PlainCollege

Official federal data · College Scorecard · 2026

Find your college.
Know your outcomes.

Compare earnings, costs, admissions, and program-level ROI for 6,197+ U.S. colleges - every number sourced straight from the U.S. Department of Education.

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The national picture

A degree's payoff varies wildly. Half of America's 5,080 colleges return under $40,816 a decade out - the top tenth clear $65,986, for a median net price of just $17,156 a year.

$40,816
median 10-yr earnings
$65,986
top-decile earnings
1.6×
top-decile vs typical
$17,156
median net price / yr

That gap is the whole point of this site: the same diploma can pay back in three years or twenty. Below, the data on which colleges land where - and why.

Highest-Earning Colleges (10-yr median)

Top 10 colleges by 10-year median graduate earnings

Median earnings ten years after enrollment, federal-aid recipients

median 10-yr earnings

What this shows The very top is dominated by specialised STEM, medical, and maritime institutions whose graduates feed directly into high-wage occupations. Compare any school against its cost on the school profile before reading earnings as value.

Source U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard As of 2024

The ROI lens

Earnings vs. cost: where value lives

Best-value U.S. colleges, positioned by earnings vs net price Two-by-two quadrant chart: x-axis median earnings 10 years after enrollment, y-axis average net price after financial aid. Each dot is a college, colored by 4-year graduation rate (garnet ≥65%, amber 45-64%, red <45%). Net price increases upward, earnings increase rightward, so: bottom-right = best value (low cost, high earnings); top-right = premium (high cost, high earnings); bottom-left = community college tier (low cost, modest earnings); top-left = avoid (high cost, low earnings). Currently plotting 10 colleges. Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard joined to Carnegie Classification. Best-value U.S. colleges, positioned by earnings vs net price AVOID PREMIUM COMMUNITY BEST VALUE $87K $151K Median Earnings 10 Years After Enrollment ($) $5K $42K Avg Net Price ($) Massachusetts Institute of Technology: $143K earn · $20K net Massachusetts Inst… California Institute of Technology: $129K earn · $16K net California Institu… Stanford University: $124K earn · $14K net Stanford University University of Health Sciences: $137K earn · $32K net University of Heal… Franklin W Olin College: $129K earn · $25K net Franklin W Olin Co… Princeton University: $110K earn · $6K net Princeton University Harvey Mudd College: $139K earn · $36K net Albany College of Pharmacy: $131K earn · $30K net Georgia Institute of Technology-Main: $103K earn · $12K net MCPHS University: $126K earn · $40K net Grad rate (4yr) ≥65% 45-64% <45%
Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard + Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education

Top Earning Programs

Veterinary Medicine
$263,241
avg earnings
Dentistry
$251,624
avg earnings
Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences
$246,660
avg earnings
Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences
$228,486
avg earnings
Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences
$226,287
avg earnings
Medical Clinical Sciences/Graduate Medical Studies
$223,926
avg earnings
Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences
$211,720
avg earnings
Advanced/Graduate Dentistry and Oral Sciences
$211,159
avg earnings
Information Science/Studies
$209,391
avg earnings
Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences, Other
$203,292
avg earnings

Browse by State

AL Alabama 81 colleges AK Alaska 10 colleges AS American Samoa 1 colleges AZ Arizona 124 colleges AR Arkansas 84 colleges CA California 650 colleges CO Colorado 84 colleges CT Connecticut 56 colleges DE Delaware 18 colleges DC District of Columbia 30 colleges FL Florida 365 colleges GA Georgia 161 colleges GU Guam 7 colleges HI Hawaii 20 colleges ID Idaho 36 colleges IL Illinois 234 colleges IN Indiana 146 colleges IA Iowa 75 colleges KS Kansas 80 colleges KY Kentucky 87 colleges LA Louisiana 112 colleges ME Maine 36 colleges MD Maryland 77 colleges MA Massachusetts 142 colleges MI Michigan 167 colleges MN Minnesota 110 colleges MS Mississippi 55 colleges MO Missouri 142 colleges MT Montana 28 colleges NE Nebraska 41 colleges NV Nevada 36 colleges NH New Hampshire 30 colleges NJ New Jersey 155 colleges NM New Mexico 44 colleges NY New York 413 colleges NC North Carolina 166 colleges ND North Dakota 26 colleges MP Northern Mariana Islands 1 colleges OH Ohio 280 colleges OK Oklahoma 102 colleges OR Oregon 70 colleges PA Pennsylvania 309 colleges PR Puerto Rico 141 colleges RI Rhode Island 23 colleges SC South Carolina 88 colleges SD South Dakota 25 colleges TN Tennessee 144 colleges TX Texas 397 colleges VI US Virgin Islands 2 colleges UT Utah 61 colleges VT Vermont 15 colleges VA Virginia 147 colleges WA Washington 101 colleges WV West Virginia 67 colleges WI Wisconsin 85 colleges WY Wyoming 10 colleges

