East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics

Foreign Languages & Linguistics

East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics graduates with a bachelor's typically earned about $51,408, measured a few years after finishing (median across US programs, College Scorecard).

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Median earnings by degree level

Degree	Median earnings	Typical range	Schools	Clear the bar
Bachelor's Degree	$51,408	$43,958 to $56,280	28	89%

"Clear the bar" is the share of programs whose graduates out-earn a typical high-school graduate (the federal earnings-premium test). Typical range is the 25th to 75th percentile of program medians.

Job outlook

Projected employment growth +0% (2025 to 2035), about 71,100 openings a year across the occupations this field commonly leads to.

Occupation	Median pay	Growth	Openings/yr
Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education	$72,040	-0.2%	63,500
Interpreters and Translators	$60,170	+2%	6,000
Foreign Language and Literature Teachers, Postsecondary	$79,350	+0.2%	1,600

Occupation pay and outlook: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS wages, Employment Projections). A field maps to several occupations, and the same occupations serve many majors, so these are the jobs this major commonly leads to, not positions reserved for its graduates; the openings should not be added up across majors.

Where this is studied

The 8 colleges where the most students complete a east asian languages, literatures, and linguistics program, of 177 that report one. Ordered by number of completions only: this is where people study it, not a judgement about where to.

University of Hawaii at Manoa 85 completions
The University of Texas at Austin 69 completions
University of Wisconsin-Madison 58 completions
University of California-Los Angeles 51 completions
Columbia University in the City of New York 50 completions
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities 46 completions
University of Washington-Seattle Campus 41 completions
Los Angeles City College 40 completions

Earnings source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (release 2026-06-10), median earnings of graduates measured up to four years after completing. Figures describe past graduates and are never a promise. Method: methodology. Report an error.