How much would celebrities earn based on university degrees, from Chris Martin to Bradley Cooper!

We all know that lots of people aren’t doing a job directly related to their university degrees, but did you know that many celebrities are also in the same boat? This makes us wonder what would happen if they weren’t famous and if they had to survive in the “normal” job market, relying simply on their degrees like we do?

Interested to find this out, SEO provider Reboot utilised Payscale.com and estimated the potential 2023 annual salary of 27 celebrities based on their university degrees, thus revealing their estimated salaries and the mind-blowing number of years they would need to reach their current net worth if they took an alternative job!  

Key findings 

• Graduated with a degree in Ancient World Studies, Coldplay singer Chris Martin would need 3,293 years to reach his current net worth if he had an alternative job as a museum curator.
• Prince William would need almost 2,500 years to reach his current wealth if he had to take a normal job based on his university degree alone!
• Rapper 2 Chianz, is the musician that would earn the most if weren’t famous, with a predicted salary of £86,414 in 2023. This is followed by singer John Legend and Korean idol Jin(BTS). 
• American actor and comedian Ken Jeong is the actor who would earn the most. He would be earning £157,646 a year now if he chose to pursue his medical career. Mayim Bialik ranked second with £134,147 and Natalie Portman third with £79,007. 

Which musician would earn the most with their university degree?

Celebrity	College/university degree	Potential job role	Predicted salary 2023 (£)
2 Chainz	Alabama University	Clinical psychologist	86,414
John Legend	University of Pennsylvania	Writer	56,786
Jin (BTS)	Konkuk University	Archivist	46,087
Chris Martin – Coldplay	University College London	Museum/gallery curator	40,000
Emeli Sande	University of Glasgow	Neuroscientist	38,000

Rapper 2 Chainz, is the musician that would earn the most if he weren’t famous! With a degree in psychology from Alabama University, he would most likely be a clinical psychologist, earning approximately £86,414 in the US this year! Singer and songwriter John Legend, in second place, would be earning about £56,786 if he became a writer after finishing his English degree specialising in African American literature. Korean star Jin from BTS ranked third place with an estimated salary of £46,087 if he weren’t famous.

Which actor/actress would earn the most with their university degree?

Celebrity	College/university degree	Potential job role	Predicted salary 2023 (£)
Ken Jeong	Medical degree	Doctor / General Practitioner	157,646
Mayim Bialik	PhD in neuroscience	Neuroscientist	134,147
Natalie Portman	Psychology	Clinical psychologist	79,007
Eva Longoria	Masters in Chicano studies	Higher education lecturer	73,804
Wanda Sykes	Marketing	Marketing executive	70,777

As a medical graduate and an officially licensed physician for a few years, it was estimated that American actor and comedian Ken Jeong would be earning £157,646 a year now if he chose to pursue his medical career. American actress Mayim Bialik, graduatedwith a PhD in Neuroscience from UCLA, ranked second as the actor who would earn the most with university degrees (£134,147). Best known for her role in Black Swan, Natalie Portman ranked third with an estimated salary of £79,007. 

How long would it take them to reach their current net worth? 

Celebrity	University	College/university degree	Potential job role	Predicted salary 2023 (£)	Number of years to reach current net worth
Chris Martin	University College London	Ancient World Studies	Museum curator	40,000	3,293
Prince William	University of St Andrews	Geography	Architectural technologist	33,000	2,494
Emma Watson	Brown University	English literature	Writer	31,000	2,257
Bradley Cooper	Georgetown University	English	Editorial assistant	49,379	1,667
John Legend	University of Pennsylvania	English, African American literature	Writer	56,786	1,449
Tom Hiddleston	University of Cambridge	Classics	Archivist	30,000	1,098
Kourtney Kardashian	University of Arizona	Theatre Arts and Spanish	Production Manager, Theater	50,202	1,066
Gerard Butler	University of Glasgow	Law	Lawyer	65,000	1,013
Natalie Portman	Harvard University	Psychology	Clinical psychologist	79,007	938
Eva Longoria	California State University	MA Chicano studies	Higher education lecturer	73,804	894

Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin ranked first as the celebrities who would take the longest to reach their current net worth if they had to earn their fortune based on a university degree alone! Graduated from University College London with a degree in Ancient World Studies, the British singer would be most likely to be a museum curator like other graduates with the same degree. It is estimated that he would be earning an annual salary of £40,000 this year, which would have required him to work 3,293 more years in order to reach his current net worth! 

Prince WIlliam ranked second. Despite his current net worth standing at £83 million, most typical Geography graduates would earn £33,000 on average in 2023 after 17 years of work experience. If Prince William was born into a different family, he may have instead become an architectural technologist – meaning that it would have taken him 2,494 years to become as rich as he is now. 

In third place is actress Emma Watson, who graduated from Brown University with a degree in English literature. With her English degree and interests in journaling and reading books, she could have become a writer after graduation, earning potentially a salary of £31,000 this year. This means it would take her 2,257 years to reach the same net worth she has now if she didn’t step into the acting industry playing Hermione Granger. 

The full dataset could be found here on Onedrive. 

Credit to https://www.rebootonline.com/ who commissioned the data.