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Program ranking · CIP 52.03 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Accounting

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Accounting (CIP 52.03) bachelor's completers. Rankings use earnings only - not prestige, selectivity, or editorial judgment - and require at least 25 completers so tiny suppressed cohorts do not dominate the list.

$141,931
Highest accounting earnings
100
Colleges ranked
$88,393
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $88,393 median earnings for Accounting bachelor's (CIP 52.03) completers. Georgetown University leads at $141,931.

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

$141,931
#1 - Georgetown University
$88,393
#100 - the cutoff to make this list
25+
completers required per school
1,171
US schools offering this CIP

Earnings are field-of-study medians for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled; see methodology for horizon and lag details.

Top 15 accounting programs by median completer earnings

Accounting bachelor's (CIP 52.03) · higher is higher early-career pay

median earnings

What this shows Accounting medians track CPA pipelines and regional firm markets - compare debt and completer counts before treating pay as program quality.

Source U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard Field of Study As of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

The full top 100

# School Name StateMedian EarningsMedian DebtCompleters
1 Georgetown University DC $141,931 $17,500 53
2 Bucknell University PA $130,990 $26,881 74
3 Santa Clara University CA $130,087 $18,625 67
4 Boston College MA $126,461 $18,000 123
5 Lehigh University PA $125,874 $23,179 58
6 University of Southern California CA $121,101 $16,491 160
7 Villanova University PA $120,207 $25,858 109
8 Washington and Lee University VA $118,946 $16,750 37
9 Fordham University NY $117,024 $23,000 93
10 George Washington University DC $116,795 $24,750 41
11 University of Notre Dame IN $115,909 $19,000 66
12 College of the Holy Cross MA $114,088 $27,000 28
13 Syracuse University NY $112,682 $27,000 101
14 University of Richmond VA $112,202 $20,500 34
15 Loyola Marymount University CA $111,733 $14,750 35
16 The College of New Jersey NJ $111,509 $23,894 61
17 Fairfield University CT $110,586 $26,633 121
18 University of San Diego CA $109,142 $24,969 62
19 Bentley University MA $108,343 $27,000 231
20 University of Connecticut CT $106,959 $21,500 125
21 Binghamton University NY $106,323 $17,500 171
22 Marist University NY $106,313 $22,946 41
23 Elon University NC $105,707 $20,000 56
24 University of Delaware DE $105,425 $26,301 97
25 The University of Texas at Austin TX $105,143 $19,462 186
26 Southern Methodist University TX $103,675 $16,200 75
27 Texas A&M University-College Station TX $103,662 $16,831 262
28 Quinnipiac University CT $103,533 $23,250 39
29 Loyola University Maryland MD $103,352 $27,000 42
30 Providence College RI $103,245 $27,000 67
31 Seton Hall University NJ $102,626 $24,413 47
32 University of Miami FL $102,344 $17,750 63
33 Chapman University CA $102,147 $20,875 47
34 Baylor University TX $102,011 $20,495 148
35 Texas Christian University TX $101,938 $17,778 116
36 Miami University-Oxford OH $101,808 $22,500 123
37 University of Wisconsin-Madison WI $101,390 $20,277 119
38 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign IL $101,098 $20,125 353
39 Adelphi University NY $100,895 $21,500 33
40 Pace University NY $100,797 $25,291 95
41 University of Massachusetts-Amherst MA $100,516 $22,867 137
42 Drexel University PA $100,317 $27,167 299
43 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA $99,528 $18,500 162
44 Marquette University WI $99,086 $25,000 77
45 Touro University NY $99,047 $11,000 64
46 James Madison University VA $98,767 $22,500 89
47 University at Albany NY $98,010 $22,186 117
48 Loyola University Chicago IL $97,667 $22,000 72
49 Bryant University RI $97,515 $26,668 107
50 Seattle University WA $97,466 $22,750 43
