The 2026 National Report on Higher-Education Outcomes
In America, your economic future now depends more on the state you study in than the prestige of the college you choose.
We graded all 50 states and DC across 5,745 institutions on graduate earnings, social mobility, and cost. Built on the U.S. College Scorecard and Opportunity Insights mobility research, not reputation surveys.
The Academic Map of the American Dream
Every college moves students a different distance.
Two numbers decide whether a college changes lives: how many low-income students it lets in — access — and how many of them reach the top income quintile — success. The schools that transform the country most do both. Most famous ones do only the second.
Each dot is one college. CUNY Baruch enrolls 28% low-income students and sends 47% of them to the top — while Harvard sends 58% to the top but enrolls just 3%. Data: Opportunity Insights Mobility Report Card & U.S. Dept. of Education. How we measure →
What this measures
What we measure, and what the rankings don't.
Every grade on this site is a measured outcome from public data. None of it is reputation, and none of it is for sale.
Sources: College Scorecard · Opportunity Insights · NCES IPEDS · BLS
The National Story
The United States, in 50 education economies
Higher education is not one national system. It is fifty. Each card is a state's outcome grade, ranked by Outcome Score. Open any one for its full report.
Connecticut
84All-Around Leader
$58K
Earnings
1.8%
Mobility
New York
83All-Around Leader
$48K
Earnings
3.1%
Mobility
Pennsylvania
72All-Around Leader
$51K
Earnings
1.4%
Mobility
Massachusetts
71All-Around Leader
$53K
Earnings
1.9%
Mobility
New Jersey
70All-Around Leader
$46K
Earnings
2.4%
Mobility
Rhode Island
69All-Around Leader
$55K
Earnings
1.5%
Mobility
Alaska
68Value Leader
$48K
Earnings
—
Mobility
North Dakota
67All-Around Leader
$44K
Earnings
2.4%
Mobility
District of Columbia
67All-Around Leader
$49K
Earnings
2.1%
Mobility
Nebraska
64All-Around Leader
$48K
Earnings
1.3%
Mobility
Washington
63All-Around Leader
$48K
Earnings
1.4%
Mobility
Minnesota
62Earnings Engine
$48K
Earnings
1.4%
Mobility
Oklahoma
62All-Around Leader
$38K
Earnings
2.1%
Mobility
South Dakota
62All-Around Leader
$47K
Earnings
1.8%
Mobility
Hawaii
61Value Leader
$43K
Earnings
3.2%
Mobility
Maine
61All-Around Leader
$44K
Earnings
1.7%
Mobility
Wyoming
61Value Leader
$41K
Earnings
1.9%
Mobility
California
59Mobility Engine
$41K
Earnings
2.4%
Mobility
New Hampshire
59Earnings Engine
$51K
Earnings
1.0%
Mobility
New Mexico
59Mobility Engine
$39K
Earnings
2.5%
Mobility
Vermont
59Earnings Engine
$54K
Earnings
1.2%
Mobility
Maryland
58Lagging System
$45K
Earnings
1.8%
Mobility
Wisconsin
58Earnings Engine
$46K
Earnings
1.0%
Mobility
Montana
56Value Leader
$41K
Earnings
1.9%
Mobility
Illinois
55Lagging System
$41K
Earnings
1.5%
Mobility
Delaware
54Lagging System
$41K
Earnings
0.8%
Mobility
Kansas
54Value Leader
$45K
Earnings
1.3%
Mobility
West Virginia
54Value Leader
$38K
Earnings
1.3%
Mobility
Colorado
52Lagging System
$42K
Earnings
1.4%
Mobility
Indiana
50Earnings Engine
$46K
Earnings
1.0%
Mobility
Iowa
49Completion Leader
$43K
Earnings
1.2%
Mobility
Tennessee
47Lagging System
$39K
Earnings
1.3%
Mobility
Virginia
46Lagging System
$44K
Earnings
1.4%
Mobility
Texas
45Mobility Engine
$38K
Earnings
2.4%
Mobility
Oregon
44Lagging System
$40K
Earnings
1.4%
Mobility
Missouri
43Completion Leader
$41K
Earnings
1.2%
Mobility
Florida
42Completion Leader
$36K
Earnings
1.9%
Mobility
Ohio
42Lagging System
$41K
Earnings
1.1%
Mobility
Mississippi
40Mobility Engine
$33K
Earnings
2.3%
Mobility
Louisiana
39Mobility Engine
$33K
Earnings
3.1%
Mobility
Alabama
38Mobility Engine
$37K
Earnings
2.0%
Mobility
Arizona
37Mobility Engine
$39K
Earnings
1.9%
Mobility
Arkansas
37Mobility Engine
$35K
Earnings
1.9%
Mobility
Idaho
34Completion Leader
$33K
Earnings
1.4%
Mobility
Nevada
33Completion Leader
$39K
Earnings
1.2%
Mobility
Georgia
30Lagging System
$37K
Earnings
1.6%
Mobility
Utah
27Completion Leader
$36K
Earnings
0.9%
Mobility
Kentucky
26Lagging System
$36K
Earnings
1.3%
Mobility
North Carolina
26Lagging System
$36K
Earnings
1.2%
Mobility
South Carolina
25Lagging System
$38K
Earnings
1.2%
Mobility
Michigan
21Lagging System
$36K
Earnings
1.2%
Mobility
The Lead
Today's highest-signal findings
Social Mobility
Today's highest-mobility colleges
Schools that move the most students from the bottom income quintile to the top.
