Program ranking · CIP 11.07 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Computer Science

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Computer Science (CIP 11.07) 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

$268,121
Highest computer science earnings: 100
Colleges ranked: $111,661
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $111,661 median earnings for Computer Science bachelor's (CIP 11.07) completers. Carnegie Mellon University leads at $268,121.

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

$268,121
#1 - Carnegie Mellon University: $111,661
#100 - the cutoff to make this list: 25+
completers required per school: 727
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

$268,121
Massachusetts Institute …

$225,141
Cornell University

$223,309
Princeton University

$217,973
Pomona College

$217,051
Stanford University

$214,907
Brown University

$214,479
Williams College

$209,574
University of California…

$204,379
Harvard University

$203,169
Dartmouth College

$201,702
California Institute of …

$200,511
Harvey Mudd College

$198,257
Duke University

$195,809
University of Southern C…

$192,897

What this shows Computer science medians swing with coastal tech markets and selective admits - compare debt and completer counts before treating pay as program quality.

The full top 100

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
1	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	$268,121	$21,442	255
2	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA	$225,141	$11,077	384
3	Cornell University	NY	$223,309	$14,750	504
4	Princeton University	NJ	$217,973	-	172
5	Pomona College	CA	$217,051	-	50
6	Stanford University	CA	$214,907	$10,399	277
7	Brown University	RI	$214,479	$11,500	250
8	Williams College	MA	$209,574	$12,208	49
9	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$204,379	$13,750	848
10	Harvard University	MA	$203,169	-	173
11	Dartmouth College	NH	$201,702	$18,490	130
12	California Institute of Technology	CA	$200,511	-	77
13	Harvey Mudd College	CA	$198,257	$22,949	49
14	Duke University	NC	$195,809	$13,500	370
15	University of Southern California	CA	$192,897	$19,625	287
16	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	$188,265	$19,594	357
17	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$181,981	$18,983	292
18	University of Chicago	IL	$178,068	-	126
19	Washington University in St Louis	MO	$177,066	$15,250	205
20	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	$175,616	$15,351	494
21	University of Washington-Bothell Campus	WA	$175,616	$15,351	246
22	Colgate University	NY	$161,980	$16,000	49
23	Vanderbilt University	TN	$160,021	$14,500	205
24	Emory University	GA	$159,541	$15,500	82
25	University of California-San Diego	CA	$159,487	$16,166	591
26	Tufts University	MA	$156,343	$15,500	171
27	University of Rochester	NY	$155,464	$19,000	161
28	Northwestern University	IL	$155,106	$14,646	102
29	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$154,784	$19,500	163
30	George Washington University	DC	$150,716	$19,500	71
31	University of San Francisco	CA	$150,341	$20,250	76
32	University of San Diego	CA	$149,847	$19,500	29
33	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	$149,190	$13,500	161
34	University of the Pacific	CA	$147,511	$23,000	68
35	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	$146,685	$19,136	439
36	Georgetown University	DC	$143,900	$15,750	46
37	Case Western Reserve University	OH	$143,580	$25,391	141
38	Boston College	MA	$143,204	$18,000	125
39	Brigham Young University	UT	$142,800	$12,000	135
40	Amherst College	MA	$142,680	$16,750	55
41	Lehigh University	PA	$141,691	$23,854	138
42	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	$141,528	$23,233	284
43	Stevens Institute of Technology	NJ	$138,468	$27,000	132
44	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	$137,931	$19,500	954
45	Bowdoin College	ME	$137,611	-	42
46	University of Utah	UT	$137,329	$19,000	219
47	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	$137,047	$13,500	432
48	Boston University	MA	$136,667	$23,125	294
49	Rochester Institute of Technology	NY	$135,702	$27,000	186
50	Worcester Polytechnic Institute	MA	$134,208	$27,000	199
51	Seattle Pacific University	WA	$133,039	$18,908	29
52	Middlebury College	VT	$128,471	$13,500	53
53	Seattle University	WA	$128,314	$21,530	75
54	William & Mary	VA	$127,851	$19,794	93
55	California State University-Chico	CA	$127,498	$20,000	81
56	University of California-Irvine	CA	$127,404	$15,000	744
57	Colorado School of Mines	CO	$127,217	$22,500	202
58	Southern Methodist University	TX	$126,590	$25,625	90
59	Binghamton University	NY	$126,183	$19,000	115
60	University of Portland	OR	$125,929	$22,590	38
61	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$124,283	$20,395	376
62	Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology	IN	$123,753	$24,500	94
63	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	$123,519	$22,679	391
64	Brandeis University	MA	$123,460	$26,142	99
65	University of California-Santa Cruz	CA	$123,422	$16,499	607
66	University of Denver	CO	$121,993	$21,053	49
67	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	$121,952	$19,687	473
68	Wentworth Institute of Technology	MA	$121,671	$25,000	116
69	University of Miami	FL	$121,589	$18,584	83
70	Gonzaga University	WA	$121,512	$27,000	44
71	Oregon State University	OR	$121,405	$22,721	843
72	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus	OR	$121,405	$22,721	34
73	Illinois Institute of Technology	IL	$120,953	$23,750	107
74	University of Illinois Chicago	IL	$120,470	$17,418	328
75	DePauw University	IN	$120,076	$26,500	41
76	Mount Holyoke College	MA	$120,021	$20,750	42
77	California State University-East Bay	CA	$119,900	$11,000	193
78	Washington State University	WA	$119,686	$20,000	177
79	Tulane University of Louisiana	LA	$118,931	$19,000	36
80	Brigham Young University-Idaho	ID	$117,895	$7,806	64
81	Pace University	NY	$117,835	$20,500	63
82	University of California-Riverside	CA	$117,705	$19,000	212
83	University of Arizona	AZ	$117,451	$22,000	212
84	CUNY City College	NY	$116,238	-	132
85	Clark University	MA	$115,804	-	27
86	Utah Valley University	UT	$115,541	$23,146	68
87	Wake Forest University	NC	$115,493	$20,549	49
88	Southern New Hampshire University	NH	$115,259	$23,466	437
89	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	$114,868	$19,487	582
90	Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	$114,199	$19,366	144
91	Regis University	CO	$114,098	$28,750	36
92	Portland State University	OR	$113,889	$25,000	168
93	Drexel University	PA	$113,610	$28,993	168
94	North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	$113,478	$20,500	281
95	CUNY Queens College	NY	$112,903	$10,301	311
96	Chapman University	CA	$112,780	$21,809	52
97	Boise State University	ID	$112,120	$26,000	126
98	Marist University	NY	$111,893	$24,500	46
99	Montana State University	MT	$111,728	$21,750	100
100	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	$111,661	$18,577	533

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Computer Science (CIP 11.07) 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 Computer Science (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 Computer Science (CIP 11.07) bachelor's programs only - computer engineering (CIP 14.09) and information-systems majors 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.