US colleges with the highest median graduate earnings

Among the 167 major US colleges we track, the top by median earnings (10yr) are Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvey Mudd College, California Institute of Technology. Ranked by median earnings of students 10 years after they first enrolled (federally-aided students, all majors blended). High earnings often reflect selective admissions and STEM/business-heavy programs as much as the school itself.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Data as of June 2026.

Full ranking

Rank	School	State	Type	Median earnings (10yr)
#1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$143,372
#2	Harvey Mudd College	CA	Private (nonprofit)	$138,687
#3	California Institute of Technology	CA	Private (nonprofit)	$128,566
#4	Stanford University	CA	Private (nonprofit)	$124,080
#5	Babson College	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$123,938
#6	Bentley University	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$120,959
#7	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	Private (nonprofit)	$114,862
#8	University of Pennsylvania	PA	Private (nonprofit)	$111,371
#9	Princeton University	NJ	Private (nonprofit)	$110,066
#10	Santa Clara University	CA	Private (nonprofit)	$109,183
#11	Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	Private (nonprofit)	$108,772
#12	Lehigh University	PA	Private (nonprofit)	$105,584
#13	Cornell University	NY	Private (nonprofit)	$104,043
#14	Boston College	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$103,937
#15	Georgetown University	DC	Private (nonprofit)	$103,494
#16	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$103,470
#17	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	GA	Public	$102,772
#18	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	Private (nonprofit)	$102,491
#19	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	Private (nonprofit)	$102,051
#20	Harvard University	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$101,817
#21	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	IN	Private (nonprofit)	$101,253
#22	Yale University	CT	Private (nonprofit)	$100,533
#23	Villanova University	PA	Private (nonprofit)	$100,423
#24	University of Notre Dame	IN	Private (nonprofit)	$99,980
#25	Duke University	NC	Private (nonprofit)	$97,800
#26	Dartmouth College	NH	Private (nonprofit)	$97,434
#27	Colorado School of Mines	CO	Public	$97,335
#28	Bucknell University	PA	Private (nonprofit)	$93,807
#29	Brown University	RI	Private (nonprofit)	$93,487
#30	Northeastern University	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$92,538
#31	University of Southern California	CA	Private (nonprofit)	$92,498
#32	University of California-Berkeley	CA	Public	$92,446
#33	University of Chicago	IL	Private (nonprofit)	$91,885
#34	Vanderbilt University	TN	Private (nonprofit)	$91,565
#35	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	Public	$90,768
#36	College of the Holy Cross	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$90,543
#37	Rice University	TX	Private (nonprofit)	$89,718
#38	Northwestern University	IL	Private (nonprofit)	$89,363
#39	Williams College	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$88,665
#40	Johns Hopkins University	MD	Private (nonprofit)	$87,555
#41	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	Public	$86,863
#42	Washington University in St Louis	MO	Private (nonprofit)	$86,182
#43	Colgate University	NY	Private (nonprofit)	$85,139
#44	University of California-San Diego	CA	Public	$84,943
#45	Wellesley College	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$84,803
#46	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	Public	$83,648
#47	Boston University	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$83,238
#48	Tufts University	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$83,214
#49	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	Public	$82,860
#50	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	Public	$82,511
#51	New York University	NY	Private (nonprofit)	$82,509
#52	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	Public	$81,698
#53	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	Public	$81,054
#54	University of California-Davis	CA	Public	$80,838
#55	University of California-Irvine	CA	Public	$80,735
#56	Barnard College	NY	Private (nonprofit)	$80,516
#57	Colby College	ME	Private (nonprofit)	$80,490
#58	Emory University	GA	Private (nonprofit)	$80,137
#59	San Jose State University	CA	Public	$78,988
#60	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	Public	$78,466
#61	Hamilton College	NY	Private (nonprofit)	$78,411
#62	Wake Forest University	NC	Private (nonprofit)	$78,158
#63	George Mason University	VA	Public	$76,343
#64	Middlebury College	VT	Private (nonprofit)	$76,310
#65	University of Richmond	VA	Private (nonprofit)	$76,178
#66	Brigham Young University	UT	Private (nonprofit)	$75,790
#67	Carleton College	MN	Private (nonprofit)	$75,525
#68	University of Miami	FL	Private (nonprofit)	$75,328
#69	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	Public	$75,121
#70	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	Public	$74,915
#71	Stony Brook University	NY	Public	$74,502
#72	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	Public	$74,479
#73	University of Connecticut	CT	Public	$73,997
#74	Wesleyan University	CT	Private (nonprofit)	$73,897
#75	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	Public	$73,792
#76	University of Delaware	DE	Public	$72,950
#77	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	Public	$72,424
#78	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	Public	$72,200
#79	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	Public	$72,097
#80	Trinity University	TX	Private (nonprofit)	$71,668
