Colleges in New York With the Highest Graduate Earnings
Median earnings four years after graduation at the 124 four-year colleges we rank in New York run from $117,149 at the top to $18,950 at the bottom, a spread of $98,199.
The median college sits at $64,241, which is $4,838 (8%) above the national median of $59,403. Public colleges (39) have a median of $60,020 and private nonprofit colleges (78) a median of $69,710, and the typical net price across the list is $21,605.
Helene Fuld College of Nursing ranks first at $117,149, ahead of Columbia University in the City of New York ($115,519) and Cornell University ($113,372).
How this list is built
A college appears here only if it meets every condition below.
- Colleges considered
- All 4-year colleges (public, private nonprofit and for-profit)
- Ranked by earnings after 4 years, highest first. Ties are broken by larger undergraduate enrollment, then by name.
- Main campuses only, with at least 60% of core data fields reported
- Main campus located in New York
- At least 500 undergraduate students enrolled (fall 2024)
- A reported earnings after 4 years value (schools without one are not ranked)
- This page is published only when at least 15 schools qualify; New York has 124
- Data period
- Earnings: median earnings four years after completing, measured in 2022 and 2023 for the 2017-18 and 2018-19 cohorts, in 2024 dollars.
- Net price: average for students receiving aid, academic year 2023-24.
- Graduate debt: median federal loan debt of completers, pooled 2020 and 2021 cohorts.
- Graduation rate: first-time, full-time students who started in fall 2018 (4-year) or fall 2021 (2-year), finishing within 150% of normal time.
- Enrollment: undergraduate students, fall 2024.
- Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, June 2026 release.
Showing the top 50 of 124 qualifying schools. Select a column heading to re-sort the table.
| 1 | Helene Fuld College of Nursing New York, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $117,149 | $47,181 | $15,250 | — | 914 |
| 2 | Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $115,519 | $21,590 | $21,500 | 96% | 8,973 |
| 3 | Cornell University Ithaca, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $113,372 | $28,690 | $14,000 | 95% | 15,995 |
| 4 | SUNY Maritime College Throggs Neck, NY Public · 4-year | $104,752 | $22,367 | $23,250 | 70% | 1,285 |
| 5 | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $98,311 | $36,228 | $23,750 | 83% | 5,714 |
| 6 | Molloy University Rockville Centre, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $96,058 | $24,347 | $27,000 | 71% | 3,162 |
| 7 | Yeshiva University New York, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $93,796 | $49,965 | $18,250 | 83% | 2,852 |
| 8 | United States Merchant Marine Academy Kings Point, NY Public · 4-year | $92,950 | $6,174 | $8,833 | 81% | 962 |
| 9 | Clarkson University Potsdam, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $91,312 | $30,305 | $26,000 | 74% | 2,196 |
| 10 | New York University New York, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $89,427 | $37,050 | $20,500 | 88% | 28,663 |
| 11 | Manhattan University Riverdale, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $88,328 | $27,256 | $26,000 | 65% | 2,744 |
| 12 | University of Rochester Rochester, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $87,197 | $29,278 | $21,000 | 85% | 6,331 |
| 13 | Wagner College Staten Island, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $85,313 | $28,241 | $25,000 | 67% | 1,651 |
| 14 | Fordham University Bronx, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $84,203 | $44,338 | $24,300 | 81% | 10,512 |
| 15 | D'Youville University Buffalo, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $84,182 | $20,433 | $25,000 | 62% | 1,258 |
| 16 | Rochester Institute of Technology Rochester, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $84,133 | $34,906 | $26,778 | 70% | 13,215 |
| 17 | University of Mount Saint Vincent Bronx, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $83,648 | $21,696 | $25,000 | 57% | 2,692 |
| 18 | Adelphi University Garden City, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $83,002 | $30,783 | $25,000 | 68% | 5,276 |
| 19 | CUNY Bernard M Baruch College New York, NY Public · 4-year | $82,748 | $3,033 | $11,512 | 72% | 16,154 |
| 20 | Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology Flushing, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $82,718 | $39,986 | $21,125 | 40% | 1,302 |
