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Rankings / Social Mobility

Best Colleges for Building Social Capital

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 50 schools · Agent Insights
50
Schools Analyzed
$74,080
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
84%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$27,825
Avg. Net Price

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This ranking scores 50 institutions on graduation rates, graduate earnings, debt burdens, and social mobility data from Opportunity Insights. Every data point comes from federal sources. No surveys, no opinions.

Social mobility carries the heaviest weight in our algorithm. We use Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card — built on 30 million anonymized tax records — to measure whether a college changes a family's economic trajectory across generations. Schools that take low-income students and launch them into higher earnings rank higher than schools that admit wealthy students and take credit for their success.

The transparency penalty matters here. Schools that don't report their data get scored lower than schools that do. If an institution won't show you its numbers, we think you should know that before you write them a tuition check.

Quick Numbers

Schools ranked 50
Avg. earnings at 10yr $74,080
Avg. graduation rate 84%
Avg. net price $27,825
Avg. median debt $18,964

How We Ranked

Economic connectedness (30%) · Cross-class friending (25%) · Volunteering (20%) · Community support (15%) · Completion rate (10%). Data: Social Capital Atlas.

Read our full methodology →

Earnings vs. Cost

Each dot is a ranked school. Up = higher earnings. Right = higher cost. Top-left is the best value.

$15K$70K$124K$0$50KNET PRICESmith CollegeColorado CollegePitzer CollegeBryn MawrHampshire College

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

Smith College89%Colorado College87%Pitzer College83%Bryn Mawr College84%Hampshire College56%Austin College68%American University77%Oberlin College80%University of Chicago95%Wellesley College91%Macalester College89%Pomona College93%New College of Florida64%Whitman College81%Tufts University93%Carleton College90%Mount Holyoke College85%Goshen College63%Vassar College90%Swarthmore College93%

Top 3

#1

Smith College

Northampton, MA

Graduation89%
Earnings$64,027
Net Price$27,579

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#2

Colorado College

Colorado Springs, CO

Graduation87%
Earnings$65,222
Net Price$33,375

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#3

Pitzer College

Claremont, CA

Graduation83%
Earnings$69,512
Net Price$34,191

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Full Rankings

#1

Smith College

Northampton, MA · 2,544 students · Private nonprofit

21% accepted 89% graduate $64,027 earnings
Smith's full profile
#2

Colorado College

Colorado Springs, CO · 2,014 students · Private nonprofit

18% accepted 87% graduate $65,222 earnings
Colorado's full profile
#3

Pitzer College

Claremont, CA · 1,227 students · Private nonprofit

25% accepted 83% graduate $69,512 earnings
Pitzer's full profile
#4

Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr, PA · 1,359 students · Private nonprofit

29% accepted 84% graduate $75,217 earnings
Bryn's full profile
#5

Hampshire College

Amherst, MA · 839 students · Private nonprofit

75% accepted 56% graduate $46,938 earnings
Hampshire's full profile
#6

Austin College

Sherman, TX · 1,165 students · Private nonprofit

48% accepted 68% graduate $61,296 earnings
Austin's full profile
#7

American University

Washington, DC · 7,266 students · Private nonprofit

62% accepted 77% graduate $77,370 earnings
American's full profile
#8

Oberlin College

Oberlin, OH · 2,887 students · Private nonprofit

34% accepted 80% graduate $58,343 earnings
Oberlin's full profile
#9

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL · 7,569 students · Private nonprofit

