Philly Colleges with Highest Salary Potential

Sure Penn is No. 1, but the rest of the list may surprise you.

Which Philadelphia-area colleges lead to the highest salaries? PayScale has the answers in its recently released College Salary Report. It ranked more than 1,000 colleges by the median salaries of alumni (early career and mid-career) who obtained bachelor’s degrees. The rankings come from “millions of people” who have taken the PayScale Salary Survey, the organization said.

“Unless you want to live in your parents’ basement for the rest of your life, you want to pick a school that prepares you for a successful career, both in terms of getting hired and equipping you with the skills to properly do your job,” said PayScale.

Earlier in the year, PayScale ranked all colleges by return-on-investment. And a local school ranked No. 1 in the nation for business and economics careers.

Check out the following table for information on this year’s College Salary Report. (Note that “High Meaning” denotes the percentage of alumni who say their work makes the world a better place; and “STEM” denotes the percentage of alumni who earned degrees in science, technology, math or engineering.)

RankCollegeEarly Career PayMid-Career Pay% High Meaning % STEM
10 (tie)University of Pennsylvania$60,300$120,00055%19%
32 (tie)Swarthmore College$48,000$109,00051%25%
59 (tie)Villanova University$55,300$101,00046%21%
113 (tie)Drexel University$55,500$92,90044%32%
169 (tie)St. Joseph's University$48,300$88,70047%7%
209 (tie)Widener University$46,000$86,30062%14%
251 (tie)Ursinus College$41,900$84,30031%23%
273 (tie)La Salle University$46,200$83,30047%6%
294Rutgers University-Camden$43,500$82,20049%9%
320 (tie)Thomas Jefferson University$61,700$81,10085%N/A
344 (tie)Holy Family University$43,600$79,90066%3%
364Temple University$45,400$79,10050%10%
393Cabrini College$39,500$78,10060%8%
446 (tie)West Chester University$42,300$76,40059%7%
739 (tie)University of the Arts$40,800$67,10044%N/A