View breakdown →Return on Investment
Best-value universities
Earnings returned for every $1 of annual net price.
View breakdown →Graduate Earnings
Highest graduate earnings
Median earnings a decade after enrollment, from federal tax records.
View breakdown →Degrees
Fastest-paying degrees
Programs with the strongest median salary outcomes across all levels.
View breakdown →Original Research
The latest from our data desk
Economic connectedness vs. low-income success
Low-income students at colleges in the top quartile of economic connectedness are 267% more likely to reach the top income quintile than peers at the least-connected schools.
Net price vs. graduate earnings
The most expensive quartile of colleges costs 373% more than the most affordable — but their graduates earn just 34% more.
Graduation rate vs. earnings
Colleges in the top quartile for graduation rate produce graduates who earn 11% more than the bottom quartile.
Findings refreshed 2026-06-06 · 5,745 institutions in the research universe.
The Flagship Report · 2026 Annual Edition
The State of American Higher Education Outcomes for 2026
Which states, and which schools, actually turn tuition into earnings and upward mobility. Built on federal tax records and Opportunity Insights research, refreshed for 2026.
5,745
INSTITUTIONS
51
STATES + DC
$41K
MEDIAN EARNINGS
What CollegeRanker shows you
Based on federal and research datasets: College Scorecard, Opportunity Insights mobility, IPEDS.
Social mobility
Low-income students who climb to the top income quintile (Q1→Q5)
Live from our data · U.S. Dept of Education & Opportunity Insights. How we measure →
Built on the country's most authoritative data
30M+ tax records · 6,000+ schools · zero reputation surveys
Start your search by what matters to you
By State
See which schools perform best in your region
Every state's higher-ed system, ranked by graduate outcomes.
By Career
Find degrees that lead to real earning power
200+ careers scored on salary, growth, and AI resilience.
By Degree
Compare programs side-by-side by outcomes
Outlook score, supply/demand, and salary trajectory per program.
The data, unfiltered
What will you earn?
Every dot is a U.S. college — placed by what it costs against what its graduates earn a decade later. Pick a major to see the schools that produce it. This is the whole argument behind CollegeRanker, on one chart.
Compare Engine
Compare any two schools instantly
Outcomes, debt, and mobility side by side. Pick two schools and see the gap.
Loading 6,000+ schools...
Degree Intelligence
Degrees, by the Outcomes They Produce
We score every degree on five measures: salary, growth, AI resilience, education barrier, and competition. Of 152+ programs tracked, 56 rate as AI-resilient (score 70+), 26 project 20%+ job growth, and 47 break $100K median salary. Browse the leaders below.
Degrees with the strongest median salary outcomes across all levels
Medicine (MD)
Nurse Anesthesia (CRNA)
Executive MBA (EMBA)
Artificial Intelligence
Computer Science
MBA — Technology Management
Career Intelligence
Where Degrees Lead
We score every career on five measures: salary, growth, AI resilience, education barrier, and competition. Of 200+ careers tracked, 87 rate as AI-resilient (score 70+), 20 project 20%+ job growth, and 64 break $100K median salary. Browse the leaders below.
Careers with the lowest disruption risk from automation and AI
Nurse Practitioner
Physician Assistant
Physical Therapist
Occupational Therapist
Respiratory Therapist
Clinical Psychologist
Cite & share
Share the story of America's higher-education outcomes.
Every figure on this site traces back to public federal data, and you are welcome to cite it. Download the full 50-state dataset, take the report, and pull the angle that fits your story.
Please cite: CollegeRanker, The State of American Higher Education Outcomes for 2026. collegeranker.com/states
Five angles, ready to quote
- · 50-state outcome scorecard with letter grades
- · Earnings, mobility, value, and graduation by state
- · The AI-resilience index, state by state
- · The six-type geography of higher-ed outcomes
Chart embeds and an API are on the way. Need a specific cut? Talk to Studio →
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Methodology
Published, sourced, and reproducible.
Every weight and formula is published, and every number traces to a public dataset. You can rebuild our results yourself. Here is what they are built on:
U.S. Dept. of Education — College Scorecard +
Standardized earnings, debt, completion, and net-price reporting built from federal aid and tax records.
Opportunity Insights — Mobility Research +
Raj Chetty's team tracked 30M+ students through anonymized tax records to measure who actually moves up the income ladder.
NCES IPEDS +
Enrollment, graduation, and institutional characteristics reported by every Title IV school in the country.
BLS — Occupational Outlook +
Median wages and 2023–2033 growth projections behind our degree and career outlook scores.
Why this exists
College decisions usually run on reputation. Yet outcomes vary widely within the very same degree. We focus on what happens after graduation, not before.
Ready to Start?
Every data point on this site comes from federal sources and peer-reviewed research. No opinions. No surveys. Just the numbers that matter.
