Best Colleges in New York by Salary Potential
New York is home to prestigious universities that also come with big price tags. Are they worth it? Find the state’s best colleges by alumni salary.
| Rank | School Name | School Type | Early Career Pay | Mid-Career Pay | % High Meaning | % STEM Degrees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank:1 | School Name: Colgate University | School Type:Liberal Arts School, Party School, Private School, For Sports Fans | Early Career Pay:$84,100 | Mid-Career Pay:$173,800 | % High Meaning:42% | % STEM Degrees:26% |
| Rank:2 | School Name: at West Point_50px.png) United States Military Academy | School Type:Liberal Arts School, Sober School, For Sports Fans, State School | Early Career Pay:$93,400 | Mid-Career Pay:$171,000 | % High Meaning:65% | % STEM Degrees:35% |
| Rank:3 | School Name: SUNY Maritime College | School Type:State School | Early Career Pay:$86,800 | Mid-Career Pay:$165,400 | % High Meaning:52% | % STEM Degrees:18% |
| Rank:4 | School Name:_50px.png) United States Merchant Marine Academy | School Type:Engineering, State School | Early Career Pay:$98,400 | Mid-Career Pay:$165,200 | % High Meaning:52% | % STEM Degrees:51% |
| Rank:5 | School Name: Webb Institute | School Type:Engineering, Private School | Early Career Pay:$94,500 | Mid-Career Pay:$160,900 | % High Meaning:47% | % STEM Degrees:100% |
| Rank:6 | School Name:_50px.png) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | School Type:Engineering, Private School, Research University | Early Career Pay:$86,900 | Mid-Career Pay:$159,100 | % High Meaning:48% | % STEM Degrees:79% |
| Rank:7 | School Name: Clarkson University | School Type:Engineering, Private School, Research University | Early Career Pay:$79,900 | Mid-Career Pay:$157,700 | % High Meaning:58% | % STEM Degrees:54% |
| Rank:8 | School Name: Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art | School Type:Engineering, Private School | Early Career Pay:$84,300 | Mid-Career Pay:$156,500 | % High Meaning:38% | % STEM Degrees:58% |
| Rank:9 | School Name: Columbia University in the City of New York | School Type:Ivy League, Private School, Research University, For Sports Fans | Early Career Pay:$89,300 | Mid-Career Pay:$156,000 | % High Meaning:45% | % STEM Degrees:36% |
| Rank:10 | School Name: Cornell University | School Type:Ivy League, Private School, Research University, For Sports Fans | Early Career Pay:$86,100 | Mid-Career Pay:$155,400 | % High Meaning:44% | % STEM Degrees:46% |
| Rank:11 | School Name: Union College (New York) | School Type:Liberal Arts School, Party School, Private School | Early Career Pay:$78,500 | Mid-Career Pay:$153,300 | % High Meaning:41% | % STEM Degrees:42% |
| Rank:12 | School Name: Manhattan College | School Type:Private School, Religious, For Sports Fans | Early Career Pay:$77,300 | Mid-Career Pay:$152,400 | % High Meaning:44% | % STEM Degrees:37% |
| Rank:13 | School Name: Barnard College | School Type:Liberal Arts School, Private School | Early Career Pay:$74,200 | Mid-Career Pay:$149,300 | % High Meaning:53% | % STEM Degrees:21% |
| Rank:14 | School Name:_50px.png) New York University | School Type:Private School, Research University | Early Career Pay:$77,800 | Mid-Career Pay:$147,100 | % High Meaning:42% | % STEM Degrees:25% |
| Rank:15 | School Name: Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences | School Type:Private School | Early Career Pay:$80,900 | Mid-Career Pay:$145,800 | % High Meaning:72% | % STEM Degrees:2% |
| Rank:16 | School Name:Yeshiva University | School Type:Private School, Research University | Early Career Pay:$77,800 | Mid-Career Pay:$145,600 | % High Meaning:31% | % STEM Degrees:9% |
| Rank:17 | School Name: University of Rochester | School Type:Private School, Research University | Early Career Pay:$76,800 | Mid-Career Pay:$140,900 | % High Meaning:51% | % STEM Degrees:30% |
| Rank:18 | School Name: Fordham University | School Type:Private School, Religious, Research University, For Sports Fans | Early Career Pay:$72,900 | Mid-Career Pay:$138,500 | % High Meaning:40% | % STEM Degrees:13% |
| Rank:19 | School Name: Binghamton University | School Type:Research University, For Sports Fans, State School | Early Career Pay:$73,400 | Mid-Career Pay:$136,600 | % High Meaning:44% | % STEM Degrees:37% |
| Rank:20 | School Name: Hofstra University | School Type:Private School, Research University, For Sports Fans | Early Career Pay:$68,200 | Mid-Career Pay:$135,400 | % High Meaning:42% | % STEM Degrees:8% |
| Rank:21 | School Name: Pace University | School Type:Private School, Research University | Early Career Pay:$70,600 | Mid-Career Pay:$134,000 | % High Meaning:45% | % STEM Degrees:13% |
| Rank:22 | School Name: Hobart William Smith Colleges | School Type:Liberal Arts School, Private School | Early Career Pay:$67,200 | Mid-Career Pay:$132,900 | % High Meaning:48% | % STEM Degrees:17% |
| Rank:23 | School Name: CUNY Bernard M Baruch College | School Type:Business, Sober School, State School | Early Career Pay:$71,500 | Mid-Career Pay:$132,100 | % High Meaning:41% | % STEM Degrees:13% |
| Rank:24 | School Name: St Lawrence University | School Type:Liberal Arts School, Party School, Private School | Early Career Pay:$68,700 | Mid-Career Pay:$130,900 | % High Meaning:49% | % STEM Degrees:25% |
| Rank:25 | School Name: The New School | School Type:Private School, Research University | Early Career Pay:$67,700 | Mid-Career Pay:$130,700 | % High Meaning:37% | % STEM Degrees:9% |
Some of the best colleges in New York are New York University; Columbia University; The City College of the City University of New York; State University of New York – University at Buffalo; and Cornell University. New York has colleges in just about every imaginable category, ranging from urban to rural, big to small, liberal to conservative, artsy to engineering and more. Payscale can help you find out the best universities in New York by earning potential so that you can get a college degree that will set you up for a successful career.
New York State is home to some pretty famous schools like Columbia, NYU and Cornell. But the highest earning graduates often come from a school you’ve probably never heard of: SUNY Maritime, a small public college in the Bronx. SUNY Maritime produces some of the highest paid graduates in the nation. They focus on two types of degrees — engineering and business — and that seems to be the perfect formula for earning power.
The United States Military Academy at West Point often produces the alumni who earn the highest early career salaries. Keep in mind though that this is after graduates have usually completed military service, often as officers, so it makes sense that they can command such high salaries so early. USMA West Point graduates are much more experienced overall than typical college graduates.
Colgate University, a small private liberal arts college, comes in high overall for the highest paid graduates with 10 or more years of experience. Colgate grads only earn a relatively small salary in the first five years out of college, but once they have amassed more experience, their salary skyrockets. That’s a perfect illustration of the long-term salary growth we see with quality liberal arts and humanities majors.
Alumni from Excelsior College are among the most likely to say their jobs have a positive impact on the world. At the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, only a small percent of grads would say they have high job meaning.
Many famous alums received their undergraduate education in the Big Apple, including Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, Anne Hathaway, Woody Allen, Ann Coulter, Jane Lynch, and Kurt Vonnegut.