Colleges in Ohio With the Highest Graduate Earnings
Median earnings four years after graduation at the 64 four-year colleges we rank in Ohio run from $94,237 at the top to $41,829 at the bottom, a spread of $52,408.
The median college sits at $58,581, within a few percent of the national median of $59,403. Public colleges (18) have a median of $58,295 and private nonprofit colleges (46) a median of $58,581, and the typical net price across the list is $21,010.
Case Western Reserve University ranks first at $94,237, ahead of Kettering College ($80,027) and Mount Carmel College of Nursing ($79,807).
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 Ohio
- 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; Ohio has 64
- 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 64 qualifying schools. Select a column heading to re-sort the table.
| 1 | Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $94,237 | $41,190 | $24,000 | 87% | 6,437 |
| 2 | Kettering College Kettering, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $80,027 | $21,650 | $23,500 | 65% | 549 |
| 3 | Mount Carmel College of Nursing Columbus, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $79,807 | $10,420 | $22,082 | 64% | 532 |
| 4 | University of Dayton Dayton, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $78,870 | $29,533 | $23,250 | 81% | 7,682 |
| 5 | Good Samaritan College of Nursing and Health Science Cincinnati, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $75,464 | $19,622 | $20,625 | 64% | 690 |
| 6 | The Christ College of Nursing and Health Sciences Cincinnati, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $74,804 | $18,378 | $24,250 | 58% | 713 |
| 7 | Ursuline College Pepper Pike, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $73,605 | $16,164 | $26,250 | 61% | 670 |
| 8 | University of Cincinnati-Main Campus Cincinnati, OH Public · 4-year | $72,188 | $25,648 | $21,250 | 73% | 29,882 |
| 9 | Ohio Northern University Ada, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $72,080 | $24,478 | $27,000 | 75% | 2,489 |
| 10 | Xavier University Cincinnati, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $71,477 | $32,997 | $23,250 | 70% | 4,207 |
| 11 | Mercy College of Ohio Toledo, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $71,303 | $17,989 | $20,834 | 49% | 939 |
| 12 | Miami University-Oxford Oxford, OH Public · 4-year | $70,785 | $28,384 | $23,000 | 81% | 16,656 |
| 13 | Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus, OH Public · 4-year | $70,682 | $17,339 | $19,976 | 88% | 45,638 |
| 14 | Ohio University-Main Campus Athens, OH Public · 4-year | $70,528 | $21,637 | $21,056 | 66% | 19,633 |
| 15 | Franklin University Columbus, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $68,805 | $25,243 | $20,836 | 21% | 5,562 |
| 16 | John Carroll University University Heights, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $67,580 | $28,746 | $26,000 | 78% | 2,274 |
| 17 | University of Toledo Toledo, OH Public · 4-year | $66,084 | $17,249 | $22,250 | 56% | 9,770 |
| 18 | Marietta College Marietta, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $64,527 | $21,083 | $27,000 | 60% | 952 |
| 19 | Tiffin University Tiffin, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $63,797 | $26,500 | $27,000 | 41% | 2,051 |
| 20 | Walsh University North Canton, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $63,410 | $20,493 | $27,000 | 60% | 1,390 |
| 21 | Denison University Granville, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $62,838 | $40,007 | $26,000 | 79% | 2,380 |
| 22 | University of Akron Main Campus Akron, OH Public · 4-year | $62,809 | $13,946 | $23,250 | 50% | 9,052 |
| 23 | Wright State University-Main Campus Dayton, OH Public · 4-year | $62,601 | $15,415 | $22,750 | 44% | 6,762 |
| 24 | Ohio Dominican University Columbus, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $61,640 | $20,079 | $26,000 | 44% | 760 |
| 25 | Mount St. Joseph University Cincinnati, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $61,602 | $16,530 | $26,827 | 56% | 1,129 |
| 26 | Cleveland State University Cleveland, OH Public · 4-year | $61,322 | $14,764 | $21,797 | 50% | 8,969 |
| 27 | The University of Findlay Findlay, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $60,876 | $27,221 | $25,439 | 60% | 2,223 |
| 28 | Cedarville University Cedarville, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $60,679 | $24,468 | $20,937 | 73% | 4,024 |
| 29 | Ashland University Ashland, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $59,855 | $21,988 | $25,000 | 61% | 2,199 |
| 30 | Central Ohio Technical College Newark, OH Public · 4-year | $59,751 | $9,948 | $12,072 | 27% | 1,941 |
| 31 | Capital University Columbus, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $59,121 | $22,576 | $26,889 | 63% | 1,585 |
| 32 | Baldwin Wallace University Berea, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $59,094 | $27,603 | $27,000 | 68% | 2,842 |
| 33 | Otterbein University Westerville, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $58,068 | $19,237 | $26,000 | 68% | 2,157 |
| 34 | University of Mount Union Alliance, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $57,955 | $23,280 | $27,000 | 62% | 1,995 |
| 35 | Lake Erie College Painesville, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $57,903 | $20,961 | $26,000 | 40% | 852 |
| 36 | The College of Wooster Wooster, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $57,840 | $23,458 | $26,500 | 74% | 1,730 |
| 37 | Kenyon College Gambier, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $57,786 | $38,512 | $18,527 | 84% | 1,732 |
| 38 | Kent State University at Kent Kent, OH Public · 4-year | $56,839 | $20,787 | $24,500 | 65% | 19,320 |
| 39 | University of Northwestern Ohio Lima, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $56,340 | $21,807 | $17,084 | 54% | 2,494 |
| 40 | Youngstown State University Youngstown, OH Public · 4-year | $56,047 | $12,767 | $24,000 | 52% | 7,961 |
| 41 | Lourdes University Sylvania, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $55,959 | $23,206 | $27,000 | 35% | 543 |
| 42 | Bowling Green State University-Main Campus Bowling Green, OH Public · 4-year | $54,998 | $24,022 | $25,000 | 63% | 12,812 |
| 43 | Wittenberg University Springfield, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $54,622 | $18,649 | $27,000 | 53% | 1,215 |
| 44 | Ohio Wesleyan University Delaware, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $54,483 | $20,897 | $27,000 | 60% | 1,516 |
| 45 | Mount Vernon Nazarene University Mount Vernon, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $53,516 | $22,421 | $25,000 | 66% | 1,358 |
| 46 | North Central State College Mansfield, OH Public · 4-year | $53,401 | $4,687 | $8,252 | 35% | 1,273 |
| 47 | Heidelberg University Tiffin, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $52,647 | $20,556 | $27,000 | 51% | 915 |
| 48 | Wilmington College Wilmington, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $52,364 | $24,153 | $24,208 | 51% | 1,006 |
| 49 | Hiram College Hiram, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $52,304 | $21,058 | $27,000 | 57% | 777 |
| 50 | University of Rio Grande Rio Grande, OH Private nonprofit · 4-year | $51,840 | $23,686 | $17,750 | 34% | 1,400 |
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
More lists for Ohio
Cheapest colleges in Ohio
56 schools
Cheap colleges in Ohio for out-of-state students
23 schools
Community colleges in Ohio
10 schools
Best value colleges in Ohio
54 schools
Most affordable private colleges in Ohio
46 schools
Same list in nearby states
Highest graduate earnings in Pennsylvania
85 schools
Highest graduate earnings in Michigan
41 schools
Highest graduate earnings in Indiana
39 schools
All 113 colleges in Ohio See the national version of this ranking