25 Colleges With the Highest-Earning Graduates

College hunting is hard. That’s why you end up with a laundry list of questions to help you narrow down the selection of schools.

What’s the cost of tuition? Are class sizes in the thousands or can everyone fit in a 30-seat room? Is it a walkable campus, or do you need a car to get around?

While these are all valuable bits of information, one of the most important questions you can ask any college is whether their students have a strong success rate after graduation. The types of jobs and salary levels they attain are a reflection of the school’s ability to prepare students for the workforce.

This may not be an easy topic to raise on a campus tour, so make sure you do your research before visiting.

PayScale recently released its 2020-2021 College Salary Report, revealing which U.S. colleges and universities have the highest-paid graduates. The rankings are based on salary data from 3.5 million alumni.

Following are the top four-year schools on this year’s PayScale list, as ranked based on graduates’ median mid-career salaries.

25. Claremont McKenna College

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $70,700

• Mid-career: $138,500

24. University of California-Berkeley

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $72,600
• Mid-career: $138,800

23. Lehigh University

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $70,300
• Mid-career: $139,800

22. U.S. Air Force Academy

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $77,600
• Mid-career: $140,400

21. Washington and Lee University

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $66,500
• Mid-career: $140,600

20. Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $77,700
• Mid-career: $140,800

19. Swarthmore College

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $67,700
• Mid-career: $141,000

18. Yale University

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $72,700
• Mid-career: $141,300

17. Dartmouth College

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $73,300
• Mid-career: $141,400

16. Williams College

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $67,600
• Mid-career: $142,300

15. Colorado School of Mines

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

Early career: $75,800

Mid-career: $142,800

14. University of Pennsylvania

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $73,700
• Mid-career: $142,900

13. SUNY Maritime College

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $74,500
• Mid-career: $143,400

12. Stevens Institute of Technology

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $75,800
• Mid-career: $144,300

11. Colgate University

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $69,700
• Mid-career: $144,800

10. Babson College

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $73,000
• Mid-career: $146,200

8. Santa Clara University (tie)

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $71,100
• Mid-career: $146,300

8. U.S. Military Academy (tie)

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $81,100
• Mid-career: $146,300

7. Stanford University

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $81,800
• Mid-career: $147,100

6. Harvard University

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $76,400
• Mid-career: $147,700

5. California Institute of Technology

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $87,600

• Mid-career: $150,300

4. Princeton University

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $77,300
• Mid-career: $150,500

3. U.S. Naval Academy

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $79,600
• Mid-career: $152,600

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $88,300
• Mid-career: $158,100

1. Harvey Mudd College

Median salaries for alumni with a bachelor’s degree from this school:

• Early career: $91,400
• Mid-career: $162,500