West Virginia Higher Education Outcome Report

• Institutions

  32

  56,112 students enrolled

• Graduates / Year

  ~6,670

  Estimated annual completers

• Median Earnings

  4th pct

  $39,315

  48th of 50 states

• Mobility Score

  26th pct

  1.3%

  34th of 46 states

• Talent Retention

  6th pct

  63%

  First-year retention rate

• Value Ratio

  82nd pct

  3.7x

  Earnings per net-price dollar

1. 1

   West Virginia graduates earn a median of $39,315 a decade after entry, 19% below the national state average, ranking 48th of 50 states.

2. 2

   Upward mobility sits mid-pack: the state's institutions move bottom-quintile students into the top quintile at a 1.3% rate, in the 26th percentile nationally.

3. 3

   Degree production is led by Healthcare and Business, which together account for 44% of graduates. That diversified mix sets what the state's labor pipeline can supply.

4. 4

   Healthcare shows oversupply pressure: graduate earnings run 22.9% below the national median, suggesting the field produces more graduates than the local market rewards.

5. 5

   On value, West Virginia returns 3.7x earnings per dollar of net price, among the strongest cost-to-outcome efficiency in the country.

6. 6

   The state's strongest mobility engine is Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, which moves bottom-quintile students into the top quintile at a 2.7% rate, the highest in West Virginia.

• Earnings vs National

  ▼ -12.9%

  Median graduate earnings in West Virginia are below the national average by 13%.

• Cost vs National

  ▲ -41.1%

  Net price in West Virginia is lower than the national average by 41%.

• Mobility Rate

  ▼ -0.43pp

  Upward mobility rate is 0.4 percentage points below the national average.

• Completion Rate

  ▲ +1.3pp

  West Virginia's graduation rate is 1.3 percentage points above the national average.

• Best Value

  ▲ 20.4x

  Top value school: Fred W Eberle Technical Center ($43,364 earnings vs $2,129 net price).

• Low-Income Access

  ▼ 13.1%

  13% of students come from bottom-quintile households, a measure of how open the state's colleges are to low-income students.

Healthcare (24% of graduates) and Business (20% of graduates) dominate West Virginia's higher education output. Graduates in the top field earn a weighted average of $36,069.

• Healthcare

  24%

  $36,069 avg

• Business

  20%

  $42,731 avg

• Humanities

  14%

  $40,074 avg

• Social Sciences

  8%

  $47,144 avg

• Sciences

  7%

  $46,787 avg

West Virginia's highest-ROI degree cluster is Trades (Construction Trades), where graduates average $32,753 against a net cost of $4,082, a 8.0x return. That's -36.5% vs the national median. At the other end, Mathematics & Statistics produces $47,380 at a 3.3x return, less than half what the top cluster delivers.

• Construction Trades

  8.0x
  $32,753 earnings · $4,082 net -36.5% vs natl

• Mechanic & Repair Tech

  6.5x
  $33,843 earnings · $5,194 net -34.4% vs natl

• Precision Production

  6.0x
  $33,034 earnings · $5,478 net -35.9% vs natl

• Legal Studies

  5.8x
  $33,776 earnings · $5,843 net -34.5% vs natl

• Culinary & Personal Services

  5.5x
  $32,848 earnings · $6,015 net -36.3% vs natl

• Transportation

  5.2x
  $44,525 earnings · $8,489 net -13.7% vs natl

Three lenses on West Virginia's talent pipeline: which fields produce the most graduates, which command the highest earnings, and where high-pay demand outruns local supply.

West Virginia's colleges post an average mobility rate of 1.3%, which puts the state in the 26th percentile nationally. 13% of students arrive from bottom-quintile households, a larger share than most states enroll. Cross-class social connectedness averages 1.36, a proxy for the networks that help graduates convert a degree into mobility.

Healthcare graduates, however, earn 22.9% below the national median, a possible sign the state produces more of these degrees than its labor market absorbs.

• Healthcare

  24% of enrollment
  $39,755 -22.9% vs natl

  24 schools

• Business

  20% of enrollment
  $42,060 -18.4% vs natl

  26 schools

• Humanities

  14% of enrollment
  $39,814 -22.8% vs natl

  19 schools

• Social Sciences

  8% of enrollment
  $49,462 -4.1% vs natl

  10 schools

• Sciences

  7% of enrollment
  $46,140 -10.5% vs natl

  8 schools

• Education

  5% of enrollment
  $44,890 -13% vs natl

  13 schools

West Virginia's higher education system includes 1 research-oriented, 8 specialized, 3 access-oriented, 20 regional institutions. Each group plays a different role in the state's outcomes.

• 🔬

  1

  Research Universities

• 🏛️

  20

  Regional Universities

• 🚀

  3

  Access-Oriented Institutions

• 🎯

  8

  Specialized Institutions

73% of West Virginia's colleges charge under $15K net. Graduates of those schools average $37,934 at 10 years.

• NET PRICE UNDER $15K

  22

  73% of schools

  Avg earnings: $37,934

• NET PRICE $15K–$25K

  8

  27% of schools

  Avg earnings: $48,048

Schools ranked by median graduate earnings 10 years after enrolling.

1. 01 West Virginia University Hospital Departments of Rad Tech and Nutrition Morgantown, WV $69,666
2. 02 Wheeling University Wheeling, WV $57,949
3. 03 Potomac State College of West Virginia University Keyser, WV $55,939
4. 04 West Virginia University Institute of Technology Beckley, WV $55,939
5. 05 West Virginia University Morgantown, WV $55,939
6. 06 University of Charleston Charleston, WV $55,774
7. 07 West Virginia Wesleyan College Buckhannon, WV $51,593
8. 08 Ralph R Willis Career and Technical Center Stollings, WV $51,465

What graduates in West Virginia earn relative to what they pay for college.

• West Virginia State University
• Bluefield State University

Every figure on this page is derived from public federal data and read within its regional and economic context. Information Gain Policy →