Financial and Monetary Systems

These are the highest-paid degrees on Wall Street

A street sign for Wall Street hangs in front of the New York Stock Exchange May 8, 2013. Stocks pushed further into record territory on Wednesday, driving the S&P 500 to an all-time high close for a fifth day, helped by strength in financials and technology. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson (UNITED STATES - Tags: BUSINESS) - RTXZFHC

A street sign for Wall Street hangs in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Image: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Andy Kiersz
Quant Reporter, Business Insider
Portia Crowe
Finance Reporter, Business Insider

Wall Street professionals come from a variety of college degrees and majors, but there is one degree that's more lucrative than any other.

Executive MBA and MBA holders earn the most money of all finance professionals, according to Emolument, a salary-benchmarking website that collects self-reported pay data.

Emolument gathered data on 840 finance professionals in New York at the analyst, associate, vice president, and director levels and looked at which degrees earned them the most money.

Respondents come from a number of firms, including Citigroup, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, as well as smaller banks, asset managers, and hedge funds. They are all front-office professionals, and two-thirds work at banks while one-third work the buy side.

Of course, it shouldn't come as a surprise that executive MBA and MBA holders earn the most money.

They come in on top largely because Wall Streeters typically take those programs later in their careers. So the majority of people with MBAs are going to be vice presidents and directors, and therefore higher earners.

Still, the data helps shed some light on how much Wall Streeters earn at various stages of their careers based on their college degrees.

Here's a look at the results:

The highest-paid analysts have MBA degrees.
Image: Business Insider
The highest-paid associates have MBA degrees.
Image: Business Insider
The highest-paid Vice Presidents have Master of Science degrees.
Image: Business Insider
The highest-paid Directors have Master of Science degrees.
Image: Business Insider
Pay across all levels at Wall Street shows that MBA and executive MBA degrees earn the most, followed by PhDs and Masters of Finance.
Image: Business Insider

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