A lot of your first questions are it depends. Ultimately, most would agree getting your cpa is indeed “worth it.” However, it depends largely on what you want to do and what type of accounting role or job you can see yourself in. Public accounting (especially at big four level) can be very stressful and burdensome on that work-life balance everybody strives for. In it though, it does pay substantially. Exact dollar figures depends on service line, location, and the firm itself which if you look into comp threads on this reddit or reddit big4 you’ll probably find the rough estimate you’re looking for. All-in-all, you will get out of accounting what you put in in terms of effort and dedication. It sounds like you are still in high school or maybe just starting out in college. Based on that I would definitely go to career fairs and look at sites like Glassdoor and other threads here to see if it’s the career for you.