Ithaca College Career Outcomes: $60K Median Earnings (2026)

How much do Ithaca College graduates earn?

The reported median is $60,436 four years after completion. The peer comparison uses $68,250 as its benchmark; the difference is -$7,814 per year.

Ithaca College's return picture is shaped by earnings that fall short of both expectation and the peer median. Graduates earn about $19,199 less than the model expects for similar students, a result in the 4th percentile.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $3,343. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $22,542.

Within the measured factors, the STEM component subtracts $130. Four years after completion, completers earn a median of $60,436, which lands in the 52nd percentile nationally.

That figure is below the peer median of $68,250 among comparable institutions (same type and size), a gap of $7,814. The return sits in the 27th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings at Ithaca College vary widely by field. The earnings scenarios, which reflect the program mix, run from a downside of $45,939 to an upside of $79,036, with the typical scenario at $60,436.

The 21 programs with published earnings data four years after completion show that the field a student chooses matters a great deal. The highest-earning programs illustrate the upper end.

Accounting completers earn a median of $102,626, and Computer Science graduates reach $98,373. The largest program, Radio, Television, and Digital Communication, sits near the institutional median at $58,804, while Film/Video and Photographic Arts graduates earn $44,829.

The program mix yields an estimate that 26.2% of Ithaca College graduates continue to graduate study. The four-year earnings figure omits anyone still in school, including graduates who are now in graduate programs. Their later earnings are therefore not visible in that snapshot.

Median earnings · four years after completion: $60,436
Rank for difference from expectations: 4th percentile

Four-year median earnings against two benchmarks

Ithaca College reported median: $60,436
Peer schools comparable schools · $7,814 above Ithaca College: $68,250
Model expectation what similar students would be expected to earn · $19,199 above Ithaca College: $79,635

School and program earnings use pooled 2017–18 and 2018–19 completion cohorts, measured in 2022 and 2023 and expressed in 2024 dollars. How the model works.

How could earnings differ from the median?

Earnings four years after completion

Planning rangeReported median

Lower estimate: $45,939
Median · reported: $60,436
Higher estimate: $79,036

Downside shows a lower-earning scenario based on the college’s mix of programs; upside shows a higher-earning scenario. Typical is the school’s reported median four years after completion. These are planning scenarios, not a forecast of your salary or percentiles of individual graduates.

Why the downside matters explores the risk hidden by medians, using older ten-year entrant data. Read about the move to four-year earnings.

Do Ithaca College graduates earn more than expected?

Azimuth models what we would expect graduates to earn based on who the college enrolls, how selective it is and its local economy. The difference between that expectation and reported earnings is what Azimuth calls value added.

Ithaca College graduates’ reported earnings are $19,199 below that expectation, the 4th percentile for this measure. Unlike a peer comparison, it adjusts for who enrolls.

The breakdown separates the contribution attributed to observed factors from the remaining difference. Neither component establishes how much attending Ithaca College caused a student to earn. Read how expected earnings are estimated.

Which fields at Ithaca College report the highest earnings?

The five largest programs at Ithaca College span communication, health, business, and the arts, and their earnings four years after completion vary widely. Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions reports the highest median among them at $76,766, with 126 degrees awarded.

Film/Video and Photographic Arts sits at the other end at $44,829, from 108 degrees awarded. The highest-earning programs overall are much smaller.

Accounting graduates earn a median of $102,626, from 17 degrees awarded. Computer Science follows at $98,373, with 20 degrees awarded.

A student's field matters a great deal here. The spread between the highest- and lowest-earning large programs is wide, and the programs that pay best are not the ones that award the most degrees. Across all fields, 9.2% of degrees are in STEM.

Ithaca College publishes earnings data for 21 bachelor's programs. The largest family, Communication & Journalism, accounts for 24.7% of degrees awarded, followed by Visual & Performing Arts at 18.1% and Health Professions at 15.0%.

Among the largest programs, Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Professions awarded 126 degrees and shows a median of $76,766 four years after completion. Business Administration and Management awarded 123 degrees with a median of $75,810, while Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication awarded 138 degrees and reports a median of $68,029.

The highest-earning program, Accounting, awarded 17 degrees and shows a median of $102,626.

Further analysis

Earnings at Ithaca College depend heavily on field of study, a pattern captured in three earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix. The downside earnings scenario is $45,939, the typical scenario is $60,436, and the upside scenario reaches $79,036.

Anchoring that range in named programs, Accounting graduates earn a median of $102,626 four years after completion, while Film/Video and Photographic Arts graduates earn $44,829.

Four years after completing a degree at Ithaca College, the median earnings among the 1,522 federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled are $60,436. That median is below the $68,250 median at comparable institutions (same type and size).

Graduates earn about $19,199 less than the model expects for similar students, a result that sits in the 4th percentile nationally. Earnings scenarios, which reflect the university's program mix, point to a typical outcome of $60,436, with a lower-bound scenario of $45,939 and an upper-bound scenario of $79,036.

An estimated 26.2% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix. The earnings picture is mixed: the median sits below the peer benchmark and the model expects more for similar students, while the upside scenario reaches $79,036.

Data & methodology

Sources and reporting periods: methodology.

Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Figure notes link to sources and limitations. About College Azimuth.