2022 Best Undergraduate Colleges in the U.S.
A list of the colleges with the highest alumni starting salaries for bachelor’s graduates across majors
Getting an undergraduate education is an increasingly expensive venture. Average college costs have been climbing for decades and continue to outpace inflation. Higher education is a significant financial investment, and we believe salary is a critical metric of a student’s return on that investment.
Our list of the best colleges for a bachelor’s degree ranks schools by Salary Score, a proprietary data point that shows how much alumni earn compared to other graduates in the same field of study. This list highlights schools whose graduates earn the highest starting salaries for their major, no matter what they studied. While other rankings highlight the most prestigious colleges with the best reputations, our list shows which schools have the best outcomes for their students. We're also the only company to rank graduate schools and online colleges based on alumni earnings by major. Read our methodology to learn more about how schools were ranked.
Jump to takeawaysKey Insights:
- Online higher education is continuing to make inroads against on-campus colleges: Online college Thomas Edison State University is again the top public school, beating out UC Berkeley and other contenders
- Half of the top ten colleges by Salary Score are Ivy League schools, while Columbia University, another Ivy, moved up eight spots to #11
- Despite the negative public perception of for-profit colleges, grads from those schools reported above-average salaries when compared to public and private nonprofit school graduates
#1
Harvard University
ANNUAL TUITION
$51,925
SALARY SCORE
99.51
Harvard stayed at the top of our list largely on the strength of its humanities and social sciences programs, including history, political science, economics, and social sciences. Computer science rounded out its top five fields of study.
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ANNUAL TUITION
$53,790
SALARY SCORE
99.48
MIT also did not move from its 2021 ranking. Four of its five best programs in terms of salary outcomes are in the STEM field: computer science, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering, and electrical, electronics and communications engineering. Despite its well-earned reputation as a STEM-focused school, its liberal arts and sciences program also gives its graduates much better salary outcomes than other liberal arts degree holders.
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#3
Dartmouth College
ANNUAL TUITION
$57,638
SALARY SCORE
98.89
Dartmouth moved up two places from last year to land at number three for Salary Score in 2022. Several top-flight programs seem to have driven that. Dartmouth's political science, economics, and psychology degrees have some of the most competitive salary outcomes in the country, and computer science is not far behind.
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#4
Yale University
ANNUAL TUITION
$55,500
SALARY SCORE
98.71
Yale dropped one spot in salary outcome rankings, but is doing fine for itself at number four. Some of its best programs by salary outcomes echo its rival, Harvard, ranked at #1. These include history, political science, and economics. Psychology was another popular major at Yale that led to exceptional salary outcomes.
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#5
Georgetown University Learn more about how we make money.">
ANNUAL TUITION
$56,058
SALARY SCORE
98.35
Georgetown, which moved up one spot from last year, broadly lives up to its reputation as one of the premier institutes of higher education in our nation's capital. Some of its best programs in terms of salary outcomes include political science, finance, English, and economics. Another popular field for the foreign policy-oriented university, international relations and national security, had a Salary Score of 88, keeping it out of the top 90th percentile of similar programs nationwide.
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#6
Carnegie Mellon University
ANNUAL TUITION
$57,119
SALARY SCORE
98.3
Carnegie Mellon moved up two places to secure the sixth spot in our salary outcome rankings this year. Its strongest programs offer the same salary outcome advantages as many of the programs at overall higher-ranked schools. These include computer science, business, and electrical, electronics and communications engineering.
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#7
University of Pennsylvania
ANNUAL TUITION
$57,770
SALARY SCORE
98.15
UPenn is the last of the five Ivy Leagues in the top 10 schools by salary outcome. Though it dropped three spots, it still offers exceptional salary outcomes for popular majors such as political science, economics, like the other Ivies above, as well as finance and philosophy.
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Business Administration, Management and Operations | $75,634 | 99.87 | 0.0 |
Communication and Media Studies | $50,120 | 99.87 | 0.0 |
Cognitive Science | $60,724 | 96.78 | -2.3 |
Urban Studies/Affairs | $46,426 | 88.72 | 16.55 |
#8
Santa Clara University
ANNUAL TUITION
$53,634
SALARY SCORE
97.66
Santa Clara University dropped one spot but still maintains extremely strong salary outcomes for several majors, including finance, communication, and accounting. Other popular majors with Salary Scores in the top 95th and 90th percentiles, respectively, are biology and economics.
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#9
Boston College
ANNUAL TUITION
$57,910
SALARY SCORE
97.58
Boston College, which moved up two places from last year to enter the top 10, echoed Santa Clara's excellent salary outcomes in finance and communications. It also boasts strong outcomes in biology, political science, and economics.
