Bowdoin College Career Outcomes: $80K Median Earnings (2026)

How much do Bowdoin College graduates earn?

The reported median is $79,722 four years after completion. The peer comparison uses $55,915 as its benchmark; the difference is $23,807 per year.

Azimuth places the return for Bowdoin College in the 93rd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $79,722, in the 89th percentile.

That is $23,807 above the $55,915 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix range from $50,850 on the downside to $122,645 on the upside. These are scenarios, not observed groups of graduates.

At the higher end, Computer Science graduates earn a median of $137,611 four years after completion, from 42 degrees awarded a year. Economics follows at $121,983, with 78 degrees awarded.

The largest program, Political Science, reports $89,253 from 83 degrees awarded.

An estimated 42.9% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix rather than observed enrollment. Because four-year earnings cover completers who are working and not enrolled, those continuing their education are outside that earnings snapshot.

How many Bowdoin College students return and finish their degrees?

First-time, full-time bachelor’s cohorts · CDS 2025-26

Returned the following fall: 98.0%
Completed within six years: 92.8%
Pell recipients completed within six years: 92.1%

Source: Bowdoin College Common Data Set 2025-26, B22 retention; B4–B11 six-year completion. Retention and completion follow different entering cohorts.

How could earnings differ from the median?

Earnings four years after completion

Planning rangeReported median

Lower estimate: $50,850
Median · reported: $79,722
Higher estimate: $122,645

Downside shows a lower-earning scenario based on the college’s mix of programs; upside shows a higher-earning scenario. Typical is the school’s reported median four years after completion. These are planning scenarios, not a forecast of your salary or percentiles of individual graduates.

Why the downside matters explores the risk hidden by medians, using older ten-year entrant data. Read about the move to four-year earnings.

Do Bowdoin College graduates earn more than expected?

Azimuth models what we would expect graduates to earn based on who the college enrolls, how selective it is and its local economy. The difference between that expectation and reported earnings is what Azimuth calls value added.

That comparison is not reported for Bowdoin College. Unlike a peer comparison, it adjusts for who enrolls.

The breakdown separates the contribution attributed to observed factors from the remaining difference. Neither component establishes how much attending Bowdoin College caused a student to earn. Read how expected earnings are estimated.

Which fields at Bowdoin College report the highest earnings?

Social Sciences accounts for 31.3% of bachelor's degrees awarded at Bowdoin College, and Biological Sciences accounts for 13.2%. Economics has 78 degrees awarded, and Azimuth ranks it #27 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions in its field.

Its graduates earn $121,983 four years after completion. Political Science ranks #9 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions in its field, with 83 degrees awarded and median earnings of $89,253 four years after completion.

Area Studies ranks #3 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions in its field, with 47 degrees awarded; its graduates earn $75,966 four years after completion.

Bowdoin College has 3 nationally ranked bachelor's programs, and the ones that pay best are not the largest. The largest program is Political Science, at 83 degrees awarded a year.

Azimuth ranks it #9 within its field, and graduates earn a median of $89,253 four years after completion. Economics is nearly as large, with 78 degrees awarded and median earnings of $121,983.

Azimuth ranks it #27 nationally and #1 in Maine. The highest-ranked program is Area Studies, which Azimuth places #3 nationally and #1 in Maine. It awarded 47 degrees, and graduates earn a median of $75,966.

Further analysis

Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix show a wide spread by field. Computer Science graduates report the highest four-year earnings among the largest programs, at $137,611, while Area Studies sits at the lower end at $75,966.

Four years after completing a degree, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $79,722. That figure is $23,807 above the $55,915 median for comparable institutions (same type and size), and Azimuth places it in the 89th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The earnings cohort is 232 completers, so this is a broad institutional measure rather than a program-specific result. Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix put the downside at $50,850 and the upside at $122,645.

An estimated 42.9% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix. The four-year earnings figures capture a point when many graduates are still early in their careers.

Data & methodology

Sources and reporting periods: methodology.

Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.