A degree from MTSU’s School of Journalism and Strategic Media can prepare you for some of the best-paying, fastest-growing careers available to college graduates, data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show.

These charts show the latest median annual salary and average annual job openings estimates nationwide for career paths open to students who major in journalism, public relations, advertising, or visual communication. Each chart also shows the median for all careers that typically require a four-year college degree. All data are from the Bureau’s latest Employment Projections page, which I keep tabs on using this Google Sheet.

Some media careers fall below the median. Reporting is an example. Nearly everyone has heard about downsizing at local newspapers struggling to adjust to the digital turn. But other media careers, most notably web development, producing, public relations, and advertising, are doing quite well. You can learn more about these and other careers by looking through the Occupational Outlook Handbook., published online by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It’s important to remember that these figures are conservative in a couple of ways. First, they describe some, but not all, types of jobs available to journalism school graduates. Also, as new models of journalism are emerging, the very definition of “reporter” is expanding. At the time former traditional reporter Curt Guyette helped break the story about toxic lead levels in Flint, Michigan’s, municipal water system, he was writing not for a local newspaper but for the Michigan Democracy Watch Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. Was he a reporter? A public relations specialist? Something else? And none of these classifications can quite categorize Elise Andrew, creator of the hit iflscience.com science blog and a woman Columbia Journalism Review has called journalism’s first self-made brand. There’s also no BLS category for many of the latest media careers, such as multimedia content producer, a term for media careers that blend and expand aspects of more traditional media career categories.

In short, answers to questions like “how many jobs will be available to me” and “how much money will I earn” depend partly on you. The Bureau of Labor Statistics figures probably should be thought of as typical ranges. The upper limits depend, really, on how hard you’re willing to work and on how innovative and opportunistic you can be as the media field continues to evolve.