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Psychology, General | $37,262 | 96.78 | -1.92 |
Clinical, Counseling and Applied Psychology | $41,046 | 96.3 | 4.57 |
#10
Stanford University
ANNUAL TUITION
$53,529
SALARY SCORE
96.99
Stanford dropped a spot but managed to stay in the top 10 best schools in terms of salary outcomes. A longtime recruiting ground for Silicon Valley companies, its computer science degree is among the best in the country, as is its psychology degree. Stanford's popular human biology program is also in the 95th percentile of salary outcomes.
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#11
Columbia University in the City of New York
ANNUAL TUITION
$61,788
SALARY SCORE
96.72
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#12
Bentley University
ANNUAL TUITION
$51,830
SALARY SCORE
96.67
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#13
Colgate University
ANNUAL TUITION
$58,045
SALARY SCORE
96.45
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#14
Thomas Edison State University
ANNUAL TUITION
$9,856
SALARY SCORE
95.83
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities | $40,685 | 84.73 | 0.16 |
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing | $82,105 | 94.66 | 2.89 |
Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other | $76,418 | 99.87 | 0.0 |
Social Sciences, General | $42,906 | 94.62 | 1.46 |
Business Administration, Management and Operations | $59,206 | 97.76 | 1.68 |
#15
Williams College
ANNUAL TUITION
$57,280
SALARY SCORE
95.52
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#16
Princeton University
ANNUAL TUITION
$52,800
SALARY SCORE
95.28
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#17
University of California - Berkeley
ANNUAL TUITION
$44,007
SALARY SCORE
94.25
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#18
Barnard College
ANNUAL TUITION
$57,668
SALARY SCORE
94.23
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#19
Bucknell University
ANNUAL TUITION
$58,196
SALARY SCORE
94.11
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#20
University of Chicago
ANNUAL TUITION
$60,552
SALARY SCORE
93.65
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#21
University of San Francisco
ANNUAL TUITION
$50,282
SALARY SCORE
93.51
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#22
University of Notre Dame
ANNUAL TUITION
$55,553
SALARY SCORE
93.14
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#23
Cornell University
ANNUAL TUITION
$57,222
SALARY SCORE
92.81
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#24
Northeastern University
ANNUAL TUITION
$53,506
SALARY SCORE
92.73
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Business/Commerce, General | $65,358 | 99.25 | 0.61 |
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing | $69,253 | 64.02 | 0.71 |
Communication and Media Studies | $48,567 | 99.7 | -0.02 |
Research and Experimental Psychology | $35,413 | 73.5 | -7.58 |
Business Administration, Management and Operations | $68,843 | 99.87 | 0.0 |
#25
Lehigh University
ANNUAL TUITION
$55,240
SALARY SCORE
92.52
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#26
American Public University System
ANNUAL TUITION
$7,324
SALARY SCORE
92.15
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Business Administration, Management and Operations | $54,183 | 92.28 | 3.12 |
Criminal Justice and Corrections | $49,354 | 98.64 | -0.98 |
Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management | $63,468 | 83.74 | 13.89 |
Homeland Security | $51,985 | 62.17 | 3.35 |
Health and Physical Education/Fitness | $47,616 | 99.87 | 0.04 |
#27
Brown University
ANNUAL TUITION
$58,404
SALARY SCORE
91.89
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#28
Northwestern University
ANNUAL TUITION
$56,691
SALARY SCORE
91.88
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Radio, Television, and Digital Communication | $27,414 | 36.92 | -43.62 |
Communication and Media Studies | $48,590 | 99.7 | 2.69 |
Human Resources Management and Services | $69,350 | 99.87 | 4.63 |
Information Science/Studies | $94,536 | 99.87 | 0.17 |
#29
National University
ANNUAL TUITION
$13,320
SALARY SCORE
91.77
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing | $85,563 | 97.44 | 1.45 |
Business Administration, Management and Operations | $54,361 | 92.56 | 6.88 |
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods | $39,572 | 76.91 | 6.2 |
Psychology, General | $36,571 | 95.53 | -2.63 |
Criminal Justice and Corrections | $53,819 | 99.8 | 0.39 |
#30
Capella University
ANNUAL TUITION
$14,540
SALARY SCORE
91.76
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing | $74,251 | 80.15 | 2.57 |
Business Administration, Management and Operations | $63,636 | 99.41 | 1.39 |
Psychology, General | $35,031 | 91.39 | 6.26 |
Health and Medical Administrative Services | $52,610 | 95.22 | 1.63 |
Human Resources Management and Services | $53,132 | 90.11 | 7.57 |
#31
Duke University
ANNUAL TUITION
$58,031
SALARY SCORE
91.74
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#32
Villanova University
ANNUAL TUITION
$55,280
SALARY SCORE
91.59
