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Rankings / Innovation

Best Colleges for Low-Income Inventors

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 50 schools · Agent Insights
50
Schools Analyzed
$82,281
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
80%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$23,832
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 $82,281
Avg. graduation rate 80%
Avg. net price $23,832
Avg. median debt $19,690

How We Ranked

Inventor rate for students from the bottom 20%. Which schools turn low-income students into innovators? Data: Opportunity Insights.

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$79K$143K$0$50KNET PRICEColorado SchoolGeorgia InstituteUniversity ofUniversity ofUniversity of

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

Colorado School of Mines81%Georgia Institute of Tec…93%University of Iowa74%University of Florida91%University of South Flor…76%Michigan State University81%Michigan Technological U…68%New Jersey Institute of …73%North Carolina A & T Sta…56%Oklahoma City University65%University of Oregon72%Virginia Polytechnic Ins…86%University of Southern C…92%University of Notre Dame96%Florida Institute of Tec…64%University of Chicago95%Illinois Institute of Te…74%Tufts University93%Johns Hopkins University94%Massachusetts Institute …96%

Top 3

#1

Colorado School of Mines

Golden, CO

Graduation81%
Earnings$97,335
Net Price$28,690

View full profile →
#2

Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus

Atlanta, GA

Graduation93%
Earnings$102,772
Net Price$12,116

View full profile →
#3

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA

Graduation74%
Earnings$64,762
Net Price$22,531

View full profile →

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Full Rankings

#1

Colorado School of Mines

Golden, CO · 6,155 students · Public

61% accepted 81% graduate $97,335 earnings
Colorado's full profile
#2

Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus

Atlanta, GA · 18,785 students · Public

14% accepted 93% graduate $102,772 earnings
Georgia's full profile
#3

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA · 22,264 students · Public

84% accepted 74% graduate $64,762 earnings
University's full profile
#4

University of Florida

Gainesville, FL · 35,629 students · Public

24% accepted 91% graduate $71,588 earnings
University's full profile
#5

University of South Florida

Tampa, FL · 37,207 students · Public

43% accepted 76% graduate $57,743 earnings
University's full profile
#6

Michigan State University

East Lansing, MI · 40,922 students · Public

85% accepted 81% graduate $67,253 earnings
Michigan's full profile
#7

Michigan Technological University

Houghton, MI · 5,955 students · Public

92% accepted 68% graduate $78,198 earnings
Michigan's full profile
#8

New Jersey Institute of Technology

Newark, NJ · 9,019 students · Public

65% accepted 73% graduate $84,276 earnings
New's full profile
#9

North Carolina A & T State University

Greensboro, NC · 12,182 students · Public

50% accepted 56% graduate $44,440 earnings
North's full profile
#10

Oklahoma City University

Oklahoma City, OK · 1,514 students · Private nonprofit

77% accepted 65% graduate $54,655 earnings
Oklahoma's full profile
#11

University of Oregon

Eugene, OR · 20,497 students · Public

88% accepted 72% graduate $61,324 earnings
University's full profile
#12

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Blacksburg, VA · 30,923 students · Public

55% accepted 86% graduate $81,698 earnings
Virginia's full profile
#13

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA · 20,443 students · Private nonprofit

10% accepted 92% graduate $92,498 earnings
University's full profile
#14

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN · 8,818 students · Private nonprofit

11% accepted 96% graduate $99,980 earnings
University's full profile
#15

Florida Institute of Technology

Melbourne, FL · 3,404 students · Private nonprofit

58% accepted 64% graduate $43,137 earnings
Florida's full profile
#16

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL · 7,569 students · Private nonprofit

4% accepted 95% graduate $91,885 earnings
University's full profile
#17

Illinois Institute of Technology

Chicago, IL · 2,833 students · Private nonprofit

55% accepted 74% graduate $82,592 earnings
Illinois's full profile
#18

Tufts University

Medford, MA · 7,061 students · Private nonprofit

11% accepted 93% graduate $83,214 earnings
Tufts's full profile
#19

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD · 5,693 students · Private nonprofit

6% accepted 94% graduate $87,555 earnings
Johns's full profile
#20

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA · 4,535 students · Private nonprofit

5% accepted 96% graduate $143,372 earnings
Massachusetts's full profile
#21

Washington University in St Louis

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

12% accepted 94% graduate $86,182 earnings
Washington's full profile
#22

Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH · 4,541 students · Private nonprofit

