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Best MBA Programs in Illinois

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 27 schools · Agent Insights
27
Schools Analyzed
$61,797
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
61%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$18,581
Avg. Net Price

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This ranking scores 27 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 27
Avg. earnings at 10yr $61,797
Avg. graduation rate 61%
Avg. net price $18,581
Avg. median debt $22,116

How We Ranked

MBA programs in Illinois ranked by graduate outcomes and value

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$68K$120K$0$50KNET PRICENorthwestern UniversitySouthern IllinoisIllinois StateNorth ParkLewis University

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

Northwestern University96%Southern Illinois Univer…56%Illinois State University65%North Park University57%Lewis University65%Dominican University59%North Central College68%University of Illinois U…85%DePaul University69%Aurora University59%Northern Illinois Univer…49%Eastern Illinois Univers…46%Benedictine University51%University of Illinois C…61%Elmhurst University68%McKendree University57%Bradley University74%Western Illinois Univers…45%Saint Xavier University58%Judson University56%

Top 3

#1

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

Graduation96%
Earnings$89,363
Net Price$29,167

View full profile →
#2

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Edwardsville, IL

Graduation56%
Earnings$56,346
Net Price$14,889

View full profile →
#3

Illinois State University

Normal, IL

Graduation65%
Earnings$62,117
Net Price$19,398

View full profile →

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Full Rankings

#1

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL · 9,201 students · Private nonprofit

8% accepted 96% graduate $89,363 earnings
Northwestern's full profile
#2

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Edwardsville, IL · 8,750 students · Public

98% accepted 56% graduate $56,346 earnings
Southern's full profile
#3

Illinois State University

Normal, IL · 19,057 students · Public

88% accepted 65% graduate $62,117 earnings
Illinois's full profile
#4

North Park University

Chicago, IL · 1,818 students · Private nonprofit

69% accepted 57% graduate $59,572 earnings
North's full profile
#5

Lewis University

Romeoville, IL · 4,015 students · Private nonprofit

71% accepted 65% graduate $66,099 earnings
Lewis's full profile
#6

Dominican University

River Forest, IL · 2,561 students · Private nonprofit

90% accepted 59% graduate $60,327 earnings
Dominican's full profile
#7

North Central College

Naperville, IL · 2,428 students · Private nonprofit

77% accepted 68% graduate $60,123 earnings
North's full profile
#8

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Champaign, IL · 36,258 students · Public

42% accepted 85% graduate $81,054 earnings
University's full profile
#9

DePaul University

Chicago, IL · 14,090 students · Private nonprofit

76% accepted 69% graduate $68,751 earnings
DePaul's full profile
#10

Aurora University

Aurora, IL · 3,974 students · Private nonprofit

81% accepted 59% graduate $58,709 earnings
Aurora's full profile
#11

Northern Illinois University

Dekalb, IL · 11,301 students · Public

70% accepted 49% graduate $57,808 earnings
Northern's full profile
#12

Eastern Illinois University

Charleston, IL · 4,188 students · Public

65% accepted 46% graduate $51,989 earnings
Eastern's full profile
#13

Benedictine University

Lisle, IL · 1,942 students · Private nonprofit

95% accepted 51% graduate $63,446 earnings
Benedictine's full profile
#14

University of Illinois Chicago

Chicago, IL · 22,170 students · Public

77% accepted 61% graduate $68,740 earnings
University's full profile
#15

Elmhurst University

Elmhurst, IL · 3,006 students · Private nonprofit

74% accepted 68% graduate $61,462 earnings
Elmhurst's full profile
#16

McKendree University

Lebanon, IL · 1,752 students · Private nonprofit

72% accepted 57% graduate $58,572 earnings
McKendree's full profile
#17

Bradley University

Peoria, IL · 3,574 students · Private nonprofit

77% accepted 74% graduate $66,852 earnings
Bradley's full profile
#18

Western Illinois University

Macomb, IL · 4,410 students · Public

71% accepted 45% graduate $54,163 earnings
Western's full profile
#19

Saint Xavier University

Chicago, IL · 3,096 students · Private nonprofit

84% accepted 58% graduate $58,656 earnings
Saint's full profile
#20

Judson University

Elgin, IL · 708 students · Private nonprofit

48% accepted 56% graduate $56,313 earnings
Judson's full profile
#21

Loyola University Chicago

Chicago, IL · 11,737 students · Private nonprofit

82% accepted 75% graduate $71,530 earnings
Loyola's full profile
#22

Rockford University

Rockford, IL · 972 students · Private nonprofit

93% accepted 43% graduate $54,794 earnings
Rockford's full profile
#23

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, IL · 2,603 students · Private nonprofit

56% accepted 61% graduate $53,213 earnings
Olivet's full profile
#24

University of St Francis

Joliet, IL · 1,223 students · Private nonprofit

65% accepted 66% graduate $63,926 earnings
University's full profile
#25

University of Illinois Springfield

Springfield, IL · 2,263 students · Public

86% accepted 57% graduate $57,103 earnings
University's full profile
#26

Southern Illinois University-Carbondale

Carbondale, IL · 8,494 students · Public

87% accepted 59% graduate $53,390 earnings
Southern's full profile
#27

Concordia University-Chicago

River Forest, IL · 1,323 students · Private nonprofit

93% accepted 41% graduate $54,089 earnings
Concordia'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]

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

[3]

National Center for Education Statistics. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). →

[4]

U.S. News & World Report. Best Business Schools MBA Rankings. Used for MBA program validation. →

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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