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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.

$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.

Top 15 business programs by median completer earnings

Business bachelor's (CIP 52.02) · higher is higher early-career pay

median earnings

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

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 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.