Majors

Best Colleges for Economics, by Earnings

686 of the colleges we track award a bachelor's degree in Economics, about 35,785 degrees a year. Across the 365 that report earnings, graduates make a median of $79,468 four years after finishing.

Rank	College	State	Median earnings, 4 years out	Degrees a year	Acceptance rate
1	Williams College	MA	$166,678	134	8.3%
2	Duke University	NC	$161,149	199	5.7%
3	Princeton University	NJ	$160,763	132	4.6%
4	University of Chicago	IL	$159,578	622	4.5%
5	Harvard University	MA	$155,592	258	3.6%
6	Dartmouth College	NH	$152,929	196	5.4%
7	Claremont McKenna College	CA	$146,524	124	9.6%
8	Carnegie Mellon University	PA	$144,886	55	11.7%
9	Yale University	CT	$142,936	182	3.9%
10	Amherst College	MA	$141,730	69	9%
11	Vanderbilt University	TN	$140,337	286	5.9%
12	Cornell University	NY	$137,935	157	8.8%
13	Columbia University	NY	$137,710	360	4%
14	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$135,050	909	11%
15	Hamilton College	NY	$130,633	97	13.6%
16	University of Pennsylvania	PA	$129,985	238	5.4%
17	Rice University	TX	$129,575	88	8%
18	Colgate University	NY	$128,887	147	13.9%
19	Johns Hopkins University	MD	$128,882	140	6.4%
20	Swarthmore College	PA	$128,051	76	7.5%
21	Northwestern University	IL	$126,006	373	7.7%
22	Brown University	RI	$124,508	179	5.4%
23	Tufts University	MA	$123,809	217	11.5%
24	Middlebury College	VT	$123,477	106	10.8%
25	Colorado College	CO	$122,998	84	18.5%
26	University of Notre Dame	IN	$122,637	256	11.3%
27	Trinity College	CT	$122,068	93	29.3%
28	Bowdoin College	ME	$121,983	85	7.1%
29	Wellesley College	MA	$121,787	97	14.1%
30	Boston College	MA	$121,337	335	16.4%
31	Santa Clara University	CA	$121,307	77	48%
32	Fairfield University	CT	$120,303	52	33.3%
33	Georgetown University	DC	$118,999	184	12.9%
34	Marist University	NY	$118,557	15	56.5%
35	College of the Holy Cross	MA	$118,131	130	17.6%
36	New York University	NY	$116,510	540	7.7%
37	Washington and Lee University	VA	$115,837	67	14%
38	Case Western Reserve University	OH	$114,601	85	36.5%
39	Lafayette College	PA	$112,864	100	31.5%
40	Stanford University	CA	$112,700	112	3.6%
41	Elon University	NC	$112,303	37	66.4%
42	Haverford College	PA	$112,050	35	12.4%
43	Barnard College	NY	$111,909	104	8.8%
44	Hobart William Smith Colleges	NY	$111,833	51	64%
45	Emory University	GA	$111,631	158	10.7%
46	Bates College	ME	$110,880	65	13.3%
47	University of Virginia	VA	$110,773	492	16.8%
48	Grinnell College	IA	$110,724	54	14.5%
49	University of Michigan	MI	$110,552	608	15.6%
50	University of Rochester	NY	$109,324	104	40.1%
51	Bucknell University	PA	$108,422	121	28.9%
52	Connecticut College	CT	$107,283	75	37%
53	College of William & Mary	VA	$105,467	122	34.1%
54	Pepperdine University	CA	$104,943	31	62.9%
55	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	$103,846	443	15.3%
56	Kenyon College	OH	$103,791	61	31%
57	Colby College	ME	$103,491	94	7.1%
58	Occidental College	CA	$103,164	73	44.2%
59	Vassar College	NY	$102,584	59	18.6%
60	Washington University in St Louis	MO	$102,439	118	12.1%
61	Northeastern University	MA	$101,423	169	5.2%
62	Northeastern University Professional Programs	MA	$101,423	2
63	University of Richmond	VA	$100,608	55	22.2%
64	Villanova University	PA	$100,288	112	27%
65	DePaul University	IL	$100,185	28	75.9%
66	Quinnipiac University	CT	$100,141	14	72.2%
67	Union College	NY	$99,783	66	43.9%
68	Indiana University	IN	$99,653	74	78.2%
69	George Washington University	DC	$99,406	112	47.1%
70	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$98,927	59	31.3%
71	Wake Forest University	NC	$98,209	110	21.7%
72	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	$98,178	696	33%
73	Drexel University	PA	$98,178	53	79.4%
74	Denison University	OH	$97,394	78	17.4%
75	Boston University	MA	$96,723	307	11.1%
76	Pomona College	CA	$96,702	67	7.1%
77	St Lawrence University	NY	$96,345	71	54.3%
78	Brandeis University	MA	$95,872	141	40.5%
79	Providence College	RI	$95,590	53	50.9%
80	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$95,440	830	9%
81	University of Delaware	DE	$95,318	95	70.6%
82	Brigham Young University	UT	$95,227	159	67.8%
83	DePauw University	IN	$94,761	39	57.2%
84	University of Southern California	CA	$94,435	178	9.8%
85	Gettysburg College	PA	$94,295	56	38.9%
86	Fordham University	NY	$94,170	109	59.3%
87	Lebanon Valley College	PA	$93,878	5	83.8%
88	Muhlenberg College	PA	$93,760	22	72%
89	University of San Francisco	CA	$93,712	23	61.7%
90	University of Miami	FL	$92,998	133	18.9%
91	Virginia Tech	VA	$92,653	101	54.8%
92	Reed College	OR	$92,453	16	24.6%
93	The College of New Jersey	NJ	$92,325	25	62.3%
94	The Catholic University of America	DC	$91,962	7	82.8%
95	Southern Methodist University	TX	$91,701	139	63.3%
96	John Carroll University	OH	$91,386	30	80.9%
97	Gustavus Adolphus College	MN	$91,252	31	61%
98	Clark University	MA	$91,094	38	39.5%
99	Drew University	NJ	$90,814	18	67.8%
100	Siena University	NY	$90,802	25	69%

Showing the top 100 of 365 colleges that report earnings. 321 more colleges award this degree but have no earnings figure, usually because the program is small.

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Frequently asked questions

Which college has the highest-paid Economics graduates?

Williams College ($166,678), Duke University ($161,149), Princeton University ($160,763), University of Chicago ($159,578), Harvard University ($155,592) report the highest median earnings four years after graduation.

How much do Economics majors make?

The median across 365 colleges is $79,468 four years after graduation. By college it runs from $38,827 to $166,678.

Which colleges have the biggest Economics programs?

By bachelor's degrees awarded in a year: University of California-Berkeley (909), University of California-Los Angeles (830), University of California-Santa Barbara (696), University of Chicago (622), University of Michigan (608).

Does a higher-earning program mean a better program?

Not on its own. Earnings reflect where graduates live, what jobs they take, and who enrolled in the first place, as well as the teaching. The figures cover only graduates who received federal financial aid, and small programs are left out, so a college missing from this list may still have a strong department.

Source: College Scorecard, Most Recent Data by Field of Study (U.S. Department of Education), 2026-06-10 release, federal program category "Economics". Earnings are medians for graduates who received federal financial aid, working and not enrolled, four years after a bachelor's degree.