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Program ranking · CIP 26.02 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Biochemistry

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Biochemistry (CIP 26.02) 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.

$90,694
Highest biochemistry earnings
89
Colleges ranked
$44,979
#89 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $44,979 median earnings for Biochemistry bachelor's (CIP 26.02) completers. University of California-Santa Barbara leads at $90,694.

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

$90,694
#1 - University of California-Santa
$44,979
#89 - the cutoff to make this list
25+
completers required per school
682
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 biochemistry programs by median completer earnings

Biochemistry bachelor's (CIP 26.02) · higher is higher early-career pay

median earnings

What this shows Biochemistry medians concentrate at research universities with strong lab pipelines - 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 89

# School Name StateMedian EarningsMedian DebtCompleters
1 University of California-Santa Barbara CA $90,694 $11,750 74
2 Northeastern University MA $90,612 $23,250 82
3 University of California-Santa Cruz CA $88,305 $18,959 49
4 University of New Hampshire-Main Campus NH $87,075 $27,000 27
5 University of San Diego CA $83,380 $27,000 26
6 University of Kansas KS $81,568 $18,250 79
7 Montclair State University NJ $81,519 $25,000 43
8 University of Vermont VT $80,593 $19,500 58
9 University of Maryland-College Park MD $80,470 $19,500 57
10 Temple University PA $80,364 $25,125 39
11 California State University-Long Beach CA $79,820 $11,000 66
12 Rutgers University-New Brunswick NJ $79,510 $22,862 52
13 Indiana University-Bloomington IN $78,721 $22,777 56
14 California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo CA $78,097 $17,500 39
15 University of Massachusetts-Amherst MA $77,853 $23,250 158
16 Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus PA $77,336 $25,750 81
17 Western Washington University WA $77,048 $20,166 29
18 San Francisco State University CA $76,134 $14,986 41
19 Portland State University OR $75,765 $22,221 27
20 University of Maryland-Baltimore County MD $75,493 $19,500 59
21 Boston College MA $75,274 $19,000 45
22 University of California-Los Angeles CA $73,506 $14,753 222
23 University of Wisconsin-Madison WI $72,988 $20,000 189
24 Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus GA $72,940 $24,250 40
25 University of California-San Diego CA $72,491 $17,359 132
26 North Carolina State University at Raleigh NC $71,136 $22,000 66
27 University of California-Davis CA $70,754 $11,000 222
28 Colorado State University-Fort Collins CO $70,343 $21,500 63
29 Florida State University FL $69,875 $17,625 47
30 University of Denver CO $69,725 $23,139 53
31 New York University NY $68,690 $20,746 37
32 University of Colorado Boulder CO $68,488 $18,487 73
33 California State University-Fullerton CA $68,170 $18,240 67
34 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor MI $67,925 $17,095 272
35 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities MN $67,783 $19,500 79
36 Rowan University NJ $67,702 $19,000 52
37 Loyola University Chicago IL $67,681 $25,000 37
38 Purdue University-Main Campus IN $67,639 $17,713 49
39 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA $67,621 $24,000 106
40 California State University-Los Angeles CA $67,441 $16,156 43
41 Ohio State University-Main Campus OH $67,381 $18,500 97
42 University of South Carolina-Columbia SC $67,202 $23,250 72
43 California State University-Sacramento CA $66,885 $16,500 35
44 University of Arizona AZ $66,862 $18,349 62
45 California State University-San Marcos CA $65,479 $20,983 35
46 University of Iowa IA $65,072 $21,500 31
47 Texas State University TX $64,830 $22,365 33
48 Binghamton University NY $64,737 $17,779 72
49 University of Nebraska-Lincoln NE $64,521 $19,300 75
50 University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee WI $64,492 $22,775 30
51 The University of Texas at Austin TX $64,145 $18,642 331
52 Boston University MA $64,112 $25,000 151
53 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus PA $63,707 $26,558 39
54 Michigan State University MI $63,419 $22,125 83
55 Brigham Young University UT $63,291 $11,625 84
56 University of Nevada-Reno NV $63,239 $14,024 39
57 Iowa State University IA $63,026 $18,950 37
58 Texas Tech University TX $63,013 $22,718 52
59 CUNY City College NY $62,440 - 35
60 Duquesne University PA $62,319 $27,000 27
61 University of Houston TX $61,122 $17,640 88
62 University of Minnesota-Duluth MN $61,010 $19,729 42
63 Clemson University SC $60,988 $21,750 68
64 Central Connecticut State University CT $60,713 $23,750 44
65 University of North Texas TX $60,655 $21,719 41
66 Stony Brook University NY $60,648 $18,250 126
67 Arizona State University Campus Immersion AZ $60,501 $18,750 196
68 Arizona State University Digital Immersion AZ $60,501 $18,750 81
69 California State University-Chico CA $60,367 $22,000 25
70 University of California-Riverside CA $59,549 $16,958 151
71 University of Georgia GA $59,534 $20,750 59
72 Grand Valley State University MI $59,476 $25,125 45
73 Texas A&M University-College Station TX $59,079 $17,500 53
74 University of Washington-Seattle Campus WA $58,818 $14,014 290
75 University of Illinois Chicago IL $58,268 $14,723 66
76 University of Southern California CA $57,246 $3,000 41
77 University of Missouri-Columbia MO $56,003 $25,437 57
78 Towson University MD $54,367 $19,950 35
79 The University of Texas at Arlington TX $53,830 $19,779 27
80 Grinnell College IA $53,105 $16,549 48
81 The University of Texas at El Paso TX $51,356 $16,877 39
82 The University of Texas at Dallas TX $50,432 $20,750 125
83 Baylor University TX $49,661 $26,500 69
84 Middle Tennessee State University TN $49,543 $15,716 40
85 Oklahoma State University-Main Campus OK $49,010 $18,716 55
86 University of New Mexico-Main Campus NM $48,873 $18,975 61
87 Coastal Carolina University SC $46,896 $27,000 25
88 The University of Texas at San Antonio TX $45,035 $19,250 41
89 Mississippi State University MS $44,979 $23,248 100

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Biochemistry (CIP 26.02) 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 Biochemistry (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 Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology (CIP 26.02) bachelor's programs - chemistry (CIP 40.05), biology general (CIP 26.01), and biomedical engineering (CIP 14.05) are ranked on their own pages when demand warrants.

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.