While COVID-19 slowed hiring across the country for much of the past 13 months, many companies are still actively searching for eager college graduates and entry-level employees to fill a range of internship roles. And some of these roles pay top dollar. Our Economic Research team pulled together a list of the 25 Highest Paying Internships for 2021, identifying companies with the highest monthly median base pay for interns as reported by the U.S.-based interns on Glassdoor during the pandemic (between March 1, 2020, and February 28, 2021).
Millions of Americans are still out of work because of COVID-19, but this summer, some interns will be earning over $8,000 per month — that’s $96,000 per year. Over half of the top companies paying their interns generously are in tech (16 companies), with six companies in finance and two in the energy industry. The company with the highest monthly pay for interns is NVIDIA ($8,811), a computer hardware and software company that also ranked second among Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work in 2021.
“The past year presented unique challenges for college students and recent graduates trying to gain valuable internship experience, with many employers making the difficult decision to pause hiring or even cut internships,” said Amanda Stansell, Glassdoor economic data scientist. “Fortunately, the labor market is seeing signs of recovery, presenting opportunities for workers early in their careers to not only find internships at top companies but also earn a hefty paycheck, especially in those industries where it’s notoriously difficult to hire, like tech and finance. Internship programs are critical tools for employers to fill their early talent pipelines and, in this age of remote work, many are willing to pay top dollar for interns, no matter where they are based.”
If you’re on the hunt for your next internship that also pays well, check out the companies with the 25 Highest Paying Internships for 2021:
1. NVIDIA
Median Monthly Pay: $8,811
Locations: Santa Clara, CA, Austin, TX & more.
2. Facebook
Median Monthly Pay: $8,023
Locations: Remote
3. LinkedIn
Median Monthly Pay: $8,009
Locations: San Francisco, CA, Washington, DC & more.
4. Amazon
Median Monthly Pay: $7,954
Locations: Seattle, WA, New York, NY, Sunnyvale, CA & more.
5. Salesforce
Median Monthly Pay: $7,710
Locations: San Francisco, CA, Dallas, TX, Palo Alto, CA & more.
6. Capital One
Median Monthly Pay: $7,530
Locations: Tampa, FL, McLean, VA & more.
7. Microsoft
Median Monthly Pay: $7,366
Locations: Redmond, WA, Sunnyvale, CA & more.
8. Uber
Median Monthly Pay: $7,353
Locations: San Francisco, CA & more
9. Google
Median Monthly Pay: $7,129
Locations: Ann Arbor, MI, Atlanta, GA, Mountain View, CA & more.
10. ExxonMobil
Median Monthly Pay: $7,018
Locations: Northville, MI, Little Falls, NY & more.
11. Apple
Median Monthly Pay: $6,917
Locations: Cleveland, OH & more.
12. Intuit
Median Monthly Pay: $6,749
Locations: Mountain View, CA, San Diego, CA & more.
13. BlackRock
Median Monthly Pay: $6,684
Locations: New York, NY, Atlanta, GA & more.
14. American Express
Median Monthly Pay: $6,622
Locations: New York, NY, Phoenix, AZ & more.
15. VMware
Median Monthly Pay: $6,463
Locations: Palo Alto, CA, San Francisco, CA & more.
16. PayPal
Median Monthly Pay: $6,359
Locations: Phoenix, AZ, San Jose, CA, Chicago, IL
17. Qualcomm
Median Monthly Pay: $6,355
Locations: Boulder, CO, Austin, TX, Boxborough, MA & more.
18. JP Morgan
Median Monthly Pay: $6,250
Locations: New York, NY & more.
19. Citi
Median Monthly Pay: $6,043
Locations: Irving, TX & more.
20. Goldman Sachs
Median Monthly Pay: $6,008
Locations: Burlington, VT, New York, NY & more.
21. MathWorks
Median Monthly Pay: $5,905
Locations: Natick, MA & more.
22. Adobe
Median Monthly Pay: $5,875
Locations: Lehi, UT, San Francisco, CA & more.
Median Monthly Pay: $5,512
Locations: Washington, DC, Findlay, OH & more.
Median Monthly Pay: $5,348
Locations: Hawthorne, CA, Fremont, CA & more.
25. Cisco Systems
Median Monthly Pay: $5,347
Locations: San Jose, CA, Richardson, TX & more.
Methodology: Glassdoor’s Highest Paying Internships for 2021 report identifies companies with the highest median monthly pay for internships as reported by U.S.-based interns on Glassdoor over the time period 3/01/20 – 2/28/21. To be considered, companies with internship programs must have received at least 30 salary reports in U.S. dollars by U.S-based interns during the timeframe. In cases where companies have the same median monthly pay, the company with the greater number of salary reports receives higher rank.
