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Program ranking · CIP 26.15 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Neuroscience

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Neuroscience (CIP 26.15) 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.

$143,067
Highest neuroscience earnings
59
Colleges ranked
$48,464
#59 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $48,464 median earnings for Neuroscience bachelor's (CIP 26.15) completers. Dartmouth College leads at $143,067.

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

$143,067
#1 - Dartmouth College
$48,464
#59 - the cutoff to make this list
25+
completers required per school
288
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 neuroscience programs by median completer earnings

Neuroscience bachelor's (CIP 26.15) · higher is higher early-career pay

median earnings

What this shows Neuroscience medians often reflect research-university and medical-adjacent pipelines - compare debt and completer counts before treating pay as program quality.

Source U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard Field of Study As of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

The full top 59

# School Name StateMedian EarningsMedian DebtCompleters
1 Dartmouth College NH $143,067 $18,061 40
2 Middlebury College VT $90,917 $11,900 48
3 University of Southern California CA $89,203 $14,000 121
4 University of New Hampshire-Main Campus NH $78,722 $23,250 34
5 University of Pennsylvania PA $78,295 $12,000 132
6 Binghamton University NY $77,478 $19,500 237
7 Northeastern University MA $74,617 $24,000 118
8 Indiana University-Bloomington IN $74,151 $22,802 112
9 Emory University GA $73,795 $17,421 167
10 Central Michigan University MI $73,316 $25,000 45
11 Duke University NC $73,140 $12,645 96
12 University of San Diego CA $72,910 $25,000 100
13 University of Colorado Boulder CO $71,942 $20,547 145
14 Columbia University in the City of New York NY $70,244 $24,812 81
15 University of California-Santa Cruz CA $69,027 $19,000 62
16 Boston University MA $68,888 $24,325 147
17 Union College NY $68,666 $24,500 31
18 George Mason University VA $68,546 $19,727 70
19 Ohio State University-Main Campus OH $68,480 $21,134 260
20 Brandeis University MA $68,179 $26,000 60
21 Trinity College CT $67,115 $24,022 26
22 University of St Thomas MN $66,868 $27,000 36
23 Barnard College NY $66,787 $17,491 40
24 University of Notre Dame IN $65,458 $19,500 116
25 University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus PA $65,239 $21,500 189
26 The University of Texas at Austin TX $65,124 $23,250 264
27 Temple University PA $64,063 $25,668 101
28 University of California-Davis CA $63,720 $12,917 519
29 University of California-San Diego CA $61,799 $19,000 179
30 Brigham Young University UT $60,065 $12,344 113
31 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University VA $59,714 $22,300 205
32 Vanderbilt University TN $59,575 $16,000 103
33 University of Minnesota-Twin Cities MN $59,568 $21,741 115
34 The University of Texas at Dallas TX $59,498 $19,500 257
35 University of Delaware DE $59,009 $25,000 87
36 University of Wisconsin-Madison WI $58,824 $21,202 293
37 Loyola University Chicago IL $58,373 $25,000 115
38 Michigan State University MI $58,046 $24,232 255
39 University of Cincinnati-Main Campus OH $58,004 $23,827 107
40 Grand Valley State University MI $57,842 $24,179 77
41 University of Nevada-Reno NV $57,769 $20,833 90
42 University of Illinois Chicago IL $56,869 $15,687 103
43 Johns Hopkins University MD $56,324 $12,750 128
44 Indiana University-Indianapolis IN $56,218 $15,127 56
45 Washington State University WA $55,687 $16,500 49
46 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor MI $55,436 $17,500 226
47 University of California-Los Angeles CA $55,404 $16,674 192
48 University of Nebraska at Omaha NE $55,043 $15,449 30
49 Northwestern University IL $54,279 $17,309 103
50 Syracuse University NY $54,088 $27,000 50
51 Baylor University TX $53,927 $27,000 65
52 University of Vermont VT $53,755 $19,650 58
53 University of Arizona AZ $52,571 $21,754 124
54 William & Mary VA $52,161 $17,250 69
55 University of California-Riverside CA $51,865 $19,000 136
56 Western Washington University WA $51,508 $22,000 31
57 Georgia State University GA $51,367 $23,250 76
58 Saint Edward's University TX $50,936 $24,250 37
59 Tulane University of Louisiana LA $48,464 $19,500 149

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Neuroscience (CIP 26.15) 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 Neuroscience (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 Neurobiology and Neurosciences (CIP 26.15) bachelor's programs only - psychology (CIP 42.01), biology general (CIP 26.01), and biomedical engineering (CIP 14.05) 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.