Program ranking · CIP 40.08 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Physics

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Physics (CIP 40.08) 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

$131,025
Highest physics earnings: 47
Colleges ranked: $51,590
#47 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $51,590 median earnings for Physics bachelor's (CIP 40.08) completers. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads at $131,025.

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

$131,025
#1 - Massachusetts Institute of: $51,590
#47 - the cutoff to make this list: 25+
completers required per school: 781
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.

Massachusetts Institute …

$131,025
Cornell University

$118,649
University of Notre Dame

$110,029
University of North Caro…

$103,477
California Polytechnic S…

$96,805
University of California…

$96,215
University of California…

$96,043
University of California…

$95,018
Ohio State University-Ma…

$94,543
Texas A&M University-Col…

$92,826
Virginia Polytechnic Ins…

$92,746
University of Michigan-A…

$92,293
University of Maryland-C…

$90,900
Southern Arkansas Univer…

$89,685
University of Arizona

$88,207

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

The full top 47

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA	$131,025	$18,500	67
2	Cornell University	NY	$118,649	$15,961	53
3	University of Notre Dame	IN	$110,029	$21,500	33
4	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	$103,477	$17,150	48
5	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$96,805	$23,886	51
6	University of California-Irvine	CA	$96,215	$13,590	89
7	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$96,043	$15,000	99
8	University of California-San Diego	CA	$95,018	$18,000	53
9	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	$94,543	$21,500	65
10	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$92,826	$19,500	49
11	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	$92,746	$26,224	51
12	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$92,293	$21,148	63
13	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	$90,900	$19,500	71
14	Southern Arkansas University Main Campus	AR	$89,685	$22,250	31
15	University of Arizona	AZ	$88,207	$20,500	43
16	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	$87,856	$23,000	42
17	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$85,708	$21,000	79
18	Bethel University	MN	$85,657	-	25
19	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	$85,219	$15,965	161
20	Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus	GA	$82,431	$21,500	67
21	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	$81,840	$20,270	50
22	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	PA	$81,763	$23,299	50
23	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	$81,696	$21,500	49
24	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$81,077	$19,500	47
25	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	$80,025	$23,930	37
26	University of California-Davis	CA	$78,569	$14,354	58
27	William & Mary	VA	$77,863	$21,000	38
28	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$77,380	$20,500	46
29	University of Utah	UT	$77,158	-	39
30	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	$75,867	$15,415	151
31	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	$75,764	$19,306	81
32	Rochester Institute of Technology	NY	$75,281	$27,000	38
33	University of Oregon	OR	$75,160	-	25
34	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	$74,738	$19,500	96
35	University of California-Riverside	CA	$74,410	$19,000	42
36	Brigham Young University	UT	$73,747	-	46
37	Rowan University	NJ	$72,734	$27,000	37
38	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	$72,596	$26,202	48
39	The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	$71,830	$22,964	32
40	California State University-Long Beach	CA	$70,462	$18,654	41
41	New York University	NY	$69,334	$22,750	58
42	University of South Florida	FL	$68,967	$17,599	34
43	University of Florida	FL	$68,682	$13,750	34
44	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	$67,544	$23,971	45
45	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	$67,505	$21,224	53
46	Stony Brook University	NY	$65,013	$21,341	63
47	North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	$51,590	$22,710	34

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Physics (CIP 40.08) 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 Physics (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 Physics (CIP 40.08) bachelor's programs - astronomy/astrophysics (CIP 40.02) stays locked until enough published cohorts exist, and engineering physics paths sit in CIP 14.

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.