Solid graduate outcomes with earnings above the peer average.
What graduates earn 10 years after enrollment.
Annual salary at 10 years
Lower quartile earnings
Upper quartile earnings
How graduate earnings grow in the decade after enrollment.
Northwestern graduates experience steady earnings growth from early to mid-career, with median income rising from $76,844 six years after enrollment to $83,487 at eight years and $89,363 at ten years. This represents 16.3% growth between the six-year and ten-year marks, demonstrating consistent career advancement for graduates.
How outcomes compare to similar institutions.
Strong relative performance — graduates earn notably more than peers at comparable institutions.
Financial justification for the investment.
Excellent affordability. Median debt of $15,000 is well under annual earnings, enabling comfortable repayment.
Northwestern graduates carry manageable debt levels that support long-term financial stability. Median student debt reaches $15,000, well below the peer median of $24,181, creating a favorable $9,181 advantage compared to similar institutions.
Northwestern delivers exceptional return on educational investment, ranking at the 96.4th percentile nationally with top-tier performance. The return index of 1.48 reflects the combination of high earnings outcomes and manageable debt levels relative to peer institutions.
Approximately 27.2% of Northwestern graduates continue to graduate or professional study, based on high-confidence estimates derived from program mix ...
Program mix explains much of the earnings story.
Northwestern's highest-earning programs concentrate in technical and business fields, led by Computer Science at $130,650, Bioengineering at $108,516, and Industrial Engineering at $107,105. Applied Economics delivers $105,795 while graduating the largest cohort of 338 students, demonstrating both scale and quality.
Communication programs show strong outcomes with Communication and Media Studies earning $77,066 and Broadcast Journalism producing $63,740. The program diversity supports different career trajectories, from immediate high-earning technical roles to communications and social science careers with different advancement patterns.
See which programs drive the strongest earnings and career trajectories
Earnings distribution at Northwestern spans from $61,037 at the 25th percentile to $139,122 at the 75th percentile, creating a 2.3:1 ratio that indicates meaningful upside potential for graduates. Low-income graduates achieve exceptional outcomes at $99,900, ranking in the top 5% nationally and demonstrating strong economic mobility potential.
