Best Schools For Computer Science Majors by Salary Potential
Earn a computer science degree from a school with the highest-paid graduates. Learn more about the best universities for earning a bachelor’s degree in computer science studies by salary.
| Rank | School Name | Early Career Pay | Mid-Career Pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank:1 | School Name: Harvey Mudd College | Early Career Pay:$134,300 | Mid-Career Pay:$212,400 |
| Rank:2 | School Name: Harvard University | Early Career Pay:$117,600 | Mid-Career Pay:$204,200 |
| Rank:2 | School Name: University of California-Berkeley | Early Career Pay:$131,900 | Mid-Career Pay:$204,200 |
| Rank:4 | School Name: Dartmouth College | Early Career Pay:$129,800 | Mid-Career Pay:$203,800 |
| Rank:5 | School Name:_50px.png) Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Early Career Pay:$124,400 | Mid-Career Pay:$203,600 |
| Rank:6 | School Name: Stanford University | Early Career Pay:$134,400 | Mid-Career Pay:$201,200 |
| Rank:7 | School Name: Columbia University in the City of New York | Early Career Pay:$119,000 | Mid-Career Pay:$200,500 |
| Rank:8 | School Name: Princeton University | Early Career Pay:$131,500 | Mid-Career Pay:$199,500 |
| Rank:9 | School Name:_50px.png) Carnegie Mellon University | Early Career Pay:$125,200 | Mid-Career Pay:$197,700 |
| Rank:10 | School Name: Brown University | Early Career Pay:$129,300 | Mid-Career Pay:$195,800 |
| Rank:11 | School Name: Brandeis University | Early Career Pay:$100,000 | Mid-Career Pay:$193,700 |
| Rank:12 | School Name: University of Pennsylvania | Early Career Pay:$121,600 | Mid-Career Pay:$189,600 |
| Rank:13 | School Name: Duke University | Early Career Pay:$110,200 | Mid-Career Pay:$189,200 |
| Rank:14 | School Name:_50px.png) University of California-Santa Barbara | Early Career Pay:$107,600 | Mid-Career Pay:$188,800 |
| Rank:15 | School Name: Rice University | Early Career Pay:$119,300 | Mid-Career Pay:$186,900 |
| Rank:16 | School Name:_50px.png) University of California-Santa Cruz | Early Career Pay:$103,600 | Mid-Career Pay:$185,900 |
| Rank:17 | School Name: Yale University | Early Career Pay:$126,000 | Mid-Career Pay:$185,000 |
| Rank:18 | School Name: CUNY Hunter College | Early Career Pay:$95,700 | Mid-Career Pay:$183,600 |
| Rank:19 | School Name:_50px.png) University of California-San Diego | Early Career Pay:$109,400 | Mid-Career Pay:$182,900 |
| Rank:20 | School Name: - Main Campus_50px.jpg) University of Virginia-Main Campus | Early Career Pay:$106,700 | Mid-Career Pay:$181,900 |
| Rank:21 | School Name: - San Luis Obispo_50px.png) California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo | Early Career Pay:$105,000 | Mid-Career Pay:$181,600 |
| Rank:22 | School Name: Lehigh University | Early Career Pay:$108,700 | Mid-Career Pay:$181,000 |
| Rank:23 | School Name: at Annapolis_50px.png) United States Naval Academy | Early Career Pay:$92,500 | Mid-Career Pay:$180,800 |
| Rank:24 | School Name:_50px.png) Worcester Polytechnic Institute | Early Career Pay:$108,800 | Mid-Career Pay:$180,300 |
| Rank:25 | School Name:_50px.jpg) University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | Early Career Pay:$103,000 | Mid-Career Pay:$180,000 |
Studying computer science means that you are going to enter one of the most highly paid and fastest-growing job types of the modern economy. But if you are going into a field with the expectation that you’ll be well paid, why not get your education at a school with some of the highest-earning alumni? Use Payscale’s College Salary Report to find out how alumni from the school of your choice do financially after graduation. There are scores of colleges and universities included in the Payscale College Salary Report’s list of Best Schools for Computer Science Majors.
Many of the highest-earning computer science majors come from notable engineering schools, like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University and Lehigh. You probably recognize a number of the famous names who earned degrees in computer science: Reed Hastings (founder of LinkedIn), Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo!) and Google co-founder Larry Page (who didn’t actually complete a degree, but studied computer science at Stanford).