Colleges in Pennsylvania whose graduates clear the bar most often

Ranked by the share of each school's programs whose graduates out-earn a typical high-school graduate (the federal earnings-premium test).

#	College	Programs clearing the bar	Median earnings	Programs measured
1	Carnegie Mellon University	100%	$120,302	42
2	Villanova University	100%	$103,651	52
3	Lehigh University	100%	$98,112	34
4	Bucknell University	100%	$94,028	15
5	Saint Joseph's University - Philadelphia	100%	$83,231	54
6	Lafayette College	100%	$82,109	11
7	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Harrisburg	100%	$80,286	48
8	Carlow University	100%	$79,419	16
9	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Erie-Behrend College	100%	$78,339	44
10	Pennsylvania State University-World Campus	100%	$77,769	82
11	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Greater Allegheny	100%	$77,463	12
12	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Beaver	100%	$75,396	13
13	Thomas Jefferson University	100%	$74,992	27
14	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Lehigh Valley	100%	$72,155	18
15	Immaculata University	100%	$70,089	15
16	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Schuylkill	100%	$69,300	18
17	Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine	100%	$68,789	11
18	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Abington	100%	$68,251	32
19	La Salle University	100%	$67,967	38
20	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Brandywine	100%	$67,343	20
21	Gannon University	100%	$67,065	17
22	Pennsylvania State University-Penn State Scranton	100%	$66,346	22
23	Duquesne University	100%	$65,898	55
24	Gwynedd Mercy University	100%	$65,504	14
25	Neumann University	100%	$65,502	16

Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).

Ranked on one stated metric, the share of a school's programs that clear the benchmark. Schools need at least 10 programs with reported earnings to appear. Note that specialised graduate institutions (medical and health-science centres, for example) often rank at the top because their programs are almost all high-earning; the 'programs measured' column and each school's page give the context.

Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (release 2026-06-10). Earnings are median earnings of graduates measured up to four years after completing, and describe past graduates rather than a promise. Method: methodology. Report an error.