Still unsure what to study? Imco lists Mexico’s 10 highest- and lowest-paid degrees

Mathematics has overtaken general medicine as Mexico’s highest-earning field in the 2026 Compara Carreras ranking published by the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, or Imco.

Medicine had held the top position for the previous three years. This year’s results show that the difference between the highest- and lowest-paid fields approaches 14,000 pesos a month.

The ranking covers 20 fields divided between the best- and worst-paid careers. The higher-paid group includes mathematics, general medicine, finance, banking and insurance, architecture and urban planning, political science, electronics and automation, construction and civil engineering, industrial, fashion and interior design, educational planning and evaluation, and computer science.

The lower-paid group includes curriculum design and pedagogy, educational guidance and intervention, social work and care, multidisciplinary social sciences, sociology and anthropology, therapy and rehabilitation, gastronomy and food services, preschool teacher training, nutrition, and literature.

The Compara Carreras website, developed with SaberesMx, lets users compare fields using national data on the number of people who studied each one, current enrolment, graduates, labour-market characteristics and employment sectors. It also lists average salaries and gender pay inequality.