Best Computer Science Schools by Graduate Salary & ROI (2026)
These are the top schools offering Computer Science, ranked by DegreeOutlook Score. The score combines graduate earnings, AI automation resilience, job market demand, and return on tuition investment. The average Computer Science graduate earns $73,714/yr across 345 schools.
What do Computer Science graduates do? See career paths and salaries →
Why UCLA Leads the Pack: Location, Location, Recruitment
UCLA’s #1 ranking is a direct result of its prime Los Angeles location. Graduates feed into the high-paying "Silicon Beach" tech ecosystem, with companies like Google, Snap, and SpaceX actively recruiting on campus. This powerful internship-to-hire pipeline explains the stellar $136,099 average starting salary. While other schools have strong programs, UCLA combines top-tier public university academics with unparalleled access to one of the world's most dynamic and highest-paying tech hubs.
The Public University ROI Engine
The most striking pattern is the dominance of public universities, which make up 18 of the top 20 programs. This isn't an accident. State flagships like the University of Florida (#2) and Georgia Tech (#3) have become elite CS talent factories, delivering massive returns on investment (49.2x and 32.0x, respectively) by combining high earnings with reasonable tuition. The ultimate proof is UF-Online at #7, which offers the same $90,651 earnings potential for a tiny $15,504 tuition, yielding a staggering 81.6x ROI.
Where Are MIT and Stanford? The Value-Focused Surprise
You might notice that traditional private tech titans like MIT and Stanford are absent from the top of this list. This is because our rankings weigh financial outcomes heavily. While graduates from those schools earn a lot, their extremely high tuition costs can lower their ROI compared to public powerhouses. The data reveals a crucial insight: schools like the University of New Mexico (#4), with its pipeline to national labs and 34.8x ROI, prove you don’t need an ultra-expensive private degree to land a high-impact, high-paying job in tech.
Your Co-Pilot is an AI: Thriving in a High-Exposure Field
Every single program on this list is rated as having high exposure to AI, with an average of 58.7% of tasks being automatable. This doesn’t mean the jobs are vanishing; it means the job is changing. AI is automating routine coding and analysis, making junior-level execution less valuable. For a 2026 graduate, your career success will depend not on writing simple code, but on your ability to design complex systems, critically evaluate AI outputs, and make strategic decisions that AI cannot.
All Computer Science Programs Ranked
Click any row for full AI scenario analysis, earnings projections, and career path breakdown.
| # | School | DW Score | Earnings | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
University of California-Berkeley
Berkeley, CA · Public |
90
85–92 |
$149,866/yr | 36.9x |
| 2 |
University of California-San Diego
La Jolla, CA · Public |
90
84–91 |
$112,006/yr | 25.3x |
| 3 |
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL · Public |
90
84–91 |
$124,530/yr | 25.6x |
| 4 |
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC · Public |
90
83–91 |
$90,293/yr | 33.8x |
| 5 |
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT · Private nonprofit |
90
83–91 |
$90,625/yr | 47.1x |
| 6 |
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT · Public |
90
82–91 |
$90,282/yr | 30.2x |
| 7 |
University of Washington-Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA · Public |
90
85–91 |
$128,887/yr | 31.1x |
| 8 |
Purdue University-Main Campus
West Lafayette, IN · Public |
90
83–91 |
$94,786/yr | 36.4x |
| 9 |
University of Washington-Bothell Campus
Bothell, WA · Public |
90
85–91 |
$128,887/yr | 31.3x |
| 10 |
California State University-Chico
Chico, CA · Public |
89
82–90 |
$81,021/yr | 37.8x |
| 11 |
