Best Colleges for Mathematics: Ranked by Graduate Salary, Not Prestige
We rank by what graduates actually earn — not by reputation surveys.
Top Schools for Mathematics — Ranked by Graduate Salary
These schools produce the highest-earning Mathematics graduates, based on federal earnings data. We rank by salary outcomes, not prestige.
| # | School | Mathematics Salary | Acceptance Rate | Degrees/Year | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caltech Pasadena, CA |
$110,514 | 3.1% | 25 | Reach |
| 2 | MIT Cambridge, MA |
$110,514 | 4.7% | 99 | Reach |
| 3 | Stanford University Stanford, CA |
$105,710 | 3.9% | 88 | Reach |
| 4 | Carnegie Mellon University Pittsburgh, PA |
$98,890 | 11.4% | 188 | Reach |
| 5 | UC Berkeley Berkeley, CA |
$97,092 | 11.7% | 349 | Reach |
| 6 | Brown University Providence, RI |
$96,100 | 5.2% | 179 | Reach |
| 7 | Columbia University New York, NY |
$96,100 | 4.2% | 113 | Reach |
| 8 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY |
$96,100 | 8.2% | 82 | Reach |
| 9 | Dartmouth College Hanover, NH |
$96,100 | 6.2% | 88 | Reach |
| 10 | Duke University Durham, NC |
$96,100 | 6.8% | 105 | Reach |
| 11 | Harvard University Cambridge, MA |
$96,100 | 3.5% | 198 | Reach |
| 12 | Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD |
$96,100 | 7.6% | 78 | Reach |
| 13 | New York University (NYU) New York, NY |
$96,100 | 9.4% | 408 | Reach |
| 14 | Northwestern University Evanston, IL |
$96,100 | 7.1% | 82 | Reach |
| 15 | Princeton University Princeton, NJ |
$96,100 | 4.5% | 38 | Reach |
| 16 | UCLA Los Angeles, CA |
$96,100 | 9.0% | 748 | Reach |
| 17 | University of Chicago Chicago, IL |
$96,100 | 4.8% | 156 | Reach |
| 18 | University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA |
$96,100 | 5.9% | 62 | Reach |
| 19 | Yale University New Haven, CT |
$96,100 | 4.5% | 100 | Reach |
| 20 | Georgia Tech Atlanta, GA |
$92,070 | 16.5% | 91 | Match |
| 21 | Georgetown University Washington, DC |
$89,900 | 13.1% | 40 | Reach |
| 22 | Tufts University Medford, MA |
$89,900 | 10.1% | 44 | Reach |
| 23 | USC Los Angeles, CA |
$89,900 | 10.0% | 136 | Reach |
| 24 | University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI |
$83,700 | 17.9% | 235 | Match |
| 25 | University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC |
$83,700 | 18.7% | 201 | Match |
| 26 | University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA |
$83,700 | 16.9% | 97 | Match |
| 27 | Texas A&M University Austin, TX |
$77,500 | 29.1% | 308 | Match |
| 28 | UC Irvine Irvine, CA |
$77,500 | 25.6% | 249 | Match |
| 29 | UC San Diego La Jolla, CA |
$77,500 | 24.5% | 384 | Match |
| 30 | UC Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA |
$77,500 | 27.8% | 612 | Match |
Data source: IPEDS, College Scorecard.