Career outcomes brief

Western Washington University Career Outcomes & Earnings

Updated September 30, 2026

How much do Western Washington University graduates earn?

The reported median is $58,560 four years after completion. The peer comparison uses $65,610 as its benchmark; the difference is -$7,050 per year.

Mobility is the stronger , but return is less favorable: Azimuth places Western Washington University in the 36th percentile for return among nonprofit four-year institutions. Completers earn about $3,882 less than expects for similar students.

Earnings beyond expectations, the gap between graduate earnings and the model’s expectation for similar students, sit in the 40th 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 $5,199.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $9,081. Median earnings are $58,560 four years after completion, in the 45th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The peer median, the middle value for comparable institutions (same type and size), is $65,610; the university is $7,050 below.

The modeled range is wide at Western Washington University, from a downside earnings scenario of $43,952 to an upside scenario of $81,505. These are scenarios estimated from the program mix, not observed groups of graduates.

Program medians four years after completion show part of that spread: Computer and Information Sciences reports $110,138, Nursing reports $96,695, and Polymer/Plastics Engineering reports $92,439. Those field-level results make the scenario range more concrete.

An estimated 33.7% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix rather than observed enrollment. Since four-year earnings cover completers who are working and not enrolled, the reported median does not include those graduates.

Median earnings · four years after completion: $58,560
Rank for difference from expectations: 40th percentile

Four-year median earnings against two benchmarks

Western Washington University reported median: $58,560
Peer schools comparable schools · $7,050 above Western Washington University: $65,610
Model expectation what similar students would be expected to earn · $3,882 above Western Washington University: $62,442

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: $43,952
Median · reported: $58,560
Higher estimate: $81,505

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 Western Washington 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.

Western Washington University graduates’ reported earnings are $3,882 below that expectation, the 40th 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 Western Washington University caused a student to earn. Read how expected earnings are estimated.

Which fields at Western Washington University report the highest earnings?

At Western Washington University, program-level earnings range from higher-paying technical and health fields to more moderate outcomes in large social-science and writing fields. Computer and Information Sciences reports median earnings of $110,138 four years after completion, with 151 degrees awarded.

Nursing follows at $96,695 across 15 degrees awarded. The contrast is clearest against larger programs with more moderate earnings.

Psychology had $53,224 in median earnings four years after completion and 220 degrees awarded. Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies recorded $38,460 with 136 degrees awarded.

The program mix therefore presents materially different earnings pictures by field.

Among the largest bachelor’s programs, published earnings vary widely four years after completion, and 50 fields have earnings data. Computer and Information Sciences awarded 151 degrees and had median earnings of $110,138 four years after completion.

Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies awarded 136 degrees and had median earnings of $38,460 four years after completion. Psychology awarded 220 degrees, with median earnings of $53,224 four years after completion.

Natural Resources Conservation and Research awarded 209 degrees and had median earnings of $53,781 four years after completion. Sociology awarded 117 degrees, with median earnings of $54,263 four years after completion.

These results show that outcomes differ substantially across the university’s larger fields.

Highest reported four-year program earnings

Computer and Information Sciences, General: $110,138
Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing: $96,695
Polymer/Plastics Engineering: $92,439
Manufacturing Engineering: $85,314
Accounting and Related Services: $82,246
Management Information Systems and Services: $81,678
Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology: $77,048
Finance and Financial Management Services: $75,730

Explore Western Washington University program cohorts and field ranks for more context.

Further analysis

The contrast between Computer and Information Sciences at $110,138 four years after completion and Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies, the lowest-earning among the largest programs, at $38,460, points to wide variation by field. That variation appears in earnings scenarios grounded in the program mix: downside $43,952, typical $58,560, and upside $81,505, rather than observed groups.

Western Washington University shows median earnings of $58,560 four years after completion among federally aided completers who are working and not enrolled. Azimuth places that measure in the 45th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, using an earnings cohort of 3,318 completers.

The program-mix model sets its typical earnings scenario at $58,560. It is a scenario rather than an observed graduate group, and it provides a schoolwide reference point alongside the reported median.

An estimated 33.7% of graduates continue to graduate study, a figure estimated from the program mix. The earnings percentile and typical scenario both point to a middle-range earnings result rather than a standout return outcome.

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.