Tuition costs keep rising, recent graduates face an uncertain job market, and many families question how much a college degree is really worth.
There are parts of the college experience that are hard to quantify, from building a network to learning how to think critically and live independently.
There's one thing, however, that can help put the financial value of a college degree into perspective: how much money you earn once you have it.
Each year, the Department of Education publishes data on college costs, student debt, completion rates, and earnings outcomes for students who received Title IV federal aid, about 13 million students annually, including federal grants, student loans, or work-study programs.
The College Scorecard, the department's public database, lists the median annual earnings for former students four years after completing their degrees at each school.
The data, like most measures used in college rankings, has its limitations. The College Scorecard's median earnings metric only measures the annual earnings of former students who received federal aid, were earning income, and were not enrolled in another institution at the four-year mark.
Still, the data can help paint a picture of how a college degree can shape early-career earnings for some recent graduates. Factors like majors and geography can also affect how much graduates can potentially earn. Graduates entering high-paying fields such as computer science, engineering, or healthcare may earn more early in their careers than those pursuing different academic fields.
Location can also play an important role, since salaries tend to be higher in areas with higher costs of living and expensive labor markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and the Bay Area.
Using College Scorecard data, Business Insider ranked US colleges and universities that grant bachelor's degrees based on the median annual earnings of former students four years after graduation. The ranking includes traditional colleges and universities as well as specialized institutions, focused on fields such as health sciences or nursing.
We highlighted each school's location and some of the top fields its students pursue, as reported by Niche and US News & World Report. Overwhelmingly, the science, healthcare, and engineering fields dominated the list, while economics, business, and some humanities and social science fields also appear throughout.
See which 34 schools across the US ranked highest for median earnings four years after graduation.
33. (tie) Claremont McKenna College
Location: Claremont, California
Top majors: Economics and political science
Median earnings: $111,000
33. (tie) Rush University
Location: Chicago
Top majors: Health services
Median earnings: $111,000
32. Dartmouth College
Location: Hanover, New Hampshire
Top majors: Computer science, economics, and political science
Median earnings: $112,000
26. (tie) Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science
Location: Los Angeles
Top majors: Biomedical sciences, nursing, and radiology
Median earnings: $113,000
26. (tie) Stevens Institute of Technology
Location: Hoboken, New Jersey
Top majors: Computer science and mechanical engineering
Median earnings: $113,000
26. (tie) Yale University
Location: New Haven, Connecticut
Top majors: Biomedical sciences, computer science, economics, mathematics, political science
Median earnings: $113,000
26. (tie) Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Location: Albany, New York
Top majors: Pharmaceutical sciences
Median earnings: $113,000
26. (tie) Maine Maritime Academy
Location: Castine, Maine
Top majors: Business logistics, marine engineering, marine science, and naval architecture
Median earnings: $113,000
26. (tie) Cornell University
Location: Ithaca, New York
Top majors: Biomedical sciences, business management and marketing, computer science, and engineering
Median earnings: $113,000
25. Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing
Location: New York City
Top majors: Nursing
Median earnings: $114,000
24. California Intercontinental University
Location: Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Top majors: Business administration, healthcare management, and information technology
Median earnings: $115,000
21. (tie) Columbia University
Location: New York City
Top majors: Computer science, economics, and political science
Median earnings: $116,000
21. (tie) Duke University
Location: Durham, North Carolina
Top majors: Biology, biomedical engineering, computer science, economics, and public policy studies
Median earnings: $116,000
21. (tie) Golden Gate University
Location: San Francisco
Top majors: Business administration
Median earnings: $116,000
19. (tie) Helene Fuld College of Nursing
Location: New York City
Top majors: Nursing
Median earnings: $117,000
19. (tie) Johns Hopkins University
Location: Baltimore
Top majors: Biomedical engineering, cellular and molecular biology, computer science, and neuroscience
Median earnings: $117,000
18. Babson College
Location: Wellesley, Massachusetts
Top majors: Business administration and entrepreneurship
Median earnings: $118,000
16. (tie) Georgia Institute of Technology
Location: Atlanta
Top majors: Computer science and engineering
Median earnings: $119,000
16. (tie) University of North Texas Health Science Center
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Top majors: Health administration, medical and biomedical sciences, osteopathic medicine, and public health
Median earnings: $119,000
14. (tie) Georgetown University
Location: Washington, DC
Top majors: Biological and biomedical sciences, business administration, finance, international relations, and political science
Median earnings: $120,000
14. (tie) American University of Health Sciences
Location: Signal Hill, California
Top majors: Nursing and pharmaceutical sciences
Median earnings: $120,000
12. (tie) John Patrick University of Health and Applied Sciences
Location: South Bend, Indiana
Top majors: Medical imaging, medical physics, and radiology
Median earnings: $122,000
12. (tie) Touro University Nevada
Location: Henderson, Nevada
Top majors: Healthcare professions, nursing, and osteopathic medicine
Median earnings: $122,000
11. University of Pennsylvania
Location: Philadelphia
Top majors: Biological and biomedical sciences, business management and marketing, and social sciences
Median earnings: $125,000
10. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
Location: Needham, Massachusetts
Top majors: Electrical and mechanical engineering
Median earnings: $127,000
9. University of Chicago
Location: Chicago
Top majors: Biological sciences, computer science, economics, and mathematics
Median earnings: $128,000
8. University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis
Location: St. Louis
Top majors: Pharmaceutical sciences
Median earnings: $132,000
7. Carnegie Mellon University
Location: Pittsburgh
Top majors: Business administration, computer science, and electrical engineering
Median earnings: $133,000
6. Harvard University
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Top majors: Biological and biomedical sciences, mathematics, social sciences, and statistics
Median earnings: $135,000
4. (tie) Stanford University
Location: Stanford, California
Top majors: Computer science, engineering, and social sciences
Median earnings: $137,000
4. (tie) Harvey Mudd College
Location: Claremont, California
Top majors: Engineering, computer science, mathematics
Median earnings: $137,000
3. Samuel Merritt University
Location: Oakland, California
Top majors: Nursing
Median earnings: $148,000
2. California Institute of Technology
Location: Pasadena, California
Top majors: Computer science, mechanical engineering, and physics
Median earnings: $153,000
1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts
Top majors: Computer science and engineering
Median earnings: $162,000
