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National ranking · College Scorecard 2024-25

Top 100 Highest-Earning Colleges

According to the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, updated September 2024, these rank highest among 6,243 US colleges on median graduate earnings ten years after enrollment - federal tax records matched to financial-aid data across all 50 states.

$143,372
Top 10-yr earnings
100
Colleges ranked
$90,232
#100 earnings

Data updated July 2026

The list in one line

Every one of the 100 highest-earning US colleges clears $90,232 in 10-year median earnings. Massachusetts Institute of Technology tops the list at $143,372 - 3.5× the typical US college.

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

$143,372
#1 - Massachusetts Institute of
$90,232
#100, the cutoff to make this list
Top 4%
even the #100 school, nationally
$40,796
national median, for contrast

Earnings are 10-year medians for federal-aid recipients (U.S. Treasury linkage via College Scorecard); see the methodology for cohort and lag details.

Top 15 colleges by 10-year median graduate earnings

Median earnings ten years after enrollment, federal-aid recipients

median 10-yr earnings

What this shows The very top is dominated by specialized STEM, medical, and maritime institutions whose graduates feed directly into high-wage occupations - compare each school against its own cost before reading earnings alone as value.

Source U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard As of 2024

Even the lowest-ranked school here out-earns most of the country. Here is where the #100 cutoff ($90,232) lands among all US colleges:

The bar to make this top-100 list

10-year median earnings, College Scorecard

$90,232 Top 4% higher than 96% of 5,103 US colleges

$0–$20,000: 169 US colleges (3%). Below this entry. $20,000–$40,000: 2,245 US colleges (44%). Below this entry. $40,000–$60,000: 1,897 US colleges (37%). Below this entry. $60,000–$80,000: 606 US colleges (12%). Below this entry. $80,000–$100,000: 134 US colleges (3%). This entry sits in this band. $100,000–$120,000: 39 US colleges (1%). Above this entry. $120,000–$140,000: 11 US colleges (0%). Above this entry. $140,000–$160,000: 2 US colleges (0%). Above this entry. #100 cutoff $0 $160,000 every US college, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more US colleges. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard · 2024

