Universities With the Lowest Debt-to-Earnings Ratio (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Graduates of Williams College carry the lightest debt relative to pay in EDsmart Data's analysis: median debt equals 8.3% of earnings 10 years after entry. At the typical bachelor's university, that figure is 34.5%.
Key Facts
- #1: Williams College (8.3%)
- Median bachelor's university: 34.5%
- Universities evaluated: 1,198
Download the data
Downloads reflect the processed dataset used on this page.
Universities with the lowest debt-to-earnings ratio
Low debt and high pay together
Our analysis finds the 50 lowest-burden universities all keep median debt under 16.1% of graduates' annual earnings.
Bachelor's-predominant institutions with 1,000+ undergraduates.
Top 50 universities with the lowest debt-to-earnings ratio
| Rank · University | State | Type | Debt as % of earnings | Median debt | Earnings 10 yrs after entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Williams College | MA | Private nonprofit | 8.3% | $8,000 | $95,954 |
| 2. Stanford University | CA | Private nonprofit | 8.6% | $10,750 | $125,340 |
| 3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology | MA | Private nonprofit | 9.2% | $14,000 | $152,553 |
| 4. Princeton University | NJ | Private nonprofit | 9.3% | $12,400 | $133,523 |
| 5. Yale University | CT | Private nonprofit | 10.1% | $11,982 | $118,356 |
| 6. Claremont McKenna College | CA | Private nonprofit | 10.5% | $13,450 | $127,532 |
| 7. Cornell University | NY | Private nonprofit | 10.6% | $12,000 | $113,531 |
| 8. Wellesley College | MA | Private nonprofit | 10.8% | $9,788 | $90,458 |
| 9. Duke University | NC | Private nonprofit | 11.4% | $13,000 | $113,937 |
| 10. Smith College | MA | Private nonprofit | 11.4% | $8,000 | $69,936 |
| 11. Berea College | KY | Private nonprofit | 11.4% | $5,500 | $48,071 |
| 12. Johns Hopkins University | MD | Private nonprofit | 11.5% | $12,000 | $104,590 |
| 13. University of Chicago | IL | Private nonprofit | 11.6% | $12,000 | $103,872 |
| 14. Dartmouth College | NH | Private nonprofit | 11.7% | $13,000 | $111,162 |
| 15. University of Maine at Presque Isle | ME | Public | 12.1% | $5,714 | $47,161 |
| 16. Grinnell College | IA | Private nonprofit | 12.1% | $8,750 | $72,106 |
| 17. University of Pennsylvania | PA | Private nonprofit | 12.3% | $15,000 | $121,687 |
| 18. University of California-Berkeley | CA | Public | 12.4% | $12,416 | $100,212 |
| 19. Bates College | ME | Private nonprofit | 12.5% | $12,250 | $98,373 |
| 20. Colgate University | NY | Private nonprofit | 12.5% | $12,000 | $96,328 |
| 21. Emory University | GA | Private nonprofit | 12.8% | $12,000 | $93,897 |
| 22. Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center | TX | Public | 12.8% | $12,500 | $97,667 |
| 23. Babson College | MA | Private nonprofit | 13.2% | $18,293 | $138,950 |
| 24. Georgetown University | DC | Private nonprofit | 13.3% | $14,746 | $110,516 |
| 25. University of California-San Diego | CA | Public | 13.5% | $13,000 | $96,197 |
| 26. Lafayette College | PA | Private nonprofit | 13.7% | $14,000 | $102,336 |
| 27. University of California-Davis | CA | Public | 13.8% | $12,038 | $86,999 |
| 28. Amherst College | MA | Private nonprofit | 13.9% | $13,250 | $95,161 |
| 29. University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras | PR | Public | 14.1% | $5,500 | $38,928 |
| 30. University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | Public | 14.3% | $11,776 | $82,568 |
| 31. Rice University | TX | Private nonprofit | 14.3% | $13,000 | $90,773 |
| 32. Harvard University | MA | Private nonprofit | 14.4% | $17,559 | $121,957 |
| 33. University of Puerto Rico | PR | Public | 14.6% | $5,500 | $37,789 |
| 34. Brown University | RI | Private nonprofit | 14.6% | $14,567 | $99,974 |
| 35. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | NC | Public | 14.9% | $12,086 | $81,094 |
| 36. CUNY Bernard M Baruch College | NY | Public | 14.9% | $12,500 | $83,742 |
| 37. Vanderbilt University | TN | Private nonprofit | 15.1% | $15,000 | $99,080 |
| 38. Carnegie Mellon University | PA | Private nonprofit | 15.2% | $19,000 | $125,257 |
| 39. Barnard College | NY | Private nonprofit | 15.3% | $15,000 | $98,280 |
| 40. Brigham Young University | UT | Private nonprofit | 15.3% | $12,250 | $80,228 |
| 41. University of California-Irvine | CA | Public | 15.4% | $12,821 | $83,432 |
| 42. CUNY Queens College | NY | Public | 15.4% | $10,500 | $68,324 |
| 43. University of California-Los Angeles | CA | Public | 15.5% | $13,750 | $88,581 |
| 44. University of Virginia-Main Campus | VA | Public | 15.5% | $15,000 | $96,468 |
| 45. University of Puerto Rico at Ponce | PR | Public | 15.6% | $5,500 | $35,162 |
| 46. University of Puerto Rico-Carolina | PR | Public | 15.6% | $5,500 | $35,146 |
| 47. University of Puerto Rico at Cayey | PR | Public | 15.7% | $5,500 | $35,022 |
| 48. CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice | NY | Public | 15.9% | $10,500 | $65,870 |
| 49. University of Puerto Rico-Humacao | PR | Public | 16.0% | $5,500 | $34,452 |
| 50. Scripps College | CA | Private nonprofit | 16.1% | $13,500 | $84,025 |
Median debt-to-earnings ratio by university type
What the data shows
Universities at the top of this list combine two things: generous need-based aid that keeps borrowing low, and graduates who land well-paid jobs. Several are elite privates with no-loan aid policies; others are public flagships with low in-state tuition.
The ratio uses completers' median federal debt and earnings of all federal-aid recipients 10 years after entry.
Methodology
Debt-to-earnings = Scorecard median federal debt of completers ÷ median earnings 10 years after entry, shown as a percentage. Bachelor's-predominant institutions with at least 1,000 undergraduates and both fields reported.
Frequently asked questions
Which university has the lowest debt-to-earnings ratio?
Williams College ranks first: median graduate debt is $8,000 against $95,954 in earnings 10 years after entry (8.3%), based on College Scorecard data.
What is a typical debt-to-earnings ratio for a university?
The median bachelor's university sits at 34.5%, meaning debt equals about 34% of one year's pay a decade after starting college.
Do public universities have lower debt-to-earnings?
Public universities have a median of 32.8%, versus 35.8% at private nonprofits and 67.0% at for-profits.
Data sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard institution and field-of-study files (latest release in our extract)