Most Selective Schools

Stanford University
3.6%
acceptance rate
Stanford, CA
Harvard University
3.6%
acceptance rate
Cambridge, MA
Yale University
3.9%
acceptance rate
New Haven, CT
Columbia University in the City of New York
4.0%
acceptance rate
New York, NY
University of Chicago
4.5%
acceptance rate
Chicago, IL
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
4.5%
acceptance rate
Cambridge, MA
Princeton University
4.6%
acceptance rate
Princeton, NJ
Northeastern University
5.2%
acceptance rate
Boston, MA
Brown University
5.4%
acceptance rate
Providence, RI
Dartmouth College
5.4%
acceptance rate
Hanover, NH
University of Pennsylvania
5.4%
acceptance rate
Philadelphia, PA
Duke University
5.7%
acceptance rate
Durham, NC
Vanderbilt University
5.9%
acceptance rate
Nashville, TN
Johns Hopkins University
6.4%
acceptance rate
Baltimore, MD
Pomona College
7.1%
acceptance rate
Claremont, CA
Colby College
7.1%
acceptance rate
Waterville, ME
Bowdoin College
7.1%
acceptance rate
Brunswick, ME
Swarthmore College
7.5%
acceptance rate
Swarthmore, PA
Northwestern University
7.7%
acceptance rate
Evanston, IL
Rice University
8.0%
acceptance rate
Houston, TX

Earnings ÷ cost

Best-value colleges

Full best-value ranking →
  1. 1 Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyCambridge, MA $143,37210-yr earnings $20,111net price / yr
  2. 2 California Institute of TechnologyPasadena, CA $128,56610-yr earnings $16,075net price / yr
  3. 3 Stanford UniversityStanford, CA $124,08010-yr earnings $13,807net price / yr
  4. 4 University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. LouisSaint Louis, MO $137,04710-yr earnings $31,817net price / yr
  5. 5 Franklin W Olin College of EngineeringNeedham, MA $129,45510-yr earnings $25,171net price / yr
  6. 6 Princeton UniversityPrinceton, NJ $110,06610-yr earnings $6,128net price / yr
  7. 7 Harvey Mudd CollegeClaremont, CA $138,68710-yr earnings $35,924net price / yr
  8. 8 Albany College of Pharmacy and Health SciencesAlbany, NY $131,42610-yr earnings $29,882net price / yr
  9. 9 Georgia Institute of Technology-Main CampusAtlanta, GA $102,77210-yr earnings $12,116net price / yr
  10. 10 MCPHS UniversityBoston, MA $125,55710-yr earnings $39,545net price / yr

College Guides

Data-driven guides to help you make better college decisions.

College Earnings Data

What Scorecard earnings mean and where they come from.

Is College Worth It?

The data-driven answer to ROI of a college degree.

Compare Colleges

The four metrics that matter more than rankings.

Best ROI Colleges

Which colleges produce the best earnings relative to cost.

Debt vs. Earnings by Major

Which majors pay off - and which create the most financial strain.

View all guides →

Research

Original analysis from our editorial team, every statistic derived from our own database. See all research.

Rankings

Highest-Earning Graduates

Schools ranked by median earnings 10 years after enrollment, sourced from College Scorecard and joined to IPEDS selectivity and Carnegie Classification data.

 Rankings

Best-Value Colleges

Schools ranked by earnings-to-cost ratio, combining College Scorecard median earnings with average net-price data per institution.

 Rankings

Most Selective Colleges

Hardest U.S. four-year colleges to get into, ranked by IPEDS admission rate with cohort-size filters to ensure statistical reliability.

About & data provenance

About PlainCollege

PlainCollege publishes the federal record on every U.S. college and university as-is: earnings, costs, admissions, and program-level outcomes, straight from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

No single number captures a college, so we never reduce one to a grade. Instead we show what graduates actually earn, what students actually pay after aid, and how many finish - the complete, auditable picture prospective students, parents, and counselors need to weigh return against cost.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

Where does PlainCollege get its college data?

All data comes from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard, which tracks earnings outcomes, costs, graduation rates, and other metrics for over 6,000 postsecondary institutions.

What is the ROI finder on PlainCollege?

The ROI (Return on Investment) finder compares a school's total cost of attendance against median graduate earnings to help students estimate the financial return of their degree. Schools with higher earnings relative to costs rank higher.

Is PlainCollege free?

Yes, PlainCollege is completely free. You can look up earnings data, costs, and graduation rates for any school without any account or subscription.

How current is the earnings data?

The College Scorecard reports median earnings at 1 year, 4 years, and 10 years after graduation. Data is updated annually by the Department of Education using tax records and federal student aid data.