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Business Administration, Management and Operations | $60,840 | 98.59 | 0.6 |
Physical Sciences |
#33
University of Southern California
ANNUAL TUITION
$58,195
SALARY SCORE
91.34
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#34
Georgia Institute of Technology
ANNUAL TUITION
$33,794
SALARY SCORE
91.31
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#35
Stevens Institute of Technology
ANNUAL TUITION
$54,014
SALARY SCORE
91.05
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#36
Southern Methodist University
ANNUAL TUITION
$56,560
SALARY SCORE
90.99
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#37
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
ANNUAL TUITION
$23,833
SALARY SCORE
90.16
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#38
Wellesley College
ANNUAL TUITION
$56,052
SALARY SCORE
89.99
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#39
Adelphi University
ANNUAL TUITION
$40,300
SALARY SCORE
89.69
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Business Administration, Management and Operations | $43,551 | 57.61 | -6.45 |
Psychology, General | $22,578 | 9.13 | -10.94 |
Social Sciences, General | $36,942 | 74.47 | 24.31 |
English Language and Literature, General | $20,522 | 7.58 | -3.43 |
#40
Colorado State University Global Learn more about how we make money.">
ANNUAL TUITION
$8,400
SALARY SCORE
89.63
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Business Administration, Management and Operations | $59,425 | 97.89 | 0.4 |
Computer and Information Sciences, General | $60,152 | 60.18 | -2.49 |
Accounting and Related Services | $52,075 | 70.44 | -7.38 |
Human Resources Management and Services | $55,055 | 94.11 | 4.97 |
Health and Medical Administrative Services | $48,123 | 86.06 | 1.8 |
#41
Trinity College
ANNUAL TUITION
$59,050
SALARY SCORE
89.44
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#42
College of the Holy Cross
ANNUAL TUITION
$54,740
SALARY SCORE
89.4
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#43
The George Washington University
ANNUAL TUITION
$56,935
SALARY SCORE
89.05
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing | $68,769 | 62.25 | 2.69 |
Health and Medical Administrative Services |
#44
University of Minnesota-Crookston
ANNUAL TUITION
$12,116
SALARY SCORE
88.86
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#45
New York University
ANNUAL TUITION
$53,308
SALARY SCORE
88.67
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Business/Commerce, General | $77,787 | 99.87 | 0.0 |
Social Sciences, General | $40,666 | 89.47 | -0.02 |
Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services, Other | $48,479 | 61.03 | 11.71 |
Social Sciences, Other | $37,265 | 73.96 | 28.82 |
#46
Washington University in St. Louis
ANNUAL TUITION
$55,292
SALARY SCORE
87.84
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Cognitive Science |
#47
Lafayette College
ANNUAL TUITION
$55,752
SALARY SCORE
87.84
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#48
Stonehill College
ANNUAL TUITION
$44,420
SALARY SCORE
87.57
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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#49
California State University - East Bay
ANNUAL TUITION
$18,880
SALARY SCORE
87.24
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
---|---|---|---|
Business Administration, Management and Operations | $49,638 | 81.51 | 0.05 |
Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General | $39,260 | 65.95 | 2.72 |
Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services | $39,638 | 99.16 | 0.24 |
Hospitality Administration/Management | $42,683 | 82.33 | 1.14 |
#50
Linfield University
ANNUAL TUITION
$44,132
SALARY SCORE
87.22
PROGRAM | MEDIAN SALARY | SALARY SCORE | CHANGE FROM PREVIOUS YEAR |
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View Our Salary Score Rankings:
Compare Colleges by Salary Score
Search over 2,000 colleges to see how their overall salary strength and individual program salaries compare to other colleges nationwide.
Why We Rank By Salary Outcomes, Not Prestige
The heavy financial burden of college has made choosing a school one of the most important decisions of a young adult’s life. And most make the decision before they’re even 18 years old. They may choose where they’ll go based on name recognition, prestige, or other factors that don’t affect how well the school prepares students for life and work after college.
We continue to push against a perceived lack of quantitative data on the employment and salary outcomes that colleges and majors can lead to. That data is there, and we use it regularly to best advise students on how to plot their path through school so that they get what they want — and what they pay for — out of their college experience.
To address some of these widely accepted shortcomings in college rankings, we began researching our own list of the top schools, based exclusively on student outcomes and not intangible factors such as prestige or reputation. The outcome we found students most curious about was how much they can expect to earn by studying a specific major at a certain school.
