The International Affairs Program prepares students for a variety of careers in places like the federal government, international organizations and agencies, international nonprofit organizations, international businesses and for public service like the Peace Corps.
If you plan to continue your education in graduate school, the program provides an excellent background that permits you to pursue postgraduate study in international relations, political science, economics, history, area studies, law, international management and journalism.
Career Services offers free services for all CU Boulder degree-seeking students, and alumni up to one year after graduation, to help students discover who they are, what they want to do, and how to get there. They are the bridge between academics and the world of work by discussing major and career exploration, internship or job searching, and graduate school preparation.
According to the 2019-20 College Salary Report by PayScale Human Capital:
- The median salary for someone with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and 0-5 years of experience is $58,000; and
- The median salary for 10-plus years of experience, $86,100.

The estimated median salaries,
as reported on Tableau, for International Affairs graduates for 1 to 5, 6 to 10, and over 11 years out from school.
At CU Boulder, International Affairs graduates earn roughly the same amount as the nationwide average of comparable majors as reported by PayScale. CU Boulder alumni in this discipline earn an estimated annual salary of $87,381, based on a pool of 1916 alumni who graduated between 1989 and 2018. This amount is also roughly the same as the average for all CU Boulder graduates with a bachelor's degree, according to a survey by Esmi Alumni Insight of 25,000 alumni who graduated during the same stretch.
Job growth in some fields related to international affairs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projections for 2016-2026, is faster than the average for all jobs, including: management consulting, 12 percent; and political science, 21 percent.