Reference tool
Put Your College Payment in Perspective
A college loan payment can feel abstract on its own. This tool places a monthly payment beside a national reference point (median annual wages for U.S. workers ages 22 to 27 with a bachelor’s degree) so the size of the payment becomes easier to size up. It is a national benchmark, not a prediction of what any individual graduate will earn.
National reference point
Median annual wage for U.S. workers ages 22–27 with a bachelor’s degree or higher:
$60,000
/ year
$5,000 / month before taxes and deductions
Your $899 payment is about 18% of this monthly earnings benchmark.
This benchmark is a national reference point, not a prediction of what any specific graduate will earn. Individual earnings vary substantially by field of study, employer, geography, career path, and personal circumstances. Some graduates earn well above this figure; others earn well below.
The figure shown is a median annual wage: half of the population earns more, half earns less. It reflects gross earnings before federal and state taxes, FICA, and other paycheck deductions. It excludes graduates who are not currently working.
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Labor Market for Recent College Graduates (2023 wage data, published February 2025). Underlying data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Updated annually by the New York Fed each February.