SUNY at Purchase College Outcomes: $46K Earnings (2026)

How much do SUNY at Purchase College graduates earn?

The reported median is $45,570 four years after completion. The peer comparison uses $57,301 as its benchmark; the difference is -$11,731 per year.

The return at SUNY at Purchase College is the weakest of the university's four pillars, landing in the 5th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $22,216 less than expects for similar students, a result in the 2nd percentile.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) subtracts $5,724. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $16,492.

Within the measured factors, the STEM component subtracts $761. Four years after completion, completers earn a median of $45,570, which is below the peer median of $57,301 among comparable institutions (same type and size) by $11,731.

The median sits in the 10th percentile nationally. The university's strongest pillar is mobility, where it reaches the 78th percentile, while the return figures show earnings that trail both the model and the peer median.

Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix run from $37,694 on the downside to $55,175 on the upside. The typical earnings scenario lands at $45,570.

The highest-earning programs are small. Economics graduates earn $63,207 four years after completion from 15 degrees awarded a year, and Biology follows at $55,718 from 19 degrees awarded.

The largest program, Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, sits well below those figures: its graduates earn $39,974 four years after completion from 149 degrees awarded a year.

An estimated 27.5% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure derived from the program mix rather than observed enrollment. Because four-year earnings figures capture only those working and not enrolled, this estimate indicates that a sizable portion of completers may be building additional credentials outside the earnings snapshot.

Median earnings · four years after completion: $45,570
Rank for difference from expectations: 2nd percentile

Four-year median earnings against two benchmarks

SUNY at Purchase College reported median: $45,570
Peer schools comparable schools · $11,731 above SUNY at Purchase College: $57,301
Model expectation what similar students would be expected to earn · $22,216 above SUNY at Purchase College: $67,786

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: $37,694
Median · reported: $45,570
Higher estimate: $55,175

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 SUNY at Purchase 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.

SUNY at Purchase College graduates’ reported earnings are $22,216 below that expectation, the 2nd 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 SUNY at Purchase College caused a student to earn. Read how expected earnings are estimated.

Which fields at SUNY at Purchase College report the highest earnings?

More than half of all bachelor's degrees at SUNY at Purchase College are in Visual & Performing Arts, and the largest programs in that family post some of the lowest medians on campus. Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft awards 149 degrees a year and shows median earnings of $39,974 four years after completion.

Dance is smaller at 56 degrees, with a median of $30,406. The highest-earning programs are much smaller.

Economics graduates earn $63,207 from 15 degrees awarded, and Biology follows at $55,718 across 19 degrees. A student's field matters more than the institution's average here.

SUNY at Purchase College publishes earnings data for 17 bachelor's programs, and the degree mix is anchored in the arts: 51.2% of bachelor's degrees awarded come from the Visual & Performing Arts family. The largest program, Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft, awarded 149 degrees and shows a median of $39,974 four years after completion.

Economics leads the earnings list at $63,207 with 15 degrees awarded, followed by Biology at $55,718 with 19 degrees awarded and Sociology at $53,042 with 22 degrees awarded. The second-largest program, Communication and Media Studies, awarded 80 degrees and reports a median of $46,596.

Further analysis

The gap between the highest- and lowest-earning fields reflects the variation across the program mix. Earnings scenarios run from $37,694 on the downside to $55,175 on the upside, with a typical outcome of $45,570.

At the high end, Economics records a median of $63,207 four years after completion, while Dance, among the largest programs with published earnings, sits at $30,406.

Earnings at SUNY at Purchase College sit well below what the model expects for similar students, and the return pillar is the weakest of the four. Four years after completion, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $45,570.

That places the university in the 10th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, based on an earnings cohort of 1,067 completers. Graduates earn about $22,216 less than the model expects for similar students.

The gap sits at the 2nd percentile. Earnings scenarios, estimated from the program mix, put the typical figure at the same amount, with a downside scenario of $37,694 and an upside scenario of $55,175.

An estimated 27.5% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.

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.