College Grads Expect an $80K Salary. Good Luck with That

Newly minted college graduates may have to manage their expectations about that first job.

The average college student expects to earn $80,000 after graduation, according to a new survey from Clever Real Estate. But the actual starting salary for college graduates is closer to $56,000.

The survey comes at a time when college students are spending more than ever on higher education, borrowing more and graduating into a tight job market.

In the Clever survey, current students said they expect to earn an annual salary of $80,004, on average, one year after graduation. By contrast, the average full-time employee ages 18 to 25 with a bachelor’s degree earns $56,153, according to Census data.

Most students in the survey overestimated the earning power of their degrees. Education majors, for example, predicted they would earn a starting salary of $75,186. The actual starting salary for a teacher is about $46,500, Clever reports.

Engineering students predicted a starting salary of $92,452. The actual starting salary in that field is $78,731.

The survey drew from 769 college students and was collected in February and March.

Jaime Dunaway-Seale, the report author, said college students may be harboring unrealistic hopes about starting pay in an era of steadily rising costs for housing, consumer goods and most everything else.

“I think they’re looking at the world around them, and looking at how much things are, and then they come up with a number that seems fair to them,” she said.

A Tough Job Market for New Grads

College graduates face a daunting job market. The unemployment rate for college graduates ages 22 to 27 was 5.6% in March, according to federal data. The overall unemployment rate was 4.2%.

The share of unemployed workers who are new to the workforce recently hit a 37-year high, according to a report by the Groundwork Collaborative and Fortune magazine.

Over the past few years, the job market for new graduates has grown steadily worse, a hiring drought that evokes memories of the Great Recession.

Roughly half of employers rated the job market for college graduates as “fair” or “poor” in a 2025 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. The share of employers with a pessimistic view of the job market for new grads has been rising every year since 2022.

Companies have been hiring less because of a shaky economy, budget cuts, a reduction in hiring overall and encroaching AI, among other factors.

Signs of a Turnaround

But there are signs of a turnaround.

The latest Job Outlook from NACE, released in April, projects a 5.6% increase in hiring of new college graduates this year. Among 166 employers surveyed, 34% predicted increased hires, while only 11% expected decreasing hires.

Many companies expect to hire more new graduates because they are in growth mode, building a talent pipeline and reaping increased demand for their products or services, the report said.

Salaries are rising for new college graduates, according to another new NACE report. The survey shows projected salaries rising across most fields. Computer science graduates are projected to earn $81,535, a 6.9% increase. Communications graduates are projected to earn $63,767, a 5.7% jump.

“We’re seeing more positive signs in the labor market,” said Mary Gatta, director of research and public policy at NACE.

One promising sign, Gatta said, is that employers are talking less about AI replacing entry-level workers. In a recent survey, only 11% of employers said they were discussing eliminating jobs over AI.

“The need for AI skills is increasing, which is not hugely surprising,” Gatta said. “But we asked employers how they wanted recent college grads to use AI, and it really is about augmenting jobs, it’s not about replacing jobs.”

Gatta has some tips for current college students.

GPAs don’t matter as much to potential employers today as in the past, she said. The share of employers who screen applicants for GPA dropped from 73% in 2019 to 37% in 2023 and remains low, NACE surveys show.

Instead, employers are looking more at experience and skills. Internships are particularly important: When choosing between equally qualified applicants, employers cited internships as the top deciding factor.

“So, internships are really important, in terms of recruiting,” Gatta said.