University of California-Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA · Public |
89
83–91 |
$107,776/yr | 23.3x |
| 12 |
Boise State University
Boise, ID · Public |
89
82–91 |
$85,596/yr | 32.5x |
| 13 |
Brigham Young University-Idaho
Rexburg, ID · Private nonprofit |
89
82–90 |
$77,316/yr | 65.4x |
| 14 |
CUNY City College
New York, NY · Public |
89
82–90 |
$83,258/yr | 35.0x |
| 15 |
Binghamton University
Vestal, NY · Public |
89
82–90 |
$82,329/yr | 32.0x |
| 16 |
North Carolina State University at Raleigh
Raleigh, NC · Public |
89
82–90 |
$85,809/yr | 30.3x |
| 17 |
University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus
Norman, OK · Public |
89
82–90 |
$78,610/yr | 34.1x |
| 18 |
West Texas A & M University
Canyon, TX · Public |
89
82–91 |
$88,391/yr | 29.5x |
| 19 |
Utah Valley University
Orem, UT · Public |
89
82–90 |
$77,946/yr | 45.4x |
| 20 |
Arizona State University Campus Immersion
Tempe, AZ · Public |
88
80–89 |
$80,686/yr | 21.7x |
| 21 |
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ · Public |
88
81–89 |
$86,040/yr | 20.2x |
| 22 |
University of California-Irvine
Irvine, CA · Public |
88
81–90 |
$82,161/yr | 22.3x |
| 23 |
San Diego State University
San Diego, CA · Public |
88
81–89 |
$74,523/yr | 33.5x |
| 24 |
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, CO · Public |
88
81–89 |
$77,761/yr | 26.7x |
| 25 |
Iowa State University
Ames, IA · Public |
88
81–89 |
$78,517/yr | 24.9x |
| 26 |
University of Maryland-Baltimore County
Baltimore, MD · Public |
88
80–89 |
$83,684/yr | 20.1x |
| 27 |
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Amherst, MA · Public |
88
80–89 |
$88,554/yr | 18.0x |
| 28 |
CUNY Hunter College
New York, NY · Public |
88
81–90 |
$76,747/yr | 36.4x |
| 29 |
Oregon State University
Corvallis, OR · Public |
88
80–89 |
$85,376/yr | 19.4x |
| 30 |
Portland State University
Portland, OR · Public |
88
81–90 |
$78,669/yr | 27.0x |
| 31 |
The University of Texas at Arlington
Arlington, TX · Public |
88
81–89 |
$84,759/yr | 22.0x |
| 32 |
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA · Public |
88
81–89 |
$84,632/yr | 20.0x |
| 33 |
Oregon State University-Cascades Campus
Bend, OR · Public |
88
81–89 |
$85,376/yr | 20.8x |
| 34 |
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ · Public |
87
80–88 |
$74,815/yr | 22.3x |
| 35 |
University of California-Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, CA · Public |
87
79–88 |
$75,150/yr | 19.8x |
| 36 |
Sonoma State University
Rohnert Park, CA · Public |
87
80–88 |
$66,481/yr | 44.0x |
| 37 |
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Denver, CO · Public |
87
80–88 |
$73,874/yr | 24.9x |
| 38 |
Georgia College & State University
Milledgeville, GA · Public |
87
80–88 |
$76,971/yr | 25.4x |
| 39 |
University of Georgia
Athens, GA · Public |
87
80–88 |
$79,546/yr | 21.5x |
| 40 |
University of Idaho
Moscow, ID · Public |
87
80–88 |
$70,276/yr | 31.1x |
| 41 |
University of Illinois Chicago
Chicago, IL · Public |
87
80–88 |
$78,040/yr | 19.3x |
| 42 |
Indiana University-Bloomington
Bloomington, IN · Public |
87
80–89 |
$77,909/yr | 22.3x |
| 43 |
Indiana University-Southeast
New Albany, IN · Public |
87
80–89 |
$72,634/yr | 31.9x |
| 44 |
Towson University
Towson, MD · Public |
87
80–88 |
$71,795/yr | 23.5x |
| 45 |
University of Massachusetts-Lowell
Lowell, MA · Public |
87
80–89 |
$86,167/yr | 18.2x |
| 46 |
Metropolitan State University
Saint Paul, MN · Public |
87
80–88 |
$72,865/yr | 24.5x |
| 47 |
Montana State University
Bozeman, MT · Public |
87
80–88 |
$66,918/yr | 38.0x |
| 48 |
University of Nebraska at Omaha
Omaha, NE · Public |
87
80–89 |
$73,971/yr | 29.7x |
| 49 |
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY · Public |
87
80–88 |
$72,283/yr | 24.6x |
| 50 |
North Carolina A & T State University
Greensboro, NC · Public |
87
79–88 |
$81,174/yr | 29.2x |
Scores calculated using College Scorecard, BLS, and AI task-exposure data. See full methodology →