PlainCollege

Official federal data · College Scorecard · 2024-25

Find your college.
Know your outcomes.

Compare earnings, costs, admissions, and program-level ROI for 6,243+ 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 5,103 colleges return under $40,796 a decade out - the top tenth clear $65,986, for a median net price of just $17,145 a year.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard.

$40,796
median 10-yr earnings
$65,986
top-decile earnings
1.6×
top-decile vs typical
$17,145
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 · 96% grad Massachusetts Inst… California Institute of Technology: $129K earn · $16K net · 94% grad California Institu… Stanford University: $124K earn · $14K net · 92% grad Stanford University University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis: $137K earn · $32K net · 69% grad University of Heal… Franklin W Olin College of Engineering: $129K earn · $25K net · 94% grad Franklin W Olin Co… Princeton University: $110K earn · $6K net · 97% grad Princeton University Harvey Mudd College: $139K earn · $36K net · 93% grad Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences: $131K earn · $30K net · 68% grad Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus: $103K earn · $12K net · 93% grad Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences: $126K earn · $40K net · 63% grad 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 128 colleges AR Arkansas 83 colleges CA California 657 colleges CO Colorado 84 colleges CT Connecticut 56 colleges DE Delaware 18 colleges DC District of Columbia 28 colleges FL Florida 374 colleges GA Georgia 161 colleges GU Guam 7 colleges HI Hawaii 20 colleges ID Idaho 37 colleges IL Illinois 234 colleges IN Indiana 147 colleges IA Iowa 75 colleges KS Kansas 81 colleges KY Kentucky 87 colleges LA Louisiana 113 colleges ME Maine 36 colleges MD Maryland 75 colleges MA Massachusetts 140 colleges MI Michigan 169 colleges MN Minnesota 110 colleges MS Mississippi 56 colleges MO Missouri 141 colleges MT Montana 28 colleges NE Nebraska 40 colleges NV Nevada 39 colleges NH New Hampshire 30 colleges NJ New Jersey 157 colleges NM New Mexico 45 colleges NY New York 417 colleges NC North Carolina 168 colleges ND North Dakota 26 colleges MP Northern Mariana Islands 1 colleges OH Ohio 279 colleges OK Oklahoma 102 colleges OR Oregon 68 colleges PA Pennsylvania 317 colleges PR Puerto Rico 138 colleges RI Rhode Island 23 colleges SC South Carolina 88 colleges SD South Dakota 24 colleges TN Tennessee 145 colleges TX Texas 410 colleges VI US Virgin Islands 2 colleges UT Utah 62 colleges VT Vermont 14 colleges VA Virginia 149 colleges WA Washington 100 colleges WV West Virginia 66 colleges WI Wisconsin 85 colleges WY Wyoming 11 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 Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health SciencesBoston, 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 →

According to the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, updated September 2024, PlainCollege tracks 6,243 postsecondary institutions nationwide, drawing graduate earnings, costs, and completion outcomes from that federal release plus IPEDS institutional characteristics files and U.S. Treasury tax-record earnings linkage; see our methodology for the full source list and refresh cadence.

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.

Every page is generated straight from the source datasets, not hand-typed, so the same record stays consistent across every page it appears on. PlainCollege is independent and accepts no payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from any school. Found a record that looks wrong? Use the contact page with the page URL and the value that looks off - we compare it against the published federal source and correct our pipeline (not just the single page) if the error is on our side. See our editorial & corrections policy for the full process.

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.

What this means for your search

  • Net price after aid, not sticker price, is the number that actually predicts return on investment.Run your own numbers
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology tops PlainCollege's current best-value ranking, median 10-year earnings minus average net price.See the full ranking
  • Every one of the 56 states and territories PlainCollege tracks has its own dedicated page with state-specific earnings and cost data.Browse by state
  • Selectivity and earnings are not the same thing - a college with a low acceptance rate does not automatically deliver a better financial payoff.Compare selectivity vs. earnings

This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. College outcomes vary by student, program, and circumstance - use these figures as a starting point for research, not a substitute for personalized guidance.

Every figure on PlainCollege is rendered directly from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard data, no number is typed in by an editor. Every figure on this homepage is compiled directly from College Scorecard, IPEDS, and Treasury earnings-linkage data, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2024-25.