We created Salary Score, a proprietary system that ranks schools based on how much graduates earn in their first year compared to alumni across the country with the same degree. We assign each program a Salary Score which says how much alumni earn compared to graduates in the same field of study. We also assign each school a Salary Score that is the average of its programs’ Salary Scores.
At its simplest, a Salary Score of 50 means that a school or program’s alumni are making about the median salary of all alumni in their field. Any score below that is progressively less than the average of schools or programs. Any score above 50 shows that the school or program’s alumni are making more than the average. A score of 90 or more indicates alumni in the top 90th percentile among all schools or all programs.
How Do Our 2022 Rankings Compare to U.S. News?
Since 1983, U.S. News and World Report has published a list of college rankings that has become a widely used resource for administrators, educators, and students. Its decades of annual rankings have given the U.S. News lists an air of authority, supposedly answering the question of which schools will give a student the best education and future outcomes.
However, over the decades, some in the higher education world have raised valid concerns about various aspects of the U.S. News methodology. For example, over half of a school’s ranking comes from metrics that are only tangentially related to real student outcomes, such as the school’s academic reputation, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, and alumni giving rates.
Although U.S. News’ rankings remain popular, methodological misgivings have grown into an annual chorus of criticism by data experts, unranked schools, and other skeptics of their rankings technique.
In contrast, our data all comes from the median first-year salaries for graduates of a particular field at a specific college. We believe this outcomes-based, data-centric approach more accurately reflects the reality of what a college and choice of major can offer someone. Our rankings align with U.S. News’ list sometimes. But more often than not, there are changes of some significance. Similar to last year, our ranking of the top 50 schools includes more small private schools, online schools, and lesser-known schools than U.S. News' National Universities.
Schools with the Biggest Difference between our list and U.S. News' Best National Colleges list (top 50)
Rank Difference | Salary Score Rank | College Name | US News Rank |
---|---|---|---|
133 | 39 | Adelphi University | 172 |
108 | 40 | Colorado State University Global | 148 |
82 | 21 | University of San Francisco | 103 |
48 | 35 | Stevens Institute of Technology | 83 |
47 | 8 | Santa Clara University | 55 |
27 | 9 | Boston College | 36 |
25 | 24 | Northeastern University | 49 |
24 | 25 | Lehigh University | 49 |
20 | 43 | The George Washington University | 63 |
19 | 6 | Carnegie Mellon University | 25 |
Before delving into the biggest quantitative differences between our rankings and U.S. News’ list, it's worth noting that there are many colleges on our list that are either unranked by U.S. News or appear only on their liberal arts lists or regional rankings, not the overall rankings.
Our rankings are inherently more inclusive in that they include entire categories of colleges that U.S. News doesn't, such as online colleges. Their exclusion from the U.S. News national list for yet another year seems unfair, especially as degrees from high quality online colleges are becoming increasingly more acceptable to students and employers.
As the pandemic also highlighted, online education can have real benefits to those with children or family care responsibilities or full- or part-time jobs. It can also be an excellent option for students who find the commute to campus to be a hardship for financial, family, or disability reasons.
Though they remain unranked by U.S. News, several online schools made our list, including Thomas Edison State University, Capella University, American Public University System, and National University.
How Do Our 2022 Salary Score Rankings Compare to Last Year’s List?
Schools That Moved Up Ten Or More Spots From 2021 to 2022
2022 Rank | 2021 Rank | School | Change in Salary Score |
---|---|---|---|
15 | 34 | Williams College | 4.29 |
20 | 32 | University of Chicago | 1.88 |
26 | 42 | American Public University System | 2.61 |
27 | 62 | Brown University | 5.59 |
29 | 53 | National University | 3.81 |
34 | 61 | Georgia Institute of Technology | 4.96 |
39 | 57 | Adelphi University | 2.59 |
43 | 60 | The George Washington University | 2.59 |
44 | 81 | University of Minnesota - Crookston | 5.91 |
46 | 56 | Lafayette College | 0.6 |
This year’s list showed some churn, adding eight new schools to the top 50, including some such as Brown University (#29) and University of Minnesta-Crookston (#44) that had to jump 35 and 37 spots, respectively, to claw their way into the top 50. The Georgia Institute of Technology moved up 27 spots to rank at #34 this year.
While schools in the top 50 moved an average of 8 spots up or down the list, the top five remained nearly identical, including Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth, and Yale, while Georgetown moved up one spot to round out the top five. The University of Pennsylvania, on the other hand, fell out of the top five, from #4 last year to #7 this year.
