The 50 colleges that score highest for Physics on public federal data: selectivity, graduate earnings, program size, academic strength and graduate depth. It is a starting point for your research, not a judgment of quality.
50 colleges · each name links to its page, with sources · data snapshot October 2, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026
How we rank programs · showing the top 50 of 50 core colleges ranked, those with enough graduates and earnings data · All top-programs lists
Enter your ZIP to see distances and filter by miles. It stays in your browser.
| Rank | College | State | What we measured | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stanford University | CA | Median earnings $124,080 (college-wide) · 31 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 2 | Harvard University | MA | Median earnings $101,817 (college-wide) · 60 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 3 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | MA | Median earnings $131,025 · 70 graduates last year · 5% of the school's degrees | |
| 4 | University of Pennsylvania | PA | Median earnings $111,371 (college-wide) · 58 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 5 | University of Chicago | IL | Median earnings $91,885 (college-wide) · 67 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 6 | Princeton University | NJ | Median earnings $110,066 (college-wide) · 20 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 7 | California Institute of Technology | CA | Median earