Tufts University Outcomes: $97K Median Earnings (2026)

How much do Tufts University graduates earn?

The reported median is $97,474 four years after completion. The peer comparison uses $68,250 as its benchmark; the difference is $29,224 per year.

Tufts University pairs earnings above comparable institutions with earnings that fall short of expectations for similar students. Federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled earn a median of $97,474 four years after completion, placing the figure in the 96th percentile.

Graduates earn about $7,804 less than the model expects for similar students. Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students, is in the 26th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $6,700. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $14,504.

Azimuth places the return in the 92nd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $68,250, with Tufts $29,224 above it.

The return picture is mixed: earnings exceed peers but fall below the model’s expectation.

The modeled spread at Tufts University is wide enough that field selection changes the earnings picture. Scenarios based on the program mix run from $60,388 on the downside to $138,417 on the upside, rather than describing observed groups of graduates.

Four years after completion, median program earnings are $156,343 in Computer Science, $130,801 in Cognitive Science, and $123,809 in Economics. Those field-level results help explain the range represented by the scenarios.

An estimated 36.7% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix rather than observed enrollment. Four-year earnings cover completers who are working and not enrolled, so those continuing their education are outside that earnings snapshot. That estimate should therefore shape how the reported earnings figure is read.

Median earnings · four years after completion: $97,474
Rank for difference from expectations: 26th percentile

Four-year median earnings against two benchmarks

Tufts University reported median: $97,474
Peer schools comparable schools · $29,224 below Tufts University: $68,250
Model expectation what similar students would be expected to earn · $7,804 above Tufts University: $105,278

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: $60,388
Median · reported: $97,474
Higher estimate: $138,417

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 Tufts University 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.

Tufts University graduates’ reported earnings are $7,804 below that expectation, the 26th 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 Tufts University caused a student to earn. Read how expected earnings are estimated.

Which fields at Tufts University report the highest earnings?

The largest programs at Tufts University span a wide earnings range. Economics awards 198 degrees a year, and its graduates earn a median of $123,809 four years after completion.

Azimuth ranks it #24 nationally in its field. Computer Science is the highest-earning program, with 171 degrees awarded and median earnings of $156,343.

Azimuth ranks it #22 nationally. Biology, the third-largest at 138 degrees, sits at the lower end of the range at $76,782, though Azimuth still ranks it #15 nationally.

A smaller program, Cognitive Science, posts the second-highest earnings at $130,801 from just 39 degrees a year. Azimuth ranks it #4 nationally.

The contrast between the largest programs and the highest-earning ones is worth noting: the fields that pay the most are not always the ones awarding the most degrees.

The return picture at Tufts University is strongest in the programs that award the most degrees. Economics is the largest, with 198 degrees awarded and median earnings of $123,809 four years after completion.

Azimuth ranks it #24 nationally within its field. Computer Science is close behind at 171 degrees awarded, and its graduates earn a median of $156,343, the highest on campus.

Azimuth ranks it #22 nationally. The best-ranked program is Research and Experimental Psychology, at #3 nationally and #1 in Massachusetts.

It awarded 90 degrees and its completers earn a median of $79,571. Across all fields, Azimuth ranks 15 of the university's programs nationally.

Further analysis

For a field-sensitive earnings picture, earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix place the downside at $60,388, typical at $97,474, and upside at $138,417. Computer Science reaches $156,343, whereas Biology is at $76,782, four years after completion. This spread shows how earnings vary by field.

A high four-year median gives Tufts University graduates a strong earnings starting point: federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled earn $97,474 four years after completion. This measure draws on an earnings cohort of 1,328 completers.

Azimuth places that median in the 96th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Scenarios modeled from the program mix range from $60,388 in the downside case to $138,417 in the upside case, with the typical earnings scenario matching the observed median.

Graduates earn about $7,804 less than the model expects for similar students. Earnings beyond expectations is the gap between what graduates earn and what the model expects for similar students; this result sits in the 26th percentile.

An estimated 36.7% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix. High observed earnings and below-expected modeled earnings give the return picture mixed signals.

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.