51 University of Maryland-College Park MD $97,314 $15,000 154
52 University of Denver CO $96,903 $15,830 41
53 Trinity University TX $96,844 $23,550 39
54 Brigham Young University UT $96,632 $9,127 269
55 Gonzaga University WA $96,396 $24,774 68
56 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities MN $96,109 $22,342 140
57 Michigan State University MI $96,093 $22,500 164
58 University of San Francisco CA $95,973 $20,500 37
59 Creighton University NE $95,837 $26,893 48
60 University of Missouri-Columbia MO $95,415 $20,600 141
61 Stonehill College MA $94,984 $27,000 39
62 University of Florida FL $94,941 $17,750 140
63 University of Utah UT $94,253 $20,643 112
64 University of Arizona AZ $93,729 $21,550 139
65 University of Scranton PA $93,677 $27,000 63
66 DePaul University IL $93,592 $24,000 172
67 Saint Joseph's University - Philadelphia PA $93,585 $24,560 76
68 Butler University IN $93,584 $23,250 44
69 University of Georgia GA $93,260 $20,000 208
70 University of Iowa IA $92,767 $21,500 103
71 Hofstra University NY $92,530 $22,750 42
72 California State University-Northridge CA $92,329 $15,007 271
73 University at Buffalo NY $92,314 $17,900 98
74 Manhattan University NY $92,262 $24,246 31
75 Rider University NJ $91,950 $24,500 65
76 St. John's University-New York NY $91,878 $26,495 96
77 Sacred Heart University CT $91,777 $27,000 82
78 University of St Thomas MN $91,587 $22,750 70
79 Towson University MD $91,252 $19,000 117
80 Augustana College IL $91,143 $27,000 31
81 George Mason University VA $91,132 $20,000 182
82 Florida State University FL $91,056 $18,212 182
83 Saint Louis University MO $90,963 $26,000 31
84 Ohio State University-Main Campus OH $90,850 $22,250 369
85 Samford University AL $90,572 - 25
86 University of Dayton OH $90,314 $26,973 58
87 Purdue University-Main Campus IN $90,119 $19,500 99
88 CUNY Bernard M Baruch College NY $90,104 $11,000 608
89 Texas Tech University TX $89,891 $20,500 222
90 Case Western Reserve University OH $89,760 $25,000 37
91 California Lutheran University CA $89,573 $22,078 28
92 Salisbury University MD $89,535 $23,036 37
93 The University of Tennessee-Knoxville TN $89,445 $20,500 98
94 Iona University NY $89,359 $25,624 51
95 Rutgers University-Newark NJ $89,087 $21,500 157
96 Rutgers University-New Brunswick NJ $89,087 $21,500 151
97 Rutgers University-Camden NJ $89,087 $21,500 57
98 Brigham Young University-Idaho ID $88,548 $13,709 147
99 University of Washington-Seattle Campus WA $88,393 $14,828 123
100 University of Washington-Tacoma Campus WA $88,393 $14,828 91

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Accounting (CIP 52.03) bachelor's completers. Only operating schools with at least 25 completers and a published median are included. Ties break toward larger completer cohorts. For the full program profile - including every reporting school and national distribution - see Accounting (bachelor's). Methodology lives on our methodology page.

Caveats and limitations

"Best" here means highest reported median earnings for the stated CIP scope - not teaching quality, licensure pass rates, clinical placement strength, or fit for any one student. This list covers Accounting and Related Services (CIP 52.03) bachelor's programs - finance (CIP 52.08) and business administration (CIP 52.02) are ranked on their own pages.

Figures cover federally aided completers only, use Treasury-linked earnings, and describe a lagged cohort. Regional pay scales and graduate-school paths both move the median without proving a causal school effect.

This ranking is for informational purposes only and does not constitute academic or career advice. Earnings do not predict any individual graduate's outcome.

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. Rankings are computed directly from College Scorecard field-of-study data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error on this page. Review the public data changelog. Data current as of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals.