What are the best college majors for salary and underemployment rate? The latest data from the New York Fed.

When it comes to choosing a college major and a career, economic security isn’t everything. But it must be considered.

Every February, the New York Fed releases labor market outcome data that zeroes in on the issue of economic security and college majors. Here are some of their results.

In this year’s data, ten of the top 25 college majors ranked by early-career median wage are engineering majors. In fact, of the top ten, eight are in engineering. Computer science is ranked highly (third), while mathematics and physics are also in the top 20.

The results are similar for mid-career median wage. There are ten engineering majors in the top 25 – in fact, they are all in the top 16. Computer science drops to sixth, while physics and mathematics are still in the top 20.

Nine engineering disciplines are among the twenty-five majors with the lowest underemployment rates. Computer science is sixth, while mathematics is also among the twenty-five lowest-underemployment rate majors. Physics is not in the top 25 for this metric. Instead, it is twenty-sixth, just off the list shown.

The definition of underemployment rate according to the New York Fed:

The underemployment rate is defined as the share of graduates working in jobs that typically do not require a college degree. A job is classified as a college job if 50 percent or more of the people working in that job indicate that at least a bachelor’s degree is necessary; otherwise, the job is classified as a non-college job.