College ranking

Top colleges in Washington by 10-year ROI

College Scorecard + IPEDS Last updated: May 2026

Executive Summary

Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in Washington with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. University of Washington-Tacoma Campus leads this list at $319,856 (10 Yr. ROI).

Leaders: top 3

University of Washington-Tacoma Campus

10 Yr. ROI $319,856

WA · Public

University of Washington-Seattle Campus

10 Yr. ROI $311,042

WA · Public

University of Washington-Bothell Campus

10 Yr. ROI $310,346

WA · Public

Top 22 Top colleges in Washington by 10-year ROI

Rank	Institution	State	Control	Enrollment	10 Yr. ROI	Also see
1	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus	WA	Public	4,185	$319,856	Grad 60.5% · Net $11,900
2	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	Public	31,942	$311,042	Grad 85.2% · Net $13,663
3	University of Washington-Bothell Campus	WA	Public	5,457	$310,346	Grad 68.1% · Net $13,802
4	Washington State University	WA	Public	21,099	$261,612	Grad 62.8% · Net $13,462
5	Gonzaga University	WA	Private nonprofit	5,198	$239,950	Grad 85.5% · Net $32,750
6	Heritage University	WA	Private nonprofit	812	$222,072	Grad 56.7% · Net $10,747
7	Pacific Lutheran University	WA	Private nonprofit	2,401	$218,194	Grad 64.1% · Net $20,652
8	Eastern Washington University	WA	Public	6,222	$215,602	Grad 43.2% · Net $13,647
9	Seattle University	WA	Private nonprofit	4,062	$206,126	Grad 70.7% · Net $34,324
10	Saint Martin's University	WA	Private nonprofit	1,158	$203,598	Grad 55.8% · Net $25,472
11	Seattle Pacific University	WA	Private nonprofit	1,762	$196,635	Grad 55.2% · Net $25,419
12	Central Washington University	WA	Public	7,833	$194,264	Grad 51.0% · Net $21,201
13	Western Washington University	WA	Public	13,544	$185,016	Grad 60.8% · Net $19,963
14	Whitworth University	WA	Private nonprofit	1,858	$182,206	Grad 66.9% · Net $23,009
15	Northwest University	WA	Private nonprofit	645	$173,945	Grad 66.8% · Net $22,071
16	Walla Walla University	WA	Private nonprofit	1,252	$171,934	Grad 57.7% · Net $27,786
17	DigiPen Institute of Technology	WA	Private for-profit	995	$160,108	Grad 63.2% · Net $42,428
18	Whitman College	WA	Private nonprofit	1,531	$153,910	Grad 75.3% · Net $29,486
19	University of Puget Sound	WA	Private nonprofit	1,594	$148,638	Grad 69.3% · Net $32,507
20	Faith International University	WA	Private nonprofit	276	$140,719	Grad 28.6% · Net $22,817
21	Northwest University-Center for Online and Extended Education	WA	Private nonprofit	405	$127,675	Grad 36.4% · Net $31,325
22	The Evergreen State College	WA	Public	2,160	$93,994	Grad 37.9% · Net $25,154

Method notes

Underlying institution file: EDsmart Data processed College Scorecard extract merged to the IPEDS 2024 directory for HBCU and Carnegie fields.
Cohort applied on this page: enrollment floor of 200 undergraduates; sorted highest first on 10 Yr. ROI; all 22 qualifying campuses are shown.
Ties on the ranked metric are broken by enrollment, then institution name, so ranks stay stable between rebuilds.
ROI column matches the processed college_roi_rankings series in this site build; see College Scorecard ROI methodology.
How the 10-year ROI figure is built: median earnings reported 6, 8, and 10 years after entry (years 7 and 9 linearly interpolated) are summed across years 6–10, then average annual net price × typical years enrolled (five for bachelor’s-predominant campuses) is subtracted. It is a nominal-dollar gap—not discounted to present value, and it does not subtract earnings foregone while enrolled or compare against a no-college baseline. Campuses reporting only one of the three earnings years are excluded from these tables.
School profile links use generated slugs; not every campus has a published profile page yet—use the Scorecard site as fallback.

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