PlainCollege

Top States by 10-Year Former-Student Earnings

States ranked by average 10-year former-student earnings from College Scorecard outcomes data.

Published:

Compiled by PlainCollege on 2026-08-01

Research question

Across 50 US states and DC, which states report the highest average 10-year post-enrollment former-student earnings, and how does state-level earnings relate to state-level average net price of attendance?

Methodology

This ranking is calculated live from PlainCollege's current states data, sourced from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard School-Level Outcomes Dataset. No figures are hardcoded – every number reflects our most recent import of the source data and updates automatically whenever we refresh it.

The U.S. Department of Education publishes the College Scorecard School-Level Outcomes Dataset on its own release schedule. We import each new release as soon as it's available and replace our copy of the data in full, so a newer government release always supersedes the previous one – readers never see a mix of old and new figures.

Records with missing or suppressed values for the ranked metric are excluded from this ranking rather than shown as zero, since the U.S. Department of Education sometimes withholds a figure for privacy, small-sample, or quality-control reasons. We do not adjust, smooth, or estimate values the source didn't publish; if a later government release revises a figure, the revised value appears here automatically on our next import.

PlainCollege's editorial process reviews each ranking before publication. If you believe a figure attributed to a specific entity is inaccurate, you can request a correction through the contact page – we'll check it against the original government release and correct it if warranted.

Every number on this page traces back to its original U.S. Department of Education source. See the methodology page for the complete source list, data vintage, and how we process government datasets.

Top 10 US States by Average 10-Year Former-Student Earnings

Live data, updated automatically whenever PlainCollege refreshes its dataset

USD

What this shows States that lead on average earnings typically host a concentration of elite research universities and specialty schools - the state figure says little about any one college within it.

Source U.S. Department of Education

The ranked top 10

Every row below reflects PlainCollege's current data. This page updates automatically whenever we refresh our dataset.

# State Schools reporting Avg 10-yr earnings Avg net price
1 Massachusetts 106 $59,871 $24,099
2 Rhode Island 19 $56,328 $28,684
3 Connecticut 41 $56,243 $26,842
4 District of Columbia 17 $53,915 $25,812
5 New Hampshire 24 $53,440 $20,332
6 New York 299 $52,246 $20,812
7 Vermont 10 $50,930 $27,584
8 Pennsylvania 270 $50,612 $21,184
9 Washington 87 $50,255 $17,056
10 Maine 32 $48,801 $18,728

Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard School-Level Outcomes Dataset. Values update automatically whenever PlainCollege refreshes its dataset.

Findings

Top entity in the ranking

The top-ranked record in this dataset is Massachusetts, with a value of $59,871 on the Avg 10-yr earnings column. The full top-10 set is rendered in the table above. Every value comes from PlainCollege's current dataset; no number is hardcoded into this page. When the source agency publishes a revision, the ranking and the prose around it update automatically.

Distribution shape

The gap between the top-ranked record ($59,871) and the 10th-ranked record ($48,801) characterizes how concentrated the top of the distribution is. Where the top value is many multiples of the median value of the visible set, the population is highly concentrated, a small number of entities accumulate the bulk of the measured quantity. Where the top and bottom of the visible set are close together, the distribution is relatively flat across the top end. The full distribution beyond this top-10 cut is summarized in the aggregate context section below and explored in the linked entity profiles.

Aggregate context

Across the full population behind this ranking, here are the summary statistics: how many records exist in total, the sum of the ranking metric across all qualifying records, and the mean per-record value. The methodology page documents the exact filter applied (records with null or zero values on the ranking metric are excluded). This aggregate row is computed from the same dataset that powers the ranking above.

Source provenance

The records in this ranking originate from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard School-Level Outcomes Dataset. PlainCollege imports each new release from the agency in full, so every number here reflects our most recent import. See the methodology page for the source URL, data vintage, and how we process this dataset.

Why this ranking matters

Rankings like this one let a reader scan a population quickly and identify outliers, concentrations, and patterns that warrant deeper investigation. The detail pages linked from each entity in the table above give the full per-entity context: time-series history where available, related metrics from adjacent tables, and links onward to the underlying source records. The methodology page explains how an entity earns inclusion in the dataset and how the ranking column is computed at the source.

What this analysis cannot tell us

State-level averages aggregate institutions ranging from research universities to community colleges and weight each institution equally regardless of enrollment. Median earnings use federally aided entry cohorts who were working and not enrolled ten years after entry; they are not graduate-only outcomes. State assignment is the institution's location, not the worker's later residence, and the data do not control for migration, program mix, selection, local wages, or cost of living. Average net price uses a separate full-time, first-time Title IV-recipient cohort and can differ substantially by family income. The 10-year horizon also means recent institutional or labor-market changes may not be represented.

Secondary cut from the same source

Top 10 states by institution-weighted 150%-time completion

% completion

What this shows This institution-weighted comparison mixes institution levels and cohort windows; it is descriptive context, not a state-system grade.

Source U.S. Department of Education

Related data

Sources