Program ranking · CIP 23.01 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for English

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for English (CIP 23.01) 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

$82,036
Highest english earnings: 100
Colleges ranked: $54,085
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $54,085 median earnings for English bachelor's (CIP 23.01) completers. Stanford University leads at $82,036.

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

$82,036
#1 - Stanford University: $54,085
#100 - the cutoff to make this list: 25+
completers required per school: 1,283
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.

Stanford University

$82,036
Georgetown University

$78,370
University of Chicago

$78,169
Wake Forest University

$77,847
College of the Holy Cross

$74,214
Brown University

$73,497
George Washington Univer…

$70,766
Boston College

$70,141
Tufts University

$69,475
Williams College

$69,065
Elon University

$68,927
University of San Diego

$68,752
Trinity College

$68,063
Loyola Marymount Univers…

$66,806
Emory University

$66,762

What this shows English medians mix teaching, writing, and knowledge-work pipelines - debt still matters when graduate-school paths dominate early careers.

The full top 100

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
1	Stanford University	CA	$82,036	-	33
2	Georgetown University	DC	$78,370	$16,000	77
3	University of Chicago	IL	$78,169	-	54
4	Wake Forest University	NC	$77,847	$19,500	39
5	College of the Holy Cross	MA	$74,214	$27,000	57
6	Brown University	RI	$73,497	$12,974	60
7	George Washington University	DC	$70,766	$23,250	30
8	Boston College	MA	$70,141	$18,940	91
9	Tufts University	MA	$69,475	$14,670	31
10	Williams College	MA	$69,065	$13,125	45
11	Elon University	NC	$68,927	-	28
12	University of San Diego	CA	$68,752	$24,000	25
13	Trinity College	CT	$68,063	$22,592	26
14	Loyola Marymount University	CA	$66,806	$22,000	65
15	Emory University	GA	$66,762	$21,000	36
16	Amherst College	MA	$65,195	-	41
17	Cornell University	NY	$65,089	$16,300	52
18	Binghamton University	NY	$64,555	$19,500	99
19	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	$64,225	$21,625	86
20	Fordham University	NY	$63,834	$27,000	116
21	Providence College	RI	$63,736	$22,750	29
22	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$63,413	$23,500	60
23	Yale University	CT	$62,440	-	56
24	Spelman College	GA	$62,425	$25,314	35
25	Brandeis University	MA	$62,291	$26,000	25
26	Northwestern University	IL	$62,147	$15,450	56
27	Assumption University	MA	$62,073	$27,000	26
28	University of Pennsylvania	PA	$61,989	$19,500	62
29	St Lawrence University	NY	$61,335	$26,000	37
30	Barnard College	NY	$61,327	$18,558	60
31	Princeton University	NJ	$61,323	-	40
32	University of Notre Dame	IN	$60,998	$19,000	53
33	Gettysburg College	PA	$60,876	$26,242	34
34	Colgate University	NY	$60,702	$15,875	36
35	New Jersey City University	NJ	$60,574	$23,401	35
36	Vassar College	NY	$60,461	$19,000	29
37	Vanderbilt University	TN	$60,439	$15,050	63
38	Monmouth University	NJ	$60,220	$26,000	39
39	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$60,187	$12,979	221
40	Sonoma State University	CA	$59,418	$19,375	81
41	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	$59,396	$25,000	82
42	Wheaton College (Massachusetts)	MA	$59,381	$26,434	27
43	University of Southern California	CA	$59,345	$3,500	27
44	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	$59,334	$16,892	168
45	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	$59,288	$19,500	118
46	Siena University	NY	$59,280	$27,000	31
47	St. John's University-New York	NY	$59,267	$27,000	38
48	National University	CA	$59,192	$23,342	29
49	University of California-Davis	CA	$59,012	$13,500	187
50	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus	OK	$58,854	$19,000	34
51	University of California-Merced	CA	$58,623	$24,000	31
52	Boston University	MA	$58,564	$25,750	62
53	Dartmouth College	NH	$58,090	$17,000	32
54	Chapman University	CA	$58,055	$22,875	32
55	Rowan University	NJ	$57,895	$22,500	41
56	University of Dayton	OH	$57,868	$24,398	27
57	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$57,809	$16,887	98
58	Tulane University of Louisiana	LA	$57,752	$20,000	61
59	Saint Mary's College of California	CA	$57,651	$23,250	27
60	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	$57,649	$15,000	109
61	William & Mary	VA	$57,616	$19,255	73
62	University of Maryland-Baltimore County	MD	$57,547	$17,750	51
63	James Madison University	VA	$57,487	$21,000	49
64	The College of New Jersey	NJ	$56,905	$23,188	44
65	CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice	NY	$56,768	$9,319	52
66	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$56,703	$18,930	131
67	California Baptist University	CA	$56,656	$21,500	31
68	University of Missouri-Kansas City	MO	$56,584	$20,500	38
69	San Francisco State University	CA	$56,297	$16,743	143
70	Loyola University Chicago	IL	$56,289	$25,000	43
71	University of Delaware	DE	$56,243	$25,500	75
72	Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	$56,204	$16,227	54
73	University of California-San Diego	CA	$56,097	$13,555	30
74	George Mason University	VA	$56,071	$18,750	106
75	Rollins College	FL	$55,912	$25,040	27
76	CUNY Hunter College	NY	$55,759	$13,533	194
77	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	$55,412	$15,000	172
78	Christopher Newport University	VA	$55,379	$26,573	36
79	University of Connecticut	CT	$55,376	$21,824	115
80	Le Moyne College	NY	$55,364	$27,000	32
81	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$55,346	$13,534	275
82	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	$55,337	$21,500	101
83	Rutgers University-Camden	NJ	$55,337	$21,500	41
84	Central Connecticut State University	CT	$55,295	$26,000	40
85	Stony Brook University	NY	$55,210	$18,000	94
86	California State University-Dominguez Hills	CA	$55,081	-	61
87	Hofstra University	NY	$55,054	$22,625	47
88	California State University-San Marcos	CA	$54,985	$15,500	56
89	Kean University	NJ	$54,749	$26,984	63
90	CUNY Lehman College	NY	$54,674	$10,500	82
91	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$54,570	$19,500	94
92	University of Rhode Island	RI	$54,524	$25,000	48
93	California State University-Stanislaus	CA	$54,501	$13,000	80
94	University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus	CO	$54,500	$21,538	42
95	Connecticut College	CT	$54,495	$24,125	25
96	University of Maryland Global Campus	MD	$54,444	$18,937	104
97	Baylor University	TX	$54,367	-	28
98	University of California-Irvine	CA	$54,299	$16,446	138
99	Brigham Young University	UT	$54,290	$10,494	126
100	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	$54,085	$19,225	86

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for English (CIP 23.01) 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 English (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 English Language and Literature, General (CIP 23.01) bachelor's programs - creative writing and rhetoric-adjacent majors are ranked separately when they have enough published cohorts.

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.