Colleges in Washington With the Highest Graduate Earnings
Median earnings four years after graduation at the 44 four-year colleges we rank in Washington run from $93,273 at the top to $43,628 at the bottom, a spread of $49,645.
The median college sits at $58,019, within a few percent of the national median of $59,403. Public colleges (32) have a median of $53,157 and private nonprofit colleges (11) a median of $63,671, and the typical net price across the list is $11,819.
DigiPen Institute of Technology ranks first at $93,273, ahead of University of Washington-Seattle Campus ($82,515) and Gonzaga University ($80,896).
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 Washington
- 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; Washington has 44
- 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 all 44 qualifying schools. Select a column heading to re-sort the table.
| 1 | DigiPen Institute of Technology Redmond, WA For-profit · 4-year | $93,273 | $44,446 | $27,000 | 56% | 995 |
| 2 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA Public · 4-year | $82,515 | $14,091 | $14,615 | 84% | 31,942 |
| 3 | Gonzaga University Spokane, WA Private nonprofit · 4-year | $80,896 | $35,119 | $24,454 | 87% | 5,198 |
| 4 | Seattle University Seattle, WA Private nonprofit · 4-year | $79,426 | $34,662 | $19,883 | 74% | 4,062 |
| 5 | Washington State University Pullman, WA Public · 4-year | $73,467 | $14,971 | $19,500 | 61% | 21,099 |
| 6 | Saint Martin's University Lacey, WA Private nonprofit · 4-year | $71,704 | $28,119 | $22,500 | 55% | 1,158 |
| 7 | Seattle Pacific University Seattle, WA Private nonprofit · 4-year | $70,115 | $24,488 | $24,000 | 62% | 1,762 |
| 8 | Walla Walla University College Place, WA Private nonprofit · 4-year | $68,868 | $23,329 | $26,842 | 62% | 1,252 |
| 9 | Columbia Basin College Pasco, WA Public · 4-year | $67,608 | $8,317 | $14,829 | 30% | 4,640 |
| 10 | Bellevue College Bellevue, WA Public · 4-year | $64,079 | $11,430 | $12,375 | 35% | 7,364 |
| 11 | Pacific Lutheran University Tacoma, WA Private nonprofit · 4-year | $63,671 | $19,589 | $22,578 | 70% | 2,401 |
| 12 | Central Washington University Ellensburg, WA Public · 4-year | $63,444 | $18,476 | $19,500 | 52% | 7,833 |
| 13 | Heritage University Toppenish, WA Private nonprofit · 4-year | $62,898 | $14,598 | $14,573 | 46% | 812 |
| 14 | Whitworth University Spokane, WA Private nonprofit · 4-year | $61,291 | $26,534 | $25,000 | 70% | 1,858 |
| 15 | Shoreline College Shoreline, WA Public · 4-year | $61,196 | $8,585 | $12,021 | 29% | 3,046 |
| 16 | Eastern Washington University Cheney, WA Public · 4-year | $60,781 | $13,886 | $19,500 | 45% | 6,222 |
| 17 | Green River College Auburn, WA Public · 4-year | $60,643 | $13,803 | $11,891 | 40% | 4,965 |
| 18 | Seattle Central College Seattle, WA Public · 4-year | $60,072 | $8,819 | $12,000 | 31% | 3,953 |
| 19 | University of Puget Sound Tacoma, WA Private nonprofit · 4-year | $59,684 | $38,394 | $25,000 | 68% | 1,594 |
| 20 | Highline College Des Moines, WA Public · 4-year | $59,261 | $9,879 | $9,500 | 37% | 3,838 |
| 21 | Western Washington University Bellingham, WA Public · 4-year | $58,560 | $21,193 | $18,500 | 65% | 13,544 |
| 22 | Northwest University Kirkland, WA Private nonprofit · 4-year | $58,404 | $22,288 | $20,891 | 67% | 645 |
| 23 | Olympic College Bremerton, WA Public · 4-year | $57,634 | $7,172 | $12,000 | 33% | 3,826 |
| 24 | Whitman College Walla Walla, WA Private nonprofit · 4-year | $56,804 | $33,313 | $18,437 | 81% | 1,531 |
| 25 | Walla Walla Community College Walla Walla, WA Public · 4-year | $56,719 | $9,406 | $14,000 | 43% | 2,418 |
| 26 | Tacoma Community College Tacoma, WA Public · 4-year | $55,189 | $8,376 | $13,000 | 32% | 4,668 |
| 27 | Everett Community College Everett, WA Public · 4-year | $54,647 | $10,684 | $10,417 | 38% | 4,709 |
| 28 | Pierce College District Lakewood, WA Public · 4-year | $53,333 | $10,222 | $12,000 | 31% | 5,313 |
| 29 | Centralia College Centralia, WA Public · 4-year | $52,981 | $9,862 | — | 44% | 1,552 |
| 30 | Edmonds College Lynnwood, WA Public · 4-year | $52,875 | $11,010 | $11,855 | 31% | 3,656 |
| 31 | Spokane Community College Spokane, WA Public · 4-year | $52,567 | $5,473 | $13,501 | 35% | 4,533 |
| 32 | Lower Columbia College Longview, WA Public · 4-year | $52,301 | $7,630 | $10,506 | 24% | 1,932 |
| 33 | Wenatchee Valley College Wenatchee, WA Public · 4-year | $52,108 | $9,722 | $10,332 | 41% | 1,759 |
| 34 | Yakima Valley College Yakima, WA Public · 4-year | $51,006 | $11,843 | $13,966 | 31% | 2,770 |
| 35 | Cascadia College Bothell, WA Public · 4-year | $50,202 | $12,281 | $6,368 | 37% | 1,032 |
| 36 | South Puget Sound Community College Olympia, WA Public · 4-year | $50,185 | $9,132 | $11,000 | 44% | 3,075 |
| 37 | Northwest Indian College Bellingham, WA Public · 4-year | $49,696 | $3,136 | — | 22% | 629 |
| 38 | Clark College Vancouver, WA Public · 4-year | $49,337 | $11,465 | $10,881 | 37% | 4,945 |
| 39 | Big Bend Community College Moses Lake, WA Public · 4-year | $48,868 | $12,210 | $9,166 | 39% | 1,272 |
| 40 | Skagit Valley College Mount Vernon, WA Public · 4-year | $48,533 | $6,064 | $13,805 | 35% | 2,477 |
| 41 | Grays Harbor College Aberdeen, WA Public · 4-year | $46,936 | $4,783 | $11,075 | 35% | 1,010 |
| 42 | Spokane Falls Community College Spokane, WA Public · 4-year | $44,489 | $7,409 | $12,000 | 31% | 3,199 |
| 43 | The Evergreen State College Olympia, WA Public · 4-year | $44,424 | $24,319 | $20,500 | 43% | 2,160 |
| 44 | Whatcom Community College Bellingham, WA Public · 4-year | $43,628 | $11,795 | $10,643 | 36% | 2,378 |
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 Washington
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Same list in nearby states
Highest graduate earnings in Oregon
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Highest graduate earnings in New York
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Highest graduate earnings in California
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All 51 colleges in Washington See the national version of this ranking