The college with the highest-earning graduates in every US state

At some schools, investing in higher education pays off more than in others.

Business Insider recently identified the 34 US colleges with the highest-paid graduates four years after completing their degrees across all US states, based on Department of Education data.

To map earnings across state lines, we went a step further and used the same data to identify which colleges have the highest-earning graduates in every US state.

The department’s College Scorecard outlines net college costs, student debt, completion rates, and earnings outcomes across US colleges and universities for the 13 million students receiving Title IV federal aid. (According to the department’s latest data, approximately 55% of undergraduate students in the 2019-2020 school year received some form of federal financial aid.) Using the College Scorecard’s median annual earnings data, which measures how much former federal-aid-receiving students earn four years after completing their degrees, we identified the colleges with the highest-earning graduates in each state.

For this list, which features a range of schools from smaller specialized programs to large universities, we focused on public or private nonprofit four-year schools.

We also included the location and the most popular majors at each school — as reported by Niche for each institution — which can often significantly affect graduates’ earnings.

Like most college ranking methodologies, the list has caveats: The earnings data applies only to former federal-aid recipients, and specialized schools may be more likely to top some states because graduates in certain fields tend to earn more.

Still, it helps map the big picture of college graduates’ earnings across the US.

See which school had the top-earning federally aided graduates in your state.