A new Forbes ranking of America’s top 500 colleges suggests students do not need an Ivy League name on their diploma to reach a six-figure salary, with graduates of some of the lowest-ranked institutions earning more than $100,000 a decade after leaving university.
The 2027 list, published on September 10, places Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Princeton University and Harvard University among the leading institutions. Graduates of the University of Pennsylvania, ranked fifth, have median earnings of $151,328 ten years after completing their studies.
But the figures at the bottom of the table offer the more unexpected message. Marietta College, a small private liberal arts institution in rural Ohio ranked 500th, records median 10-year earnings of $105,837.
Nearly every college included in the ranking has median 10-year earnings above $90,000, suggesting that the gap between prestigious universities and lesser-known institutions may be narrower than prospective students assume.
Forbes said it assessed about 1,600 public and not-for-profit four-year institutions using measures including graduation rates, student debt, alumni earnings, career achievements and return on investment. The latest edition also incorporates salary information from People Data Labs, a workforce data company, alongside government education records and other research.
College rankings reveal a wider route to six-figure earnings
The figures compare favourably with the earnings of Americans who do not attend university. The median annual earnings of full-time workers aged 25 to 34 whose highest qualification is a high school diploma is $41,800, according to the US Department of Education.
The two sets of figures measure different groups and time periods, so they are not a direct comparison. They nevertheless point to the potential earnings premium associated with higher education, even when the degree comes from a college without a nationally recognised brand.
Salary is only one part of the decision. The most highly ranked universities often provide extensive alumni networks, access to prominent academics, research opportunities and a name that can carry weight with employers.
Those advantages can come with substantial costs, however. The average annual cost of attending college, including tuition, books, supplies and living expenses, has risen to $39,406, according to the Education Data Initiative. The average student now borrows more than $35,000 to complete a bachelor’s degree.
Marietta itself illustrates why earnings data cannot be viewed in isolation. The college has cut jobs and discontinued ten lower-enrolment or slower-growing academic programmes as it sought to strengthen its finances. Its strategic plan also includes further reviews of spending and academic provision.
The institution recently received confirmation that its accreditation would continue through 2036. Its accreditor said the college had met every criterion without requiring additional monitoring, while Marietta’s leadership said budget projections pointed towards stable, positive net revenue.
Financial pressure is affecting colleges across the United States. A forecast by Huron Consulting Group estimates that 442 of the country’s roughly 1,700 private, non-profit four-year colleges could face closure or a merger within the next decade.
For new graduates, the financial return may also take time to emerge. The unemployment rate among recent college graduates is currently 5.7 per cent, compared with 4.1 per cent for all workers, according to the figures cited in the analysis.
Public confidence has weakened alongside concerns over tuition, debt and job prospects. Gallup found in 2025 that 35 per cent of Americans considered college “very important”, down from about 75 per cent in 2010.
Business leaders question whether a traditional degree is essential
The debate has also reached the boardrooms of some of America’s largest companies. Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, who left Harvard to launch Facebook, has argued that university remains valuable for building relationships but does not always prepare students for the jobs available in the modern economy.
“I’m not sure that college is preparing people for the jobs that they need to have today,” Zuckerberg said in an interview with podcaster Theo Von last year, while also pointing to the burden of student debt.
Jamie Dimon, the JPMorgan Chase chief executive and a graduate of Tufts University and Harvard Business School, has likewise said that an Ivy League education or excellent grades do not automatically make someone a strong employee.
“I don’t think necessarily because you go to an Ivy League school or have great grades it means you’re going to be a great worker or great person,” Dimon said in 2024.
Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff, who attended the University of Southern California, has gone further. “You can create incredible value for the world without a college degree,” he told NBC in 2021.
The Forbes ranking does not suggest that every college delivers the same outcome, or that salary should be the only measure of value. Its findings do, however, challenge the assumption that access to a six-figure career depends exclusively on graduating from America’s most famous universities.