| 21 | Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY Public · 4-year | $81,850 | $18,784 | $18,228 | 77% | 18,101 |
| 22 | Union College Schenectady, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $81,583 | $34,561 | $25,337 | 83% | 2,046 |
| 23 | New York Institute of Technology Old Westbury, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $81,370 | $22,443 | $23,334 | 58% | 3,440 |
| 24 | Pace University New York, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $80,804 | $30,892 | $23,250 | 61% | 7,665 |
| 25 | Binghamton University Vestal, NY Public · 4-year | $80,304 | $21,620 | $18,500 | 83% | 14,655 |
| 26 | Syracuse University Syracuse, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $79,406 | $38,793 | $26,000 | 82% | 15,477 |
| 27 | Hamilton College Clinton, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $79,130 | $28,985 | $17,000 | 91% | 2,030 |
| 28 | Marist University Poughkeepsie, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $78,561 | $41,544 | $25,000 | 80% | 5,182 |
| 29 | Colgate University Hamilton, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $77,917 | $28,786 | $15,000 | 91% | 3,180 |
| 30 | Mount Saint Mary College Newburgh, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $77,894 | $25,522 | $26,007 | 66% | 1,148 |
| 31 | St. John's University-New York Queens, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $77,868 | $29,999 | $25,000 | 67% | 9,477 |
| 32 | Utica University Utica, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $77,491 | $19,108 | $22,500 | 56% | 2,278 |
| 33 | The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art New York, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $75,729 | $13,269 | $15,000 | 81% | 842 |
| 34 | Long Island University Brookville, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $74,905 | $33,062 | $23,577 | 56% | 5,520 |
| 35 | SUNY Polytechnic Institute Utica, NY Public · 4-year | $73,730 | $14,164 | $17,250 | 57% | 1,849 |
| 36 | CUNY Hunter College New York, NY Public · 4-year | $73,236 | $2,984 | $11,000 | 59% | 16,289 |
| 37 | Touro University New York, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $73,235 | $29,627 | $15,547 | 68% | 4,040 |
| 38 | Hofstra University Hempstead, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $72,921 | $34,176 | $23,621 | 68% | 6,488 |
| 39 | Barnard College New York, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $72,527 | $28,800 | $18,000 | 93% | 3,264 |
| 40 | Dominican University New York Orangeburg, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $71,939 | $41,832 | $25,000 | 54% | 1,105 |
| 41 | University at Buffalo Buffalo, NY Public · 4-year | $71,430 | $20,995 | $19,000 | 74% | 20,112 |
| 42 | Siena University Loudonville, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $70,594 | $33,733 | $26,561 | 75% | 3,409 |
| 43 | St. John Fisher University Rochester, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $70,456 | $28,945 | $23,250 | 74% | 2,565 |
| 44 | Daemen University Amherst, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $70,310 | $18,693 | $22,091 | 59% | 1,643 |
| 45 | Hobart William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $70,017 | $31,563 | $27,000 | 75% | 1,786 |
| 46 | Trocaire College Buffalo, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $69,860 | $16,636 | $20,000 | 24% | 984 |
| 47 | Iona University New Rochelle, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $69,776 | $29,188 | $25,999 | 57% | 2,951 |
| 48 | Maria College of Albany Albany, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $69,643 | $13,082 | $20,528 | 34% | 656 |
| 49 | CUNY Queens College Queens, NY Public · 4-year | $68,713 | $4,195 | $10,298 | 56% | 12,550 |
| 50 | Manhattanville University Purchase, NY Private nonprofit · 4-year | $68,011 | $20,991 | $25,000 | 56% | 1,362 |
How to compare these colleges
High earnings partly reflect who enrolls and what they study: engineering, nursing and business programs usually pay more than education or the arts, so a school with strong health or technical programs can top the list. Read the earnings next to net price, debt and graduation rate, because earnings count only people who finished, and four years after graduation is early in a career.
Guides worth reading first
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Same list in nearby states
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Highest graduate earnings in New Jersey
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All 219 colleges in New York See the national version of this ranking