How your college major can influence pay. Here are the top- and bottom-paying fields.

Obtaining a college diploma has long been viewed as a ticket to a good job, but new data suggests that the type of degree you get also can have a huge influence on your annual earnings. 

College graduates between 25- and 64-years-old enjoyed median incomes of $74,154 last year, according to recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau. By comparison, workers over 25 with only a high school degree had median income of $44,400 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Yet the Census data suggests that some college grads are earning only slightly more than people without bachelors degrees, a potential issue given that the spiraling cost of higher education has pushed student debt to $1.8 trillion and saddled millions of Americans with loans that will take years to pay off. College students — and their parents — increasingly want the security of knowing that their investment in a pricey degree will pay off down the road.