Top Colleges for $$ Software Jobs
December 2023
Summary: Where you get your undergraduate degree can have a big impact on how much money you make in your computer software career. And while a few elite private universities give you the biggest salary boost, a number of top public universities offer sizable raises as well.
It’s all about the Benjamins…
Let’s say you’re planning a career in computer software, maybe as a software engineer or a computer scientist, and you want to get the most bang for your buck from your undergraduate degree. Which universities regularly churn out graduates with the highest salaries? A 2023 study from the Burning Glass Institute (a nonprofit that studies employment trends) found that where you get your undergraduate degree can have a big impact on how much money you make down the road. Specifically, they looked at your first ten years after graduation and asked: How much more do you make than the average person at your position?
Note that this study only looked at software jobs, and didn’t include related careers in technology or data science. It also didn’t factor in whether or not these employees went to grad school or what they majored in. It simply looked at where they got their undergraduate degree, and what average salary they commanded in the first 10 years after graduation.
The results…
Perhaps unsurprisingly, graduates from some of the most prestigious universities commanded the highest software salaries in the decade following graduation. Stanford led the pack; on average, graduates of Stanford who go into software earn about $44,000 a year more than the national average. While the average software salary in the first 10 years after graduation is $103,354, the average salary for a Stanford grad during that same time period is $146,911. That’s about a 42% raise.
The other usual suspects made the list as well: #2 Princeton, #3 Harvard, #4 Caltech, #5 Brown, #6 Carnegie Mellon, #7 MIT, etc. The two colleges on the Top 10 list that might not have the same national name recognition as the others are #8 Harvey Mudd College and #9 Pomona College. Those two colleges (along with #17 Claremont McKenna College) are small, private liberal arts colleges that are all located in Claremont, CA (which is about an hour east of Los Angeles) and are all part of the same 5-college system, which means they share some resources. Harvey Mudd and Pomona, in particular, are known for their excellent computing and engineering departments.
The Next 10 on the list…
The next 10 Best Colleges for software careers tell a similar story. Colleges on this list include #11 Franklin Olin College of Engineering, #12 Columbia, #13 UPenn, #14, Cornell, #15 Duke, etc. On average, graduates of these schools make anywhere from $23,000-$30,000 more than the national average, which is great. And honestly, their salaries don’t differ all that much from the salaries in the Top 10. In most cases, it’s just the difference of a few thousand dollars a year. The take-away from this is that as long as you graduate from any of the colleges on this Top 20 list, you’re going to be making well above the national average for software jobs.
Top Public Universities…
There’s more good news. Looking to save a lot on tuition? Smart shoppers know a bargain when they see one, and there are a number of excellent public universities that give you a big boost in salary when you go into software. Assuming you’re an in-state resident, you can cut your college costs in half, if not more, by attending one of the state schools on the list.
But when you look at public universities, there’s one school that stands head and shoulders above the rest, and that’s UC Berkeley. Graduates of UC Berkeley earn an average salary of $138,971 in their first 10 years after graduation, which is $35,617 more than the national average of $103,354. That beats all but the Top 5 private universities, including Carnegie Mellon and MIT. UC Berkeley just has a knack for churning out graduates with the highest salaries in a variety of highly competitive fields. Plus it’s right down the road from Silicon Valley, which is where a lot of the highest paying software jobs are.
After UC Berkeley, there are a number of very good public universities that boost your software salary $7,000-$20,000 above the national average. For example, there’s #2 UCLA, #3 University of Washington, #4 UC Davis, #5 UC San Diego, etc. But it should be noted that with the exception of UC Berkeley, all of the salaries from public universities fall below the salaries from the Top 20 private universities. For example, the average salary for Amherst graduates (#20 on the private college list) is $127,816, whereas the average salary for UCLA graduates (#2 on the public college list) is only $124,778.
For some reason that wasn’t addressed in the study, software companies seem willing to pay a premium for graduates of the nation’s leading private universities. Going to a top public university will still give you a sizable salary boost over the national average, but not quite as much as you get from a private university. Of course, you need to factor in the added tuition costs of attending a private college when you determine which school is a better fit for your career. If you can save a ton of money up-front on tuition, it might make sense to settle for a few thousand dollars less in annual salary.
More Public University Options…
There are a number of very good public universities that didn’t make the Top 10 list, but that still give you a decent boost in salary. Some of the most competitive universities on this “Top 20” list include #12 UC Santa Barbara, #13 UT Austin, #14 University of Virginia, #16 Georgia Tech, and #17 UC Irvine. All of those schools are noted for their excellent computer departments.
Stanford takes the crown for best salaries in software; graduates earn more than 40% the national average in the decade after graduation.
Harvey Mudd is a lesser-known college with excellent computer and engineering programs, and some of the highest-paid software grads.
Right behind #1 Stanford on the list of best colleges for software jobs was #2 Princeton; graduates earned $40,000 more a year than the national average.
UC Berkeley tops the list of public universities for high-paying jobs in a variety of highly competitive fields and software careers are no different; Berkeley grads earn $35,000 more than the national average.
UT Austin boasts the new Bill and Melinda Gates Computer Science Building (pictured), and graduates of UT who go into software earn an average of $10,000/year more than the national average.
Located on the north shore of Long Island, SUNY Stony Brook is the #15 ranked public university for high-paying software careers.