Program ranking · CIP 52.02 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Business

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Business (CIP 52.02) 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.

Compiled by PlainCollege , College outcomes data analysis

$160,783
Highest business earnings: 100
Colleges ranked: $82,213
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $82,213 median earnings for Business bachelor's (CIP 52.02) completers. Carnegie Mellon University leads at $160,783.

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

$160,783
#1 - Carnegie Mellon University: $82,213
#100 - the cutoff to make this list: 25+
completers required per school: 1,561
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.

Carnegie Mellon University

$160,783
University of Michigan-A…

$144,654
University of California…

$144,599
University of Pennsylvania

$136,806
Emory University

$136,731
University of North Caro…

$135,874
Boston College

$123,144
Bismarck State College

$122,948
Washington and Lee Unive…

$121,699
Georgetown University

$117,733
Villanova University

$114,211
William & Mary

$111,366
California Polytechnic S…

$110,902
University of Southern C…

$109,128
Boston University

$108,412

What this shows Business administration earnings skew toward selective research universities - debt load and cohort size still matter more than brand alone.

The full top 100

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
1	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	$160,783	$23,250	138
2	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$144,654	$19,000	598
3	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$144,599	$11,300	409
4	University of Pennsylvania	PA	$136,806	$20,348	106
5	Emory University	GA	$136,731	$19,500	358
6	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	$135,874	$14,239	332
7	Boston College	MA	$123,144	$18,125	94
8	Bismarck State College	ND	$122,948	$15,250	47
9	Washington and Lee University	VA	$121,699	-	94
10	Georgetown University	DC	$117,733	$14,975	50
11	Villanova University	PA	$114,211	$27,000	28
12	William & Mary	VA	$111,366	$19,500	239
13	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$110,902	$16,633	753
14	University of Southern California	CA	$109,128	$15,750	832
15	Boston University	MA	$108,412	$23,196	678
16	Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	$108,400	$27,000	104
17	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$107,904	$19,087	136
18	Babson College	MA	$107,520	$22,766	564
19	Southern Methodist University	TX	$106,799	$19,500	55
20	Texas Christian University	TX	$106,765	$24,251	84
21	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	GA	$106,155	$21,500	359
22	Brigham Young University	UT	$105,544	$11,000	107
23	University of San Francisco	CA	$104,390	$23,250	125
24	University of Richmond	VA	$103,856	$20,577	223
25	Franklin and Marshall College	PA	$101,895	$19,500	60
26	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$100,005	$20,000	222
27	City University of Seattle	WA	$99,735	$23,209	126
28	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	$99,713	$25,000	56
29	Bentley University	MA	$99,514	$25,000	170
30	Yeshiva University	NY	$97,914	$21,750	94
31	Tulane University of Louisiana	LA	$95,966	$19,250	157
32	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	PA	$95,917	$20,500	123
33	Miami University-Oxford	OH	$95,796	$24,250	73
34	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	$94,458	$20,500	198
35	University of Minnesota-Crookston	MN	$93,969	$21,305	74
36	Loyola University Maryland	MD	$93,753	$27,000	252
37	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	$92,623	$20,500	294
38	University of Dayton	OH	$92,317	$23,000	29
39	Syracuse University	NY	$91,472	$27,000	128
40	Golden Gate University	CA	$91,369	$31,250	125
41	Pepperdine University	CA	$91,227	$27,000	218
42	Michigan State University	MI	$91,187	$21,500	425
43	Marist University	NY	$90,855	$25,000	270
44	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	$90,284	$19,500	110
45	Fordham University	NY	$90,192	$25,000	198
46	Thomas Edison State University	NJ	$89,947	$14,238	189
47	Bryant University	RI	$89,929	$27,000	128
48	Loyola University Chicago	IL	$89,745	$23,554	121
49	University of Detroit Mercy	MI	$89,540	$21,500	50
50	University of Delaware	DE	$89,105	$23,302	141
51	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus	OK	$88,953	$16,679	36
52	Dominican University of California	CA	$88,913	$25,000	45
53	American University	DC	$88,359	$24,500	247
54	Capella University	MN	$87,997	$21,043	626
55	The Catholic University of America	DC	$87,907	$25,500	135
56	Excelsior University	NY	$87,618	$13,323	228
57	Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology	OK	$87,302	$31,191	38
58	Utah Valley University	UT	$86,602	$15,375	309
59	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	$86,590	$19,500	234
60	University of New Hampshire-Main Campus	NH	$86,535	$27,000	695
61	University of New Hampshire College of Professional Studies Online	NH	$86,535	$27,000	52
62	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	$86,441	$20,500	1,087
63	The College of New Jersey	NJ	$85,978	$21,750	261
64	Baylor University	TX	$85,961	$21,500	157
65	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	$85,586	$21,500	242
66	University of Redlands	CA	$85,278	$27,000	105
67	George Mason University	VA	$85,224	$19,440	166
68	James Madison University	VA	$85,137	$19,000	129
69	Providence College	RI	$85,119	$27,000	102
70	Gettysburg College	PA	$84,973	$27,000	69
71	Fairfield University	CT	$84,962	$25,000	41
72	Weber State University	UT	$84,885	$25,416	90
73	Chapman University	CA	$84,378	$19,625	481
74	North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	$84,349	$19,500	841
75	Clark University	MA	$84,234	$25,250	53
76	Oakland University	MI	$84,052	$25,647	70
77	Drexel University	PA	$84,040	$27,000	81
78	Bellevue University	NE	$84,019	$24,192	565
79	University of Massachusetts Global	CA	$83,778	$33,125	413
80	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Worldwide	FL	$83,749	$22,405	454
81	Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach	FL	$83,749	$22,405	89
82	Western Governors University	UT	$83,654	$14,816	2,594
83	Rutgers University-Newark	NJ	$83,606	$21,250	418
84	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	$83,606	$21,250	293
85	Rutgers University-Camden	NJ	$83,606	$21,250	232
86	Colorado State University Global	CO	$83,415	$24,495	475
87	Thomas More University	KY	$82,906	$31,000	66
88	University of Florida	FL	$82,615	$15,000	452
89	University of Florida-Online	FL	$82,615	$15,000	189
90	Queens University of Charlotte	NC	$82,572	$21,500	35
91	Temple University	PA	$82,570	$19,500	47
92	Loyola Marymount University	CA	$82,543	$21,875	41
93	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	$82,535	$20,490	713
94	Arizona State University Digital Immersion	AZ	$82,535	$20,490	521
95	Los Angeles Pacific University	CA	$82,437	$9,375	69
96	University of St Thomas	MN	$82,396	$22,250	181
97	Quinnipiac University	CT	$82,357	$25,000	78
98	University of Vermont	VT	$82,284	$20,000	217
99	Hampton University	VA	$82,252	$26,000	73
100	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$82,213	$17,974	471

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Business (CIP 52.02) 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 Business (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 Business Administration, Management and Operations (CIP 52.02) bachelor's programs - not every business CIP. Commerce-general and specialized majors (finance, accounting, marketing) have their own program 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.