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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.

$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.

Top 15 english programs by median completer earnings

English bachelor's (CIP 23.01) · higher is higher early-career pay

median earnings

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

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 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.