absorbing the workers entering the labor force each month.

Impacts of Training Program Earnings by Years After Training

November 30, 2011 • Charts

It is critical that worker training programs be rigorously evaluated so that scare training resources can be targeted toward the most effective programs.

Federal Funding for DOL Training Programs, 1985-2011

November 30, 2011 • Charts

Federal spending on job training programs by the U.S. Department of Labor has gradually fallen since the 1980s, aside from a bump in 2009 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Earnings Gains of Displaced Workers in Technical Fields versus Other Fields

November 30, 2011 • Charts

Retraining in technical fields provides higher returns for workers than retraining in non-technical classes.

Earnings of Workers Who Lost Their Job in the Great Recession

November 4, 2011 • Charts

Recent research suggests that hardship for dislocated workers extends beyond periods of unemployment. Once reemployed, workers typically earn significantly less than they did prior to job loss.

Change in Family Earnings of Children, 1975-2010

October 7, 2011 • Charts

Over the last 35 years, the opportunity gap for children whose parents are at different ends of the earnings distribution has grown. Children at the 90th percentile of the distribution of family earnings have experienced a 45 percent increase, while children at the 25th percentile have experienced a decline of over 20 percent.