Highest-Paying Public Administration Programs
Colleges whose public administration graduates earn the most one year after finishing, across all bachelor's programs in the field.
Ranked by median earnings, 1 year after completing · 543 of 2,406 institutions report this measure · Compiled 2026-09-01
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Top schools on this list that also show up elsewhere — hop lists without leaving the trail.
#1
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
#2
University of Maryland Global Campus
Adelphi, MD
#7
Duke University
Durham, NC
- 1Cornell UniversityIthaca, NY · Private$69,897Compare nearby
Also on 15 other lists
- Mathematics & Statistics#11
- Psychology#11
- Communications#13
- Highest Four-Year Graduation Rates#17
- Graduates Earn the Most 10 Years Out#19
- Philosophy & Religious Studies#19
- Computer Science#20
- the Highest ACT Scores#21
- Architecture#21
- Best Earnings-to-Debt Ratio#22
- Best Early-Career Earnings, 6 Years After Enrolling#23
- Are Least Likely to Leave#23
- the Highest SAT Averages#23
- Most Selective Colleges in America#23
- Area & Ethnic Studies#25
- 2University of Maryland Global CampusAdelphi, MD · Public$69,338Compare nearby
- 3California Baptist UniversityRiverside, CA · Private$66,171Compare nearby
- 4National UniversitySan Diego, CA · Private$62,489Compare nearby
- 5Barry UniversityMiami, FL · Private$56,776Compare nearby
- 6University of La VerneLa Verne, CA · Private$54,713Compare nearby
- 7Duke UniversityDurham, NC · Private$53,358Compare nearby
- 8Northwestern UniversityEvanston, IL · Private$51,919Compare nearby
Also on 11 other lists
- 9University of ChicagoChicago, IL · Private$51,690Compare nearby
Also on 10 other lists
- 10Princeton UniversityPrinceton, NJ · Private$51,273Compare nearby
Also on 11 other lists
- Engineering#1
- English Language & Literature#1
- Best Earnings-to-Debt Ratio#3
- Highest Four-Year Graduation Rates#3
- Most Selective Colleges in America#6
- Best Student-to-Faculty Ratios#11
- Graduates Earn the Most 10 Years Out#14
- the Highest SAT Averages#14
- Psychology#15
- the Highest ACT Scores#20
- Best Early-Career Earnings, 6 Years After Enrolling#24
- 11West Texas A & M UniversityCanyon, TX · Public$50,981Compare nearby
- 12Trinity CollegeHartford, CT · Private$50,856Compare nearby
- 13Dickinson CollegeCarlisle, PA · Private$48,849Compare nearby
- 14Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical CollegeBaton Rouge, LA · Public$48,160Compare nearby
- 15Colorado State University GlobalAurora, CO · Public$47,785Compare nearby
- 16California State University-NorthridgeNorthridge, CA · Public$47,637Compare nearby
- 17Ashford UniversitySan Diego, CA · For-profit$47,260Compare nearby
- 18St. Mary's College of MarylandSt. Mary's City, MD · Public$47,260Compare nearby
- 19University of Michigan-Ann ArborAnn Arbor, MI · Public$47,260Compare nearby
- 20Hobart William Smith CollegesGeneva, NY · Private$46,478Compare nearby
- 21Upper Iowa UniversityFayette, IA · Private$45,878Compare nearby
- 22San Francisco State UniversitySan Francisco, CA · Public$45,852Compare nearby
- 23Notre Dame de Namur UniversityBelmont, CA · Private$45,529Compare nearby
- 24Albertus Magnus CollegeNew Haven, CT · Private$45,500Compare nearby
- 25Empire State UniversitySaratoga Springs, NY · Public$44,759Compare nearby
How this list was built
- Measure
- Median earnings, 1 year after completing — sorted highest to lowest
- Source variable
EARN_MDN_HI_1YR- Dataset
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most-Recent-Cohorts-Field-of-Study (04-17-2025 release)
- Where a college offers several public administration programs, the figure shown is the median across those programs.
- Earnings cover graduates who received federal financial aid, were working and not enrolled one year after completing, and whose highest credential is that bachelor's degree.
- 543 institutions report earnings for this field; programs with too few graduates are suppressed for privacy by the Department of Education and cannot be ranked.
A single measure is a narrow way to judge a college. Read this alongside the others, and see the methodology for what these figures do and do not capture.
Keep exploring
- Re-rank with your weightsRe-score with your weights, filtered to Public Administration
- Showdown: Cornell University vs University of Maryland Global CampusHigher-or-lower on Scorecard metrics — round 1 is these two
- Live leaderboardReshuffle Top 10–50 on one Scorecard measure
- Explore games & mapsShowdown, Name That College, sports, and more lists
- Sports at Cornell UniversityEADA programs for the #1 school on this list
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