Best Colleges for Computer Science: Ranked by Graduate Salary, Not Prestige
We rank by what graduates actually earn — not by reputation surveys.
Top Schools for Computer Science — Ranked by Graduate Salary
These schools produce the highest-earning Computer Science graduates, based on federal earnings data. We rank by salary outcomes, not prestige.
| # | School | Computer Science Salary | Acceptance Rate | Degrees/Year | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caltech Pasadena, CA |
$133,687 | 3.1% | 71 | Reach |
| 2 | MIT Cambridge, MA |
$133,687 | 4.7% | 344 | Reach |
| 3 | Stanford University Stanford, CA |
$127,875 | 3.9% | 293 | Reach |
| 4 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA |
$119,625 | 11.4% | 267 | Reach |
| 5 | UC Berkeley Berkeley, CA |
$117,450 | 11.7% | 1,394 | Reach |
| 6 | Brown University Providence, RI |
$116,250 | 5.2% | 222 | Reach |
| 7 | Columbia University New York, NY |
$116,250 | 4.2% | 365 | Reach |
| 8 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY |
$116,250 | 8.2% | 626 | Reach |
| 9 | Dartmouth College Hanover, NH |
$116,250 | 6.2% | 124 | Reach |
| 10 | Duke University Durham, NC |
$116,250 | 6.8% | 250 | Reach |
| 11 | Harvard University Cambridge, MA |
$116,250 | 3.5% | 165 | Reach |
| 12 | Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD |
$116,250 | 7.6% | 133 | Reach |
| 13 | New York University (NYU) New York, NY |
$116,250 | 9.4% | 586 | Reach |
| 14 | Northwestern University Evanston, IL |
$116,250 | 7.1% | 192 | Reach |
| 15 | Princeton University Princeton, NJ |
$116,250 | 4.5% | 201 | Reach |
| 16 | UCLA Los Angeles, CA |
$116,250 | 9.0% | 340 | Reach |
| 17 | University of Chicago Chicago, IL |
$116,250 | 4.8% | 128 | Reach |
| 18 | University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA |
$116,250 | 5.9% | 209 | Reach |
| 19 | Yale University New Haven, CT |
$116,250 | 4.5% | 159 | Reach |
| 20 | Georgia Tech Atlanta, GA |
$111,375 | 16.5% | 1,083 | Match |
| 21 | Georgetown University Washington, DC |
$108,750 | 13.1% | 43 | Reach |
| 22 | Tufts University Medford, MA |
$108,750 | 10.1% | 177 | Reach |
| 23 | USC Los Angeles, CA |
$108,750 | 10.0% | 353 | Reach |
| 24 | University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI |
$101,250 | 17.9% | 1,282 | Match |
| 25 | University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC |
$101,250 | 18.7% | 411 | Match |
| 26 | University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA |
$101,250 | 16.9% | 292 | Match |
| 27 | Texas A&M University Austin, TX |
$93,750 | 29.1% | 470 | Match |
| 28 | UC Irvine Irvine, CA |
$93,750 | 25.6% | 600 | Match |
| 29 | UC San Diego La Jolla, CA |
$93,750 | 24.5% | 716 | Match |
| 30 | UC Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA |
$93,750 | 27.8% | 160 | Match |
Data source: IPEDS, College Scorecard.