Best Colleges for Economics 2026

20 schools ranked by graduate earnings — real data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.

Economics graduates are well-positioned for careers across multiple industries. The rankings below are based on actual graduate earnings data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.

Earnings shown are median graduate earnings 4 years after graduation (or 1 year if 4-year data is unavailable), sourced from the College Scorecard.See full major data

Top 20 Economics Programs by Graduate Earnings

#	School	Earnings	Tuition	Accept Rate	Enrollment
1	Duke University Durham, NC	$153,139	$65,805	7%	6,417
2	University of Chicago Chicago, IL	$127,832	$66,939	5%	7,540
3	Amherst College Amherst, MA	$127,636	$67,280	10%	1,907
4	Stanford University Stanford, CA	$127,416	$62,484	4%	7,841
5	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA	$125,816	$66,104	6%	10,768
6	Middlebury College Middlebury, VT	$125,751	$65,280	10%	2,785
7	Yale University New Haven, CT	$125,006	$64,700	5%	6,811
8	Harvard University Cambridge, MA	$124,570	$59,076	3%	7,755
9	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH	$118,120	$65,739	6%	4,367
10	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY	$117,355	$69,045	4%	8,899
11	Claremont McKenna College Claremont, CA	$115,832	$64,150	11%	1,379
12	Williams College Williamstown, MA	$115,082	$64,860	10%	2,060
13	Trinity College Hartford, CT	$112,699	$67,420	34%	2,193
14	Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA	$110,050	$64,525	17%	1,884
15	Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD	$108,040	$63,340	8%	5,617
16	Cornell University Ithaca, NY	$107,248	$66,014	8%	15,935
17	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA	$106,624	$45,627	12%	33,073
18	Northwestern University Evanston, IL	$105,795	$65,997	7%	8,960
19	Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA	$105,566	$62,412	7%	1,627
20	Tufts University Medford, MA	$105,444	$67,844	10%	6,804