5% accepted 96% graduate $97,434 earnings
Dartmouth's full profile
#23

Cornell University

Ithaca, NY · 15,995 students · Private nonprofit

9% accepted 95% graduate $104,043 earnings
Cornell'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

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Troy, NY · 5,714 students · Private nonprofit

63% accepted 83% graduate $102,051 earnings
Rensselaer's full profile
#26

Rochester Institute of Technology

Rochester, NY · 13,215 students · Private nonprofit

67% accepted 70% graduate $76,571 earnings
Rochester's full profile
#27

University of Rochester

Rochester, NY · 6,331 students · Private nonprofit

40% accepted 85% graduate $79,042 earnings
University's full profile
#28

Syracuse University

Syracuse, NY · 15,477 students · Private nonprofit

46% accepted 82% graduate $79,164 earnings
Syracuse's full profile
#29

Yeshiva University

New York, NY · 2,852 students · Private nonprofit

56% accepted 83% graduate $71,353 earnings
Yeshiva's full profile
#30

Duke University

Durham, NC · 6,442 students · Private nonprofit

6% accepted 96% graduate $97,800 earnings
Duke's full profile
#31

University of Tulsa

Tulsa, OK · 2,813 students · Private nonprofit

62% accepted 73% graduate $61,408 earnings
University's full profile
#32

Case Western Reserve University

Cleveland, OH · 6,437 students · Private nonprofit

37% accepted 87% graduate $87,989 earnings
Case's full profile
#33

University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA · 10,650 students · Private nonprofit

5% accepted 97% graduate $111,371 earnings
University's full profile
#34

Brown University

Providence, RI · 7,226 students · Private nonprofit

5% accepted 96% graduate $93,487 earnings
Brown's full profile
#35

Rice University

Houston, TX · 4,776 students · Private nonprofit

8% accepted 95% graduate $89,718 earnings
Rice's full profile
#36

Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA · 7,304 students · Private nonprofit

12% accepted 93% graduate $114,862 earnings
Carnegie's full profile
#37

Lehigh University

Bethlehem, PA · 5,898 students · Private nonprofit

26% accepted 89% graduate $105,584 earnings
Lehigh's full profile
#38

Stanford University

Stanford, CA · 7,554 students · Private nonprofit

4% accepted 92% graduate $124,080 earnings
Stanford's full profile
#39

University of Northern Colorado

Greeley, CO · 5,598 students · Public

86% accepted 51% graduate $52,231 earnings
University's full profile
#40

Ferris State University

Big Rapids, MI · 8,106 students · Public

91% accepted 47% graduate $54,735 earnings
Ferris's full profile
#41

New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

Socorro, NM · 995 students · Public

44% accepted 57% graduate $76,489 earnings
New's full profile
#42

Northeastern State University

Tahlequah, OK · 4,772 students · Public

100% accepted 36% graduate $45,379 earnings
Northeastern's full profile
#43

Oregon Institute of Technology

Klamath Falls, OR · 2,892 students · Public

95% accepted 56% graduate $72,273 earnings
Oregon's full profile
#44

Western Washington University

Bellingham, WA · 13,544 students · Public

93% accepted 65% graduate $62,569 earnings
Western's full profile
#45

West Virginia University

Morgantown, WV · 17,385 students · Public

89% accepted 63% graduate $55,939 earnings
West's full profile
#46

James Madison University

Harrisonburg, VA · 20,888 students · Public

72% accepted 80% graduate $69,954 earnings
James's full profile
#47

Virginia Military Institute

Lexington, VA · 1,527 students · Public

71% accepted 79% graduate $77,369 earnings
Virginia's full profile
#48

Azusa Pacific University

Azusa, CA · 2,759 students · Private nonprofit

88% accepted 63% graduate $66,677 earnings
Azusa's full profile
#49

Fairfield University

Fairfield, CT · 5,373 students · Private nonprofit

33% accepted 84% graduate $88,794 earnings
Fairfield's full profile
#50

Santa Clara University

Santa Clara, CA · 6,552 students · Private nonprofit

48% accepted 88% graduate $109,183 earnings
Santa'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]

Bell, A., Chetty, R., Jaravel, X., Petkova, N., & Van Reenen, J. (2019). Who Becomes an Inventor in America? The Importance of Exposure to Innovation. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(2), 647-713. →

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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