Law degrees result in a wider range of salaries than almost any other subject, government figures have revealed.

According to data published by the Department for Education, law graduates can earn between £18,600 and £69,400 five years after graduating. Business and management is the only degree to have a larger variation in median earnings between providers, ranging from £19,000 to £70,800.

The report, which looks at the 2018/19 earnings of people who graduated in 2012/13, says that the median salary for law graduates is £27,400 – almost exactly the UK average. However, it found that pay varies dramatically depending on which university students attended.

Cambridge University’s law degree yielded median earnings of £69,400 in the tax year ending in 2019, while those who studied law at London School of Economics earned an average of £65,500 five years after graduating. Oxford University followed close behind with a median pay packet of £64,600.

However, universities outside the ‘Russell Group’ reported significantly lower graduate pay. The University of Wolverhampton, for example, had a median salary for law graduates of £21,500, while graduates from the University of Bedfordshire and the University of Plymouth earned an average of £24,800 and £23,700 respectively.

According to the graduate outcome report, medicine and dentistry degrees yield the highest average graduate salary (£49,400), followed by economics (£38,200) and veterinary sciences (£36,400). However, nursing and midwifery graduates also earned more than those with law degrees.