Best Colleges for Business: Ranked by Graduate Salary, Not Prestige
We rank by what graduates actually earn — not by reputation surveys.
Top Schools for Business — Ranked by Graduate Salary
These schools produce the highest-earning Business graduates, based on federal earnings data. We rank by salary outcomes, not prestige.
| # | School | Business Salary | Acceptance Rate | Degrees/Year | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brown University Providence, RI |
$85,250 | 5.2% | 34 | Reach |
| 2 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY |
$85,250 | 8.2% | 563 | Reach |
| 3 | MIT Cambridge, MA |
$85,250 | 4.7% | 21 | Reach |
| 4 | New York University (NYU) New York, NY |
$85,250 | 9.4% | 864 | Reach |
| 5 | Northwestern University Evanston, IL |
$85,250 | 7.1% | 10 | Reach |
| 6 | UCLA Los Angeles, CA |
$85,250 | 9.0% | 24 | Reach |
| 7 | University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA |
$85,250 | 5.9% | 264 | Reach |
| 8 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA |
$79,750 | 11.4% | 138 | Reach |
| 9 | Georgetown University Washington, DC |
$79,750 | 13.1% | 370 | Reach |
| 10 | UC Berkeley Berkeley, CA |
$79,750 | 11.7% | 428 | Reach |
| 11 | USC Los Angeles, CA |
$79,750 | 10.0% | 1,221 | Reach |
| 12 | Georgia Tech Atlanta, GA |
$74,250 | 16.5% | 351 | Match |
| 13 | University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI |
$74,250 | 17.9% | 658 | Match |
| 14 | University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC |
$74,250 | 18.7% | 478 | Match |
| 15 | University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA |
$74,250 | 16.9% | 406 | Match |
| 16 | Texas A&M University Austin, TX |
$68,750 | 29.1% | 1,173 | Match |
| 17 | UC Irvine Irvine, CA |
$68,750 | 25.6% | 999 | Match |
| 18 | UC San Diego La Jolla, CA |
$68,750 | 24.5% | 256 | Match |
| 19 | UC Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA |
$68,750 | 27.8% | 47 | Match |
| 20 | University of Florida Gainesville, FL |
$68,750 | 24.0% | 1,287 | Match |
| 21 | UC Davis Davis, CA |
$63,249 | 41.6% | 498 | Safety |
| 22 | University of Illinois Champaign, IL |
$63,249 | 43.7% | 885 | Safety |
| 23 | University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA |
$63,249 | 49.7% | 489 | Safety |
| 24 | University of Rochester Rochester, NY |
$63,249 | 35.9% | 189 | Match |
| 25 | University of Washington Seattle, WA |
$63,249 | 42.5% | 730 | Safety |
| 26 | Ohio State University Columbus, OH |
$57,750 | 50.8% | 2,145 | Safety |
| 27 | Rutgers University New Brunswick, NJ |
$57,750 | 65.3% | 1,791 | Safety |
| 28 | UC Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA |
$57,750 | 62.5% | 279 | Safety |
| 29 | University of Connecticut Storrs, CT |
$57,750 | 53.9% | 769 | Safety |
| 30 | University of Texas at Austin College Station, TX |
$57,750 | 63.2% | 1,832 | Safety |
Data source: IPEDS, College Scorecard.