#81	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	Public	$71,631
#82	University of Florida	FL	Public	$71,588
#83	Clemson University	SC	Public	$71,513
#84	Vassar College	NY	Private (nonprofit)	$71,366
#85	University at Buffalo	NY	Public	$70,814
#86	James Madison University	VA	Public	$69,954
#87	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	Public	$69,738
#88	Skidmore College	NY	Private (nonprofit)	$69,363
#89	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	Public	$69,020
#90	Washington State University	WA	Public	$68,905
#91	North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	Public	$68,758
#92	University of Illinois Chicago	IL	Public	$68,740
#93	University of Georgia	GA	Public	$68,726
#94	University of California-Santa Cruz	CA	Public	$68,396
#95	The University of Texas at Dallas	TX	Public	$68,227
#96	Rhode Island School of Design	RI	Private (nonprofit)	$68,140
#97	San Francisco State University	CA	Public	$68,077
#98	Denison University	OH	Private (nonprofit)	$67,753
#99	University of California-Riverside	CA	Public	$67,699
#100	Michigan State University	MI	Public	$67,253
#101	University of Utah	UT	Public	$67,170
#102	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	PA	Public	$66,125
#103	Auburn University	AL	Public	$65,337
#104	Colorado College	CO	Private (nonprofit)	$65,222
#105	San Diego State University	CA	Public	$64,909
#106	University of Iowa	IA	Public	$64,762
#107	California State University-Long Beach	CA	Public	$64,403
#108	Smith College	MA	Private (nonprofit)	$64,027
#109	Oregon State University	OR	Public	$64,010
#110	Macalester College	MN	Private (nonprofit)	$63,878
#111	Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	Public	$63,742
#112	Temple University	PA	Public	$63,727
#113	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	PA	Public	$63,435
#114	University of Missouri-Columbia	MO	Public	$63,403
#115	Iowa State University	IA	Public	$63,386
#116	Tulane University of Louisiana	LA	Private (nonprofit)	$63,268
#117	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus	OK	Public	$63,126
#118	California State University-Fullerton	CA	Public	$62,951
#119	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	Public	$62,668
#120	Texas Tech University	TX	Public	$62,454
#121	University of Houston	TX	Public	$62,377
#122	University of South Carolina-Columbia	SC	Public	$62,177
#123	Illinois State University	IL	Public	$62,117
#124	University of Kansas	KS	Public	$61,945
#125	Florida State University	FL	Public	$61,675
#126	Montclair State University	NJ	Public	$61,415
#127	University of Oregon	OR	Public	$61,324
#128	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College	LA	Public	$61,251
#129	Colorado State University-Fort Collins	CO	Public	$60,543
#130	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	Public	$60,409
#131	Florida International University	FL	Public	$60,249
#132	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	TN	Public	$60,249
#133	Spelman College	GA	Private (nonprofit)	$59,993
#134	University of Arizona	AZ	Public	$59,979
#135	The University of Alabama	AL	Public	$59,221
#136	University of Kentucky	KY	Public	$59,025
#137	University of Central Florida	FL	Public	$58,308
#138	University of Arkansas	AR	Public	$58,191
#139	Virginia Commonwealth University	VA	Public	$58,128
#140	University of South Florida	FL	Public	$57,743
#141	Kennesaw State University	GA	Public	$57,552
#142	Oklahoma State University-Main Campus	OK	Public	$57,413
#143	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	NC	Public	$57,289
#144	The University of Texas at San Antonio	TX	Public	$57,131
#145	University of North Texas	TX	Public	$57,010
#146	Texas State University	TX	Public	$56,906
#147	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	NE	Public	$56,887
#148	Grand Valley State University	MI	Public	$56,118
#149	West Virginia University	WV	Public	$55,939
#150	Utah Valley University	UT	Public	$55,486
#151	East Carolina University	NC	Public	$55,146
#152	University of Nevada-Las Vegas	NV	Public	$55,037
#153	Old Dominion University	VA	Public	$54,914
#154	University of Cincinnati-Main Campus	OH	Public	$54,810
#155	Northern Arizona University	AZ	Public	$54,384
#156	Sam Houston State University	TX	Public	$54,211
#157	Utah State University	UT	Public	$54,022
#158	Appalachian State University	NC	Public	$51,836
#159	Boise State University	ID	Public	$51,658
#160	Mississippi State University	MS	Public	$51,513
#161	University of Mississippi	MS	Public	$50,994
#162	Georgia State University	GA	Public	$47,384
#163	Kent State University at Kent	OH	Public	$45,388
#164	Liberty University	VA	Private (nonprofit)	$44,813
#165	University of New Mexico-Main Campus	NM	Public	$44,792
#166	Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University	FL	Public	$44,349
#167	Grand Canyon University	AZ	Private (nonprofit)	$42,186

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Data as of June 2026.

Showing all 167 schools with a reported value. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (Public domain (U.S. Government work)), snapshot June 2026. derived figures are explained on the methodology page. Estimates — verify before relying on them.

Frequently asked questions

Whose earnings does this measure?

The College Scorecard reports median earnings for students who received federal financial aid, measured 10 years after they first entered the college, across all fields of study. It is not a starting salary and does not cover students who never took federal aid.

Do high earnings mean a school caused them?

Partly. Earnings reflect the mix of majors, the students a college admits, and its region, not just the education. Treat the figure as an outcome signal, not proof of added value.

Other rankings

Last updated: 2026-06-20