Also worth noting, two of the schools that moved up more than 10 spots were online schools: the American Public University System moved up 16 spots to reach #26, and National University moved up 24 spots to #27.
Schools That Dropped Ten or More Spots From 2021 to 2022
2022 Rank | 2021 Rank | Rank Movement | School | Score Movement |
---|---|---|---|---|
41 | 17 | -24 | Trinity College | -5.2 |
42 | 28 | -14 | College of the Holy Cross | -3.36 |
Only two schools showed significant drops in Salary Score ranking this year. Trinity College slid two dozen spots and College of the Holy Cross dropped 14 spots to land right next to each other in this years rankings, at #41 and #42. It was of some interest that the only schools in this category were private non-profit schools with some religious affiliation. But there is only so much we can infer from such a small sample size.
Top States by Salary Score
Top Five States By Average Salary Score 2021 - 2022
State | Average Salary Score 2022 | Average Salary Score 2021 | Difference | State Cost of Living |
---|---|---|---|---|
District of Columbia | 79.45 | 81.47 | -2.02 | 2nd Most Expensive State |
Massachusetts | 74.04 | 74.54 | -0.50 | 5th Most Expensive State |
New Hampshire | 71.78 | 70.21 | 1.58 | 15th Most Expensive State |
Connecticut | 66.50 | 66.32 | 0.18 | 9th Most Expensive State |
Minnesota | 65.85 | 64.94 | 0.91 | 26th Most Expensive State |
Though the District of Columbia slid more than 2 points from last year’s impressive average Salary Score of 81.47, it remained at the top of the state rankings for 2022. What’s more, D.C. leads the runner-up Massachusetts by a significant margin of more than 5 Salary Score points.
This year’s bronze winner, New Hampshire, was the biggest mover on the state list, gaining 1.6 points from last year. Thanks to a drop in scores for Rhode Island, Connecticut moved up from #6 last year to #4 this year despite very minimal change in scores from last year.
Rounding out the top five is Minnesota, where a modest upward move of just under 1 point made it the second-biggest gainer in the top five. It also offers the lowest cost of living — right around the national median — of the states that lead in salary outcomes, further boosting college value for Minnesotans.
How Do Public and Private Colleges Compare by Salary Score?
Private non-profit schools lost some ground, making up 79 of this year’s top 100, down from 86 last year. Average Salary Scores for both public and private non-profit schools dipped slightly, by about 1 Salary Score point or 1%.
The beneficiary of these drops were for-profit schools, which saw their average Salary Score move up just over 4%. In fact, all for-profit schools except Academy of Art University saw their Salary Scores move up from last year.
Best Public Schools by Salary Score
2022 Rank | 2021 Rank | Rank Movement | School | 2022 Salary Score | Score Movement |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
14 | 20 | 6 | Thomas Edison State University | 95.83 | 1.63 |
17 | 22 | 5 | University of California - Berkeley | 94.25 | 0.45 |
34 | 61 | 26 | Georgia Institute of Technology | 91.31 | 4.96 |
37 | 38 | 1 | California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo | 90.16 | 0 |
40 | 47 | 7 | Colorado State University Global | 89.63 | 0.73 |
44 | 81 | 35 | University of Minnesota - Crookston | 88.86 | 5.91 |
49 | 50 | +1 | California State University-East Bay | 87.24 | -1.12 |
As we can see in the numbers, almost all of the top public schools saw their Salary Scores stay stable or move up. The exception is California State University - East Bay, which dropped by over 1 point.
Still, two additions to the top public schools list mark an improvement over last year. As mentioned earlier, the Georgia Institute of Technology and University of Minnesota - Crookston both earned big increases of almost 5 and almost 6 spots, respectively.
Despite some movement here, the top two public schools did not change from last year. Thomas Edison State University and UC - Berkeley’s Salary Score gains of around 5 points nudged them both into the top 20 overall list.
These two are different in many ways – TESU is an online university designed specifically for adult learners, while Berkeley’s physical campus has been an incubator of student activism for decades. But they are both testament to the fact that public universities do have a place among the Salary Score elite.
Methodology
Our data on alumni earnings comes from College Scorecard, an annually updated resource provided by the U.S. Department of Education. The earnings data used in our Salary Score is for alumni in the first year after completing a degree. The data was released on March 14, 2022, and is for students who graduated in 2017 and 2018, with earnings measured in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and inflation-adjusted to 2020 dollars.
The data is based on the earnings of students who received federal financial aid because that is the sample for which the Department of Education has data. This excludes students who did not receive federal financial aid. Please see our "What is Salary Score?" resource for additional information.
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