Federal data
Highest earning computer science programs in the United States
U.S. computer science programs, ranked by median earnings one year after completion, from the College Scorecard field-of-study file (September 18, 2026). Only programs with at least 30 counted graduates in the earnings sample are shown, and at least 5 programs must qualify for this list to exist.
| Rank | School | City | Sector | Median earnings, 1 year after | Graduates counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carnegie Mellon University | Pittsburgh | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $171,264 | 73 |
| 2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $154,492 | 161 |
| 3 | Cornell University | Ithaca | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $152,656 | 282 |
| 4 | Harvard University | Cambridge | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $152,251 | 55 |
| 5 | Brown University | Providence | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $151,065 | 127 |
| 6 | University of California-Berkeley | Berkeley | Public, 4-year | $149,866 | 318 |
| 7 | Princeton University | Princeton | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $146,624 | 67 |
| 8 | Stanford University | Stanford | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $138,613 | 91 |
| 9 | University of Southern California | Los Angeles | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $137,284 | 123 |
| 10 | Duke University | Durham | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $133,356 | 185 |
| 11 | Dartmouth College | Hanover | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $132,919 | 73 |
| 12 | Harvey Mudd College | Claremont | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $132,265 | 31 |
| 13 | University of Washington | Seattle | Public, 4-year | $128,887 | 312 |
| 14 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | Champaign | Public, 4-year | $124,530 | 175 |
| 15 | Vanderbilt University | Nashville | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $122,244 | 56 |
| 16 | Columbia University in the City of New York | New York | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $118,636 | 186 |
| 17 | University of California-San Diego | La Jolla | Public, 4-year | $112,006 | 266 |
| 18 | California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo | San Luis Obispo | Public, 4-year | $111,141 | 146 |
| 19 | Williams College | Williamstown | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $110,814 | 53 |
| 20 | Washington University in St Louis | St. Louis | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $110,302 | 68 |
| 21 | University of California-Santa Barbara | Santa Barbara | Public, 4-year | $107,776 | 62 |
| 22 | Tufts University | Medford | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $105,659 | 112 |
| 23 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Troy | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $104,943 | 219 |
| 24 | Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | Terre Haute | Private nonprofit, 4-year | $100,294 | 58 |
Earnings cover federally aided graduates only, as published by College Scorecard.
How to read this. A smaller program can show a high or low figure from just a few graduates, and this earnings figure only ever covers students who received federal aid, so it does not describe every graduate.
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