Program ranking · CIP 40.05 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Chemistry

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Chemistry (CIP 40.05) 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

$93,122
Highest chemistry earnings: 100
Colleges ranked: $56,784
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $56,784 median earnings for Chemistry bachelor's (CIP 40.05) completers. College of the Holy Cross leads at $93,122.

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

$93,122
#1 - College of the: $56,784
#100 - the cutoff to make this list: 25+
completers required per school: 1,158
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.

College of the Holy Cross

$93,122
The College of New Jersey

$90,396
New York University

$86,197
University of Connecticut

$84,609
University of California…

$82,386
University of Oregon

$81,984
Bridgewater State Univer…

$80,287
California State Univers…

$79,878
University of Maryland-C…

$79,869
The University of Tennes…

$79,736
Rowan University

$79,695
Cornell University

$79,311
Emory University

$79,034
Boise State University

$78,901
Oregon State University

$78,417

What this shows Chemistry medians mix lab, industry, and graduate-school pipelines - compare debt and completer counts before treating pay as program quality.

The full top 100

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
1	College of the Holy Cross	MA	$93,122	$27,000	32
2	The College of New Jersey	NJ	$90,396	$25,611	27
3	New York University	NY	$86,197	$24,125	29
4	University of Connecticut	CT	$84,609	$25,818	37
5	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$82,386	$11,077	126
6	University of Oregon	OR	$81,984	-	26
7	Bridgewater State University	MA	$80,287	$27,000	25
8	California State University-Northridge	CA	$79,878	-	26
9	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	$79,869	$16,738	42
10	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	TN	$79,736	$16,962	39
11	Rowan University	NJ	$79,695	$25,000	25
12	Cornell University	NY	$79,311	$15,121	43
13	Emory University	GA	$79,034	$19,625	104
14	Boise State University	ID	$78,901	$25,000	39
15	Oregon State University	OR	$78,417	$23,916	48
16	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	$78,373	-	29
17	William & Mary	VA	$78,270	$18,033	52
18	George Mason University	VA	$77,681	$20,504	40
19	University of California-San Diego	CA	$77,249	$16,050	346
20	North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	$76,978	$16,500	37
21	Towson University	MD	$76,296	$21,187	54
22	University of California-Irvine	CA	$74,810	$13,000	112
23	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	$74,713	$15,805	103
24	San Diego State University	CA	$74,676	$17,999	114
25	James Madison University	VA	$74,631	$23,750	44
26	California State University-Sacramento	CA	$74,430	$26,263	38
27	University of Kentucky	KY	$73,549	$22,000	35
28	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	$73,395	$22,875	33
29	University of California-Davis	CA	$73,365	$13,000	70
30	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	$73,245	$19,250	40
31	University of Cincinnati-Main Campus	OH	$72,302	$19,500	51
32	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$72,220	$11,000	58
33	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	$72,025	$17,794	114
34	Stony Brook University	NY	$71,783	$21,490	55
35	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	$71,620	$19,500	68
36	Colorado State University-Fort Collins	CO	$71,615	$16,500	31
37	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	$71,559	$24,500	52
38	East Carolina University	NC	$71,445	$22,000	65
39	University of California-Santa Cruz	CA	$71,348	$15,000	54
40	University of Utah	UT	$71,276	$15,921	65
41	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	$70,741	$23,333	76
42	Texas Tech University	TX	$70,673	$27,487	25
43	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	PA	$70,206	$27,000	57
44	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$70,197	$21,250	114
45	University at Albany	NY	$70,124	$21,250	36
46	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$69,662	$18,488	57
47	University of Houston	TX	$68,504	$12,500	31
48	University at Buffalo	NY	$68,413	$22,783	44
49	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	$68,174	$19,000	103
50	Syracuse University	NY	$68,017	$21,459	26
51	Clemson University	SC	$67,996	$27,000	47
52	California State University-Long Beach	CA	$67,818	$12,430	39
53	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	$67,680	$19,500	72
54	Virginia Commonwealth University	VA	$67,439	$20,500	100
55	Monmouth University	NJ	$66,895	$27,000	25
56	Florida State University	FL	$66,724	$21,406	27
57	University of Arizona	AZ	$66,532	$24,219	29
58	University of Minnesota-Duluth	MN	$66,529	$21,242	36
59	Iowa State University	IA	$66,486	$20,199	32
60	Michigan State University	MI	$65,983	$26,750	48
61	University of North Carolina Wilmington	NC	$65,982	$16,400	43
62	Kent State University at Kent	OH	$65,810	$24,892	36
63	Georgia Southern University	GA	$65,629	$23,000	34
64	Northern Illinois University	IL	$65,611	$22,750	30
65	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$65,591	$21,500	25
66	University of Northern Colorado	CO	$65,414	$26,000	29
67	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	PA	$65,230	$27,000	30
68	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	$64,981	$14,000	139
69	California State University-Fullerton	CA	$64,857	$17,377	28
70	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$64,734	$22,250	66
71	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	$64,676	$15,081	77
72	University of California-Riverside	CA	$64,131	$21,500	53
73	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$63,882	$15,259	26
74	Kalamazoo College	MI	$63,824	$27,000	32
75	California State University-San Bernardino	CA	$63,496	$16,276	27
76	The University of Texas at Dallas	TX	$63,472	$20,532	33
77	Wayne State University	MI	$63,079	$21,054	50
78	Indiana University-Indianapolis	IN	$61,687	$20,743	56
79	University of North Texas	TX	$61,473	$23,250	38
80	Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	$61,024	$17,000	45
81	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	NC	$60,978	$21,500	29
82	University of Missouri-Kansas City	MO	$60,950	$20,803	76
83	Northern Arizona University	AZ	$60,630	$20,051	54
84	CUNY Lehman College	NY	$60,413	-	40
85	University of Alabama at Birmingham	AL	$60,318	$26,000	52
86	University of Iowa	IA	$60,227	$25,650	34
87	Bowling Green State University-Main Campus	OH	$60,065	$24,250	43
88	University of South Florida	FL	$59,942	$16,750	70
89	California State University-Channel Islands	CA	$58,498	$21,250	25
90	University of South Carolina-Columbia	SC	$58,462	$23,263	25
91	Appalachian State University	NC	$58,329	$23,894	49
92	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	$58,247	$21,375	101
93	Florida International University	FL	$57,788	$13,240	83
94	Sam Houston State University	TX	$57,410	$23,874	35
95	University of Central Florida	FL	$57,313	$16,050	50
96	The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	TX	$57,100	$10,837	42
97	Tennessee Technological University	TN	$57,088	$19,100	32
98	Missouri State University-Springfield	MO	$56,984	$20,517	33
99	University of California-Merced	CA	$56,888	$14,500	40
100	Kennesaw State University	GA	$56,784	$19,901	38

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Chemistry (CIP 40.05) 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 Chemistry (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 Chemistry (CIP 40.05) bachelor's programs - biochemistry (CIP 26.02) and chemical engineering (CIP 14.07) 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.