Best-paying college degrees

New York – College degrees in the United States (and generally worldwide) that lead to the highest salaries all involve high-level mathematics.Just like last year’s survey of salaries by college degrees, engineering majors dominate the list. For undergraduates, seven of the top ten college degrees, according to PayScale, Inc., belong to engineering majors. The best-paying college degree of all – by a long shot – is petroleum engineering.The salary advantage that graduates who earn these largely technical degrees enjoy continues as they move into the middle of their careers.The Top 20 best-paying college degrees in 2010 (US$):  1. Petroleum engineering         $93 000    $157 000  2. Aerospace engineering          $59 400     $108 000  3. Chemical engineering           $64 800    $108 000  4. Electrical engineering           $60 800    $104 000  5. Nuclear engineering            $63 900    $104 000  6. Applied mathematics            $56 400    $101 000  7. Biomedical engineering          $54 800     $101 000  8. Physics                     $50 700         $99 600  9. Computer engineering          $61 200         $87 70010. Economics                   $48 800       $97 80011. Computer science             $56 200          $97 70012. Civil engineering               $53 500          $93 40013. Statistics                    $50 000          $93 40014. Finance                     $47 500          $91 50015. Software engineering           $56 700          $91 30016. Management info systems    $50 900          $90 30017. Mathematics                 $46 400          $88 30018. Government                  $41 500          $88 30019. Information systems      $49 300          $87 10020. Construction management    $50 400           $87 000(AP)