The full top 100

# School Name StateMedian Earnings (10yr)Enrollment
1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology MA $143,372 4,535
2 Samuel Merritt University CA $143,238 718
3 Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine PA $138,767 -
4 Harvey Mudd College CA $138,687 921
5 University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis MO $137,047 337
6 Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences NY $131,426 481
7 Franklin W Olin College of Engineering MA $129,455 377
8 California Institute of Technology CA $128,566 987
9 Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences MA $125,557 3,451
10 Stanford University CA $124,080 7,554
11 Babson College MA $123,938 2,728
12 Bentley University MA $120,959 4,474
13 Roseman University of Health Sciences NV $120,163 536
14 Los Angeles County College of Nursing and Allied Health CA $115,318 204
15 Carnegie Mellon University PA $114,862 7,304
16 Gnomon CA $114,785 294
17 University of Pennsylvania PA $111,371 10,650
18 Helene Fuld College of Nursing NY $111,027 914
19 Princeton University NJ $110,066 5,709
20 SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University NY $109,601 293
21 Santa Clara University CA $109,183 6,552
22 Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University CA $109,183 -
23 Stevens Institute of Technology NJ $108,772 4,222
24 Center for Allied Health Education NY $107,249 437
25 Miami Ad School FL $106,192 32
26 Miami Ad School-Atlanta GA $106,192 65
27 Miami Ad School-New York NY $106,192 31
28 Lehigh University PA $105,584 5,898
29 Touro University California CA $104,805 23
30 Touro University Nevada NV $104,805 22
31 Claremont McKenna College CA $104,736 1,388
32 St Paul's School of Nursing-Queens NY $104,403 1,056
33 Cornell University NY $104,043 15,995
34 Weill Medical College of Cornell University NY $104,043 -
35 Boston College MA $103,937 10,085
36 Georgetown University DC $103,494 7,569
37 Worcester Polytechnic Institute MA $103,470 5,447
38 Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus GA $102,772 18,785
39 West Coast University-Anaheim-Orange County CA $102,672 3,192
40 West Coast University-Ontario CA $102,672 2,671
41 West Coast University-Center for Graduate Studies CA $102,672 -
42 West Coast University-Los Angeles CA $102,672 -
43 West Coast University-Miami FL $102,672 961
44 West Coast University-Texas TX $102,672 2,673
45 Columbia University in the City of New York NY $102,491 8,973
46 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute NY $102,051 5,714
47 Harvard University MA $101,817 7,601
48 Lawrence Memorial Hospital School of Nursing MA $101,466 174
49 Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology IN $101,253 2,309
50 Oregon Health & Science University OR $101,028 836
51 Yale University CT $100,533 6,758
52 Villanova University PA $100,423 6,938
53 University of Notre Dame IN $99,980 8,818
54 Cochran School of Nursing NY $99,503 117
55 Neumont College of Computer Science UT $97,827 453
56 Duke University NC $97,800 6,442
57 Dartmouth College NH $97,434 4,541
58 Colorado School of Mines CO $97,335 6,155
59 Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing NY $96,980 311
60 SUNY Maritime College NY $95,951 1,285
61 Kettering University MI $94,823 1,205
62 Washington and Lee University VA $94,810 1,881
63 Cal Poly Maritime Academy CA $94,784 804
64 Bucknell University PA $93,807 3,876
65 University of North Texas Health Science Center TX $93,615 41
66 American University of Health Sciences CA $93,610 351
67 Brown University RI $93,487 7,226
68 The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston TX $92,961 545
69 Jewish Theological Seminary of America NY $92,751 172
70 Northeastern University Oakland CA $92,538 464
71 Northeastern University MA $92,538 17,326
72 Northeastern University Professional Programs MA $92,538 1,802
73 University of Southern California CA $92,498 20,443
74 University of California-Berkeley CA $92,446 33,068
75 Chamberlain University-Arizona AZ $92,405 693
76 Chamberlain University-California CA $92,405 751
77 Chamberlain University-Florida FL $92,405 821
78 Chamberlain University-Georgia GA $92,405 1,940
79 Chamberlain University-Illinois IL $92,405 14,027
80 Chamberlain University-Indiana IN $92,405 144
81 Chamberlain University-Louisiana LA $92,405 622
82 Chamberlain University-Michigan MI $92,405 629
83 Chamberlain University-Missouri MO $92,405 284
84 Chamberlain University-Nevada NV $92,405 652
85 Chamberlain University-New Jersey NJ $92,405 1,226
86 Chamberlain University-North Carolina NC $92,405 202
87 Chamberlain University-Ohio OH $92,405 257
88 Chamberlain University-Texas TX $92,405 2,270
89 Chamberlain University-Virginia VA $92,405 557
90 Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center TX $92,348 1,482
91 Upstate Medical University NY $92,257 159
92 University of Chicago IL $91,885 7,569
93 Vanderbilt University TN $91,565 7,208
94 Lafayette College PA $91,410 2,757
95 George Washington University DC $90,873 11,182
96 Trinity College CT $90,779 2,146
97 California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo CA $90,768 21,996
98 United States Merchant Marine Academy NY $90,610 962
99 College of the Holy Cross MA $90,543 3,106
100 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center TX $90,232 334

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by median earnings of students 10 years after enrollment. Earnings data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard and reflects graduates who received federal financial aid. This is one of the most reliable measures of long-term economic outcomes for college graduates.

Read the full methodology and data sources →

Caveats and limitations

This ranking does not control for field of study - a school heavy in engineering or computer science will outrank a similarly-selective liberal-arts college on raw earnings alone, independent of teaching quality. Earnings also reflect where a decade-old cohort chose to work, so schools whose graduates cluster in high-cost-of-living metro areas will show higher nominal pay without necessarily higher real purchasing power.

Only students who received federal financial aid are counted, and the figures describe a cohort that enrolled roughly a decade ago rather than current students, so a school's trajectory since then is not captured here.

This ranking is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Earnings reflect a cohort that enrolled roughly a decade ago and do not predict any individual student'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 and IPEDS 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. Data current as of 2024-25.