Majors

Best Colleges for Physics, by Earnings

667 of the colleges we track award a bachelor's degree in Physics, about 7,664 degrees a year. Across the 101 that report earnings, graduates make a median of $79,158 four years after finishing.

Rank	College	State	Median earnings, 4 years out	Degrees a year	Acceptance rate
1	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	MA	$131,025	79	4.5%
2	Cornell University	NY	$118,649	48	8.8%
3	University of Notre Dame	IN	$110,029	32	11.3%
4	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	$103,477	47	15.3%
5	Oregon State University	OR	$103,167	33	77.3%
6	Whitworth University	WA	$99,842	24	89.8%
7	College of the Holy Cross	MA	$99,165	13	17.6%
8	Le Moyne College	NY	$99,009	9	83%
9	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$96,805	35	31.3%
10	University of California-Irvine	CA	$96,215	86	28.6%
11	George Mason University	VA	$96,138	13	87.5%
12	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$96,043	110	11%
13	University of California-San Diego	CA	$95,018	60	26.7%
14	Ohio State University	OH	$94,543	68	60.6%
15	Utah State University	UT	$93,461	13	92.5%
16	Texas A&M University	TX	$92,826	46	57.4%
17	Virginia Tech	VA	$92,746	42	54.8%
18	University of Michigan	MI	$92,293	70	15.6%
19	Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania	PA	$91,610	3	86.5%
20	University of Massachusetts-Lowell	MA	$91,438	22	83%
21	University of Maryland	MD	$90,900	62	44.8%
22	Towson University	MD	$90,457	12	82%
23	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	NC	$89,944	18	79.6%
24	Southern Arkansas University Main Campus	AR	$89,685	23	75.3%
25	Willamette University	OR	$89,506	10	77.1%
26	West Virginia Wesleyan College	WV	$89,430	12	93.3%
27	University of Arizona	AZ	$88,207	71	86.1%
28	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	$87,856	27	75.2%
29	Portland State University	OR	$87,488	18	90.9%
30	University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire	WI	$87,033	12	82.3%
31	Stockton University	NJ	$86,849	7	88.9%
32	California State University-Fullerton	CA	$86,504	9	90.5%
33	University of Houston	TX	$86,078	25	73.9%
34	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$85,708	74	9%
35	Bethel University	MN	$85,657	24	87.8%
36	University of Wisconsin-River Falls	WI	$85,638	9	81.7%
37	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	$85,219	183	33%
38	Georgia College & State University	GA	$85,089	3	78.2%
39	Georgia Institute of Technology	GA	$82,431	52	14.1%
40	Appalachian State University	NC	$82,399	20	90.1%
41	Illinois State University	IL	$81,949	30	88.2%
42	Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	NY	$81,840	42	63.5%
43	Pennsylvania State University	PA	$81,763	56	60.6%
44	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College	PA	$81,763	2	96.8%
45	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Abington	PA	$81,763	1	96.8%
46	Arizona State University	AZ	$81,696	42	89.9%
47	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$81,077	61	42.4%
48	University of Wisconsin-La Crosse	WI	$80,594	13	75.5%
49	SUNY Oneonta	NY	$80,041	4	69.6%
50	University of Minnesota	MN	$80,025	41	79.8%
51	Salisbury University	MD	$79,158	8	87.5%
52	University of California-Davis	CA	$78,569	62	41.8%
53	College of William & Mary	VA	$77,863	40	34.1%
54	Seton Hall University	NJ	$77,851	16	73.3%
55	Virginia Commonwealth University	VA	$77,737	16	92.6%
56	SUNY College at Geneseo	NY	$77,575	18	66.5%
57	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$77,380	51	45.2%
58	University of Utah	UT	$77,158	35	86%
59	Lewis University	IL	$76,122	12	71.3%
60	University of Washington	WA	$75,867	125	39.1%
61	University of Washington-Bothell Campus	WA	$75,867	16	90.6%
62	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	$75,764	82	78.1%
63	Rochester Institute of Technology	NY	$75,281	40	66.9%
64	University of Oregon	OR	$75,160	29	88.3%
65	Kutztown University of Pennsylvania	PA	$74,813	15	90.8%
66	University of Texas at Austin	TX	$74,738	80	26.6%
67	University of Delaware	DE	$74,475	13	70.6%
68	University of California-Riverside	CA	$74,410	33	76.4%
69	University of Connecticut	CT	$73,879	23	52.4%
70	Brigham Young University	UT	$73,747	35	67.8%
71	Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania	PA	$73,703	7	93.1%
72	Gustavus Adolphus College	MN	$73,540	9	61%
73	University of Northern Colorado	CO	$73,186	9	85.9%
74	Rowan University	NJ	$72,734	27	77.7%
75	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	$72,596	51	59.7%
76	The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	$71,830	32	79.9%
77	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	NE	$71,752	13	87.5%
78	California State University-Long Beach	CA	$70,462	32	46.3%
79	New York University	NY	$69,334	57	7.7%
80	Middle Tennessee State University	TN	$69,192	15	69.1%
81	University of South Florida	FL	$68,967	32	43.2%
82	University of Florida	FL	$68,682	36	24.2%
83	University of Puerto Rico-Humacao	PR	$67,625	13	54.8%
84	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	$67,544	41	58.1%
85	Rutgers University-Camden	NJ	$67,544	1	66.3%
86	St. John's University-New York	NY	$67,536	6	83.4%
87	Purdue University	IN	$67,505	47	49.9%
88	Siena University	NY	$66,865	8	69%
89	Texas State University	TX	$65,217	20	89.3%
90	Stony Brook University	NY	$65,013	57	49%
91	Indiana University of Pennsylvania	PA	$64,837	3	90.8%
92	Boise State University	ID	$64,459	22	87.2%
93	University of North Florida	FL	$64,413	16	53.2%
94	California State University-Sacramento	CA	$64,133	10	94%
95	Western Washington University	WA	$63,833	18	93.3%
96	Morehead State University	KY	$62,865	10	77.2%
97	California State University-San Bernardino	CA	$62,004	16	93.7%
98	Coe College	IA	$61,162	8	64%
99	Georgia State University	GA	$60,393	22	55.4%
100	North Carolina State University	NC	$51,590	20	41.7%

Showing the top 100 of 101 colleges that report earnings. 566 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 Physics graduates?

Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($131,025), Cornell University ($118,649), University of Notre Dame ($110,029), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ($103,477), Oregon State University ($103,167) report the highest median earnings four years after graduation.

How much do Physics majors make?

The median across 101 colleges is $79,158 four years after graduation. By college it runs from $42,790 to $131,025.

Which colleges have the biggest Physics programs?

By bachelor's degrees awarded in a year: University of California-Santa Barbara (183), University of Washington (125), University of California-Berkeley (110), University of California-Irvine (86), University of Colorado Boulder (82).

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 "Physics". Earnings are medians for graduates who received federal financial aid, working and not enrolled, four years after a bachelor's degree.