What Community Organization and Advocacy Graduates Earn
How much do Community Organization and Advocacy bachelor's graduates earn?
The median Community Organization and Advocacy bachelor's graduate starts at $43,603 and reaches $54,309 by year five in the federal Scorecard data (22 programs reporting at that horizon). Median debt at graduation: $35,500.
The after side of the Community Organization and Advocacy decision: a $43,603 start, $54,309 by year five, and $35,500 of median debt, measured by the federal government rather than surveyed by marketers.
Updated November 5, 2026
Median earnings at 1, 4, and 5 years (College Scorecard)
The three rows below are the whole earnings story Scorecard can tell about Community Organization and Advocacy: $43,603, then $54,080, then $54,309. Each median is graduate-weighted, built from 18 programs at year one and 22 at year five, and the unweighted program median sits alongside so a reader can see how much the weighting itself is doing.
| Horizon | Median earnings (graduate-weighted) | Median program (unweighted) | Graduates counted | Share earning above the high-school threshold |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year after graduation | $43,603 | $44,452 | 2,729 | 71.6% |
| 4 years after graduation | $54,080 | $52,573 | 2,451 | n/p |
| 5 years after graduation | $54,309 | $53,550 | 2,485 | 74.8% |
Earnings in this field climb $10,706 between the first and fifth year, a 25% rise that trails the all-fields pattern (the median field in this dataset pays $45,010 at year one and $65,763 at year five). Early-career growth this shape usually means the first job is a foothold: licensure, a portfolio, or a first promotion does the heavy lifting.
The Pell split adds a second lens on the $43,603 year-one median: graduates who received Pell Grants earn a median of $49,608, and graduates who did not earn $52,467, a gap of $2,859. Read it as a map of where each group studied and the networks they carried in, not as the degree paying two different wages for the same work.
Inside its own CIP family, Community Organization and Advocacy ranks 3 of 5 published bachelor's fields by five-year earnings; the family median at that horizon is $54,309. Its closest sibling is Social Work at $53,349, below this field's $54,309. Family comparisons strip out the broad field effect and leave the specific program choice exposed.
Ranked across all 182 published fields, Community Organization and Advocacy stands number 144 by five-year earnings and number 109 by first-year earnings, and number 177 from the lowest median debt. Those three ranks together are the field's fingerprint: high earn rank with a low debt rank is the combination students are actually shopping for, and this field's spread between them is 33 places.
The debt side of the same degree
Across the 11 programs that report debt for Community Organization and Advocacy, the median graduate owes $35,500. Set beside the $43,603 year-one median, the debt is 81% of first-year gross earnings, about 9.8 months of pay before tax. Repaid on the standard 10-year schedule at 6.52%, it costs $403 monthly and $12,915 in interest. The student loan payoff calculator replays that schedule with your numbers, and the college ROI calculator weighs the full cost against the earnings table above.
Where graduates of this field earn the most
One field, many markets: the five-year median for Community Organization and Advocacy is $54,309 nationally, yet the strongest programs below run far ahead of it. The ranking keeps a 30-graduate floor under every entry, and Northwestern University heads the list at $109,665.
| Institution | Median earnings, 5 years | Median earnings, 1 year | Median debt | Graduates counted (5yr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northwestern University | $109,665 | $59,046 | $15,746 | 35 |
| Central Michigan University | $63,565 | $48,581 | $27,000 | 189 |
| Metropolitan College of New York | $62,202 | n/p | n/p | 32 |
| University of California-Santa Cruz | $58,517 | $43,689 | $13,000 | 59 |
| Empire State University | $57,546 | $52,995 | $20,353 | 625 |
A program median describes that program's own graduates in that program's own labor market; Northwestern University at $109,665 is evidence about a place and a mix of students, not a wage offer. Put the same programs' prices next to these figures with the degree cost calculator and the net price estimator before ranking anything.
Two more facts about the shape of this field: the five highest-paying programs in the table account for only 37.8% of the 2,485 graduates counted at five years, so the top of the table is a thin slice and not the field's center; and the leading program's five-year median of $109,665 sits 102% above the national field median of $54,309. Its median debt, $15,746, runs below the field median of $35,500, which is the trade a student at the top of this table is actually being offered.
Frequently asked questions
How much do Community Organization and Advocacy graduates earn?
The national median is $43,603 one year after graduation and $54,309 five years after, across the 18 bachelor's programs reporting 1-year earnings to College Scorecard (October 2026 release), weighted by graduates counted.
How much debt do Community Organization and Advocacy graduates carry?
The median cumulative federal loan debt at graduation is $35,500. On a standard 10-year plan at 6.52% that is $403 a month and $12,915 of interest in total.
How were the Community Organization and Advocacy national figures computed?
Scorecard publishes one median per program; this page takes the median of those program medians weighted by each program's graduates counted (2,729 people at year one), and prints the unweighted median program beside it. The field cleared a publication bar of at least 10 programs reporting at every horizon.
Is a degree in Community Organization and Advocacy worth it?
The inputs are on this page: $54,309 median earnings at year five against $35,500 median debt. The verdict depends on your actual cost, so run your numbers through the college ROI calculator and the college major ROI calculator.