Program ranking · CIP 31.05 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Sports Medicine

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Sports Medicine (CIP 31.05) 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

$87,404
Highest sports medicine earnings: 100
Colleges ranked: $59,648
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $59,648 median earnings for Sports Medicine bachelor's (CIP 31.05) completers. Rice University leads at $87,404.

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

$87,404
#1 - Rice University: $59,648
#100 - the cutoff to make this list: 25+
completers required per school: 941
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.

Rice University

$87,404
Emory University

$87,254
University of Virginia-M…

$81,110
University of Scranton

$79,700
Wake Forest University

$79,599
University of Michigan-A…

$79,411
Seton Hall University

$77,835
Carroll University

$77,095
Saint Louis University

$77,066
University of Delaware

$76,478
University of Wisconsin-…

$74,963
Lebanon Valley College

$74,429
University of Mississippi

$73,870
Chatham University

$73,633
University of Connecticut

$73,289

What this shows Sports and kinesiology medians mix coaching, athletic-training, and fitness career paths - compare debt and completer counts before treating pay as program quality.

The full top 100

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
1	Rice University	TX	$87,404	$10,000	104
2	Emory University	GA	$87,254	$19,500	90
3	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	$81,110	$22,973	95
4	University of Scranton	PA	$79,700	$27,000	51
5	Wake Forest University	NC	$79,599	$22,777	75
6	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$79,411	$18,924	263
7	Seton Hall University	NJ	$77,835	$25,125	44
8	Carroll University	WI	$77,095	$27,000	111
9	Saint Louis University	MO	$77,066	$26,316	99
10	University of Delaware	DE	$76,478	$25,000	210
11	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$74,963	$24,000	186
12	Lebanon Valley College	PA	$74,429	$27,000	77
13	University of Mississippi	MS	$73,870	$21,516	109
14	Chatham University	PA	$73,633	$25,587	25
15	University of Connecticut	CT	$73,289	$21,500	29
16	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	$73,238	$23,250	158
17	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	$72,724	$20,500	28
18	Wittenberg University	OH	$72,289	$27,000	32
19	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	$71,844	$24,838	369
20	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus	OK	$71,589	$21,508	169
21	Miami University-Oxford	OH	$70,919	$24,500	260
22	William & Mary	VA	$68,992	$20,500	112
23	Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	$68,675	$19,400	391
24	Syracuse University	NY	$68,219	$27,000	147
25	Bethel University	MN	$68,202	$23,000	45
26	Elon University	NC	$68,178	$22,750	108
27	University of Mary	ND	$68,088	$24,490	35
28	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$67,782	$19,986	166
29	University of South Carolina-Columbia	SC	$67,705	$21,500	290
30	Central Connecticut State University	CT	$67,562	$23,250	31
31	Saint Ambrose University	IA	$67,548	$25,474	75
32	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	PA	$67,399	$26,940	178
33	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Berks	PA	$67,399	$26,940	26
34	Sonoma State University	CA	$67,351	$20,174	116
35	Michigan State University	MI	$67,290	$24,580	312
36	University of Georgia	GA	$67,275	$19,516	292
37	Citadel Military College of South Carolina	SC	$66,934	$23,000	36
38	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	$66,580	$20,730	290
39	Marian University	IN	$66,491	$27,000	31
40	Saint Mary's College of California	CA	$66,265	$21,625	37
41	Elmhurst University	IL	$66,244	$18,375	37
42	Adelphi University	NY	$66,003	$25,000	63
43	University of Jamestown	ND	$65,831	$27,000	26
44	Roanoke College	VA	$65,112	$27,000	46
45	Pepperdine University	CA	$65,100	$23,336	64
46	John Carroll University	OH	$65,098	$26,999	64
47	University of Massachusetts-Boston	MA	$64,665	$22,993	170
48	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$64,579	$15,000	75
49	Schreiner University	TX	$64,439	-	35
50	Shenandoah University	VA	$64,373	$25,432	30
51	University of Utah	UT	$64,356	$17,663	281
52	DeSales University	PA	$64,161	$25,246	32
53	Utah Valley University	UT	$63,951	$13,000	124
54	University of Evansville	IN	$63,830	$23,250	47
55	Temple University	PA	$63,714	$25,501	213
56	George Mason University	VA	$63,672	$21,651	95
57	Alma College	MI	$63,641	$27,000	31
58	University of Tulsa	OK	$63,485	-	33
59	Winona State University	MN	$63,303	$25,000	59
60	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	$63,286	$16,500	346
61	University of Minnesota-Duluth	MN	$63,269	$22,500	53
62	James Madison University	VA	$63,065	$19,500	256
63	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$62,888	$18,667	453
64	University of Kansas	KS	$62,876	$20,500	193
65	Southern Methodist University	TX	$62,838	$22,581	97
66	Abilene Christian University	TX	$62,645	$21,375	39
67	CUNY Queens College	NY	$62,602	-	52
68	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	$62,362	$20,500	204
69	Illinois State University	IL	$62,112	$19,700	66
70	Bellarmine University	KY	$61,841	$25,841	53
71	Saint Edward's University	TX	$61,741	$21,125	34
72	University of Iowa	IA	$61,732	$22,250	511
73	Ohio Dominican University	OH	$61,628	$27,000	29
74	Manhattanville University	NY	$61,395	$26,000	45
75	Howard University	DC	$61,316	$26,500	51
76	Lubbock Christian University	TX	$61,286	$23,500	29
77	California State University-San Marcos	CA	$61,252	$17,500	126
78	Northern Arizona University	AZ	$61,250	$18,013	205
79	Missouri State University-Springfield	MO	$61,070	$22,500	108
80	Washington State University	WA	$60,950	$20,500	109
81	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	$60,931	$19,500	77
82	Florida State University	FL	$60,909	$16,169	141
83	Colorado State University-Fort Collins	CO	$60,835	$20,500	207
84	California Baptist University	CA	$60,816	$26,490	114
85	Xavier University	OH	$60,804	$27,000	77
86	University of Mount Union	OH	$60,728	$27,000	56
87	University of Florida	FL	$60,497	$15,000	117
88	University of Florida-Online	FL	$60,497	$15,000	47
89	North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	$60,488	$19,000	139
90	The University of Tampa	FL	$60,364	$24,589	81
91	St. John's University-New York	NY	$60,265	$25,062	86
92	American Public University System	WV	$60,134	$25,250	477
93	Iowa State University	IA	$60,059	$23,204	217
94	North Central College	IL	$60,018	$25,000	42
95	San Diego State University	CA	$59,914	$15,285	406
96	Salisbury University	MD	$59,892	$21,500	145
97	Seton Hill University	PA	$59,841	$26,721	28
98	California Lutheran University	CA	$59,820	$24,000	60
99	University of Indianapolis	IN	$59,819	$25,394	93
100	Concordia University-Irvine	CA	$59,648	$27,000	37

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Sports Medicine (CIP 31.05) 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 Sports Medicine (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. College Scorecard publishes athletic-training and sports-medicine cohorts inside Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness (CIP 31.05) - this list ranks that bachelor's CIP, the published proxy for "sports medicine" demand. Allied-health diagnostics (CIP 51.09) and physiology (CIP 26.09) are ranked separately 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.