4% accepted 95% graduate $91,885 earnings
University's full profile
#10

Wellesley College

Wellesley, MA · 2,300 students · Private nonprofit

14% accepted 91% graduate $84,803 earnings
Wellesley's full profile
#11

Macalester College

Saint Paul, MN · 2,131 students · Private nonprofit

29% accepted 89% graduate $63,878 earnings
Macalester's full profile
#12

Pomona College

Claremont, CA · 1,666 students · Private nonprofit

7% accepted 93% graduate $77,779 earnings
Pomona's full profile
#13

New College of Florida

Sarasota, FL · 843 students · Public

73% accepted 64% graduate $48,082 earnings
New's full profile
#14

Whitman College

Walla Walla, WA · 1,531 students · Private nonprofit

38% accepted 81% graduate $67,589 earnings
Whitman's full profile
#15

Tufts University

Medford, MA · 7,061 students · Private nonprofit

11% accepted 93% graduate $83,214 earnings
Tufts's full profile
#16

Carleton College

Northfield, MN · 2,086 students · Private nonprofit

20% accepted 90% graduate $75,525 earnings
Carleton's full profile
#17

Mount Holyoke College

South Hadley, MA · 2,169 students · Private nonprofit

36% accepted 85% graduate $58,418 earnings
Mount's full profile
#18

Goshen College

Goshen, IN · 773 students · Private nonprofit

84% accepted 63% graduate $51,943 earnings
Goshen's full profile
#19

Vassar College

Poughkeepsie, NY · 2,444 students · Private nonprofit

19% accepted 90% graduate $71,366 earnings
Vassar's full profile
#20

Swarthmore College

Swarthmore, PA · 1,613 students · Private nonprofit

7% accepted 93% graduate $80,257 earnings
Swarthmore's full profile
#21

Brown University

Providence, RI · 7,226 students · Private nonprofit

5% accepted 96% graduate $93,487 earnings
Brown's full profile
#22

Warren Wilson College

Swannanoa, NC · 707 students · Private nonprofit

71% accepted 42% graduate $36,260 earnings
Warren's full profile
#23

Bard College

Annandale-On-Hudson, NY · 2,414 students · Private nonprofit

52% accepted 70% graduate $46,543 earnings
Bard's full profile
#24

Princeton University

Princeton, NJ · 5,709 students · Private nonprofit

5% accepted 97% graduate $110,066 earnings
Princeton's full profile
#25

Sarah Lawrence College

Bronxville, NY · 1,530 students · Private nonprofit

62% accepted 71% graduate $53,603 earnings
Sarah's full profile
#26

Stanford University

Stanford, CA · 7,554 students · Private nonprofit

4% accepted 92% graduate $124,080 earnings
Stanford's full profile
#27

Rice University

Houston, TX · 4,776 students · Private nonprofit

8% accepted 95% graduate $89,718 earnings
Rice's full profile
#28

College of the Atlantic

Bar Harbor, ME · 353 students · Private nonprofit

70% accepted 69% graduate $40,264 earnings
College's full profile
#29

William & Mary

Williamsburg, VA · 7,055 students · Public

34% accepted 90% graduate $73,490 earnings
William's full profile
#30

Grinnell College

Grinnell, IA · 1,729 students · Private nonprofit

15% accepted 88% graduate $62,830 earnings
Grinnell's full profile
#31

Haverford College

Haverford, PA · 1,430 students · Private nonprofit

12% accepted 90% graduate $79,966 earnings
Haverford's full profile
#32

Hendrix College

Conway, AR · 1,100 students · Private nonprofit

56% accepted 71% graduate $60,376 earnings
Hendrix's full profile
#33

Amherst College

Amherst, MA · 1,911 students · Private nonprofit

9% accepted 94% graduate $77,644 earnings
Amherst's full profile
#34

Washington University in St Louis

St. Louis, MO · 7,857 students · Private nonprofit

12% accepted 94% graduate $86,182 earnings
Washington's full profile
#35

Kenyon College

Gambier, OH · 1,732 students · Private nonprofit

31% accepted 84% graduate $71,830 earnings
Kenyon's full profile
#36

Georgetown University

Washington, DC · 7,569 students · Private nonprofit

13% accepted 95% graduate $103,494 earnings
Georgetown's full profile
#37

Emerson College

Boston, MA · 3,870 students · Private nonprofit

51% accepted 78% graduate $62,832 earnings
Emerson's full profile
#38

Middlebury College

Middlebury, VT · 2,738 students · Private nonprofit

11% accepted 92% graduate $76,310 earnings
Middlebury's full profile
#39

Boston University

Boston, MA · 18,248 students · Private nonprofit

11% accepted 89% graduate $83,238 earnings
Boston's full profile
#40

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL · 9,201 students · Private nonprofit

8% accepted 96% graduate $89,363 earnings
Northwestern's full profile
#41

Brandeis University

Waltham, MA · 3,618 students · Private nonprofit

41% accepted 86% graduate $77,231 earnings
Brandeis's full profile
#42

George Washington University

Washington, DC · 11,182 students · Private nonprofit

47% accepted 85% graduate $90,873 earnings
George's full profile
#43

Occidental College

Los Angeles, CA · 1,877 students · Private nonprofit

44% accepted 83% graduate $75,951 earnings
Occidental's full profile
#44

Claremont McKenna College

Claremont, CA · 1,388 students · Private nonprofit

10% accepted 93% graduate $104,736 earnings
Claremont's full profile
#45

Lewis & Clark College

Portland, OR · 2,120 students · Private nonprofit

78% accepted 73% graduate $62,205 earnings
Lewis's full profile
#46

Dickinson College

Carlisle, PA · 2,273 students · Private nonprofit

42% accepted 82% graduate $70,204 earnings
Dickinson's full profile
#47

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA · 10,650 students · Private nonprofit

5% accepted 97% graduate $111,371 earnings
University's full profile
#48

Williams College

Williamstown, MA · 2,076 students · Private nonprofit

8% accepted 95% graduate $88,665 earnings
Williams's full profile
#49

Kalamazoo College

Kalamazoo, MI · 1,149 students · Private nonprofit

75% accepted 79% graduate $65,590 earnings
Kalamazoo's full profile
#50

Reed College

Portland, OR · 1,320 students · Private nonprofit

25% accepted 74% graduate $62,927 earnings
Reed's full profile

Sources & Citations

[1]

Chetty, R., Friedman, J., Saez, E., Turner, N., & Yagan, D. (2017). Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility. NBER Working Paper No. 23618. →

[2]

Chetty, R., Jackson, M., Kuchler, T., et al. (2022). Social Capital I: Measurement and Associations with Economic Mobility. Nature, 608, 108-121. →

[3]

U.S. Department of Education. College Scorecard Data. Federal Student Aid, National Center for Education Statistics. →

DK

David Krug

Co-Founder, CollegeRanker

David Krug is the co-founder of CollegeRanker and a data systems architect focused on making institutional research accessible to families. He builds the data pipelines and ranking algorithms that power CollegeRanker, drawing from federal datasets and Raj Chetty's Opportunity Insights research to measure what traditional rankings ignore: whether a college actually changes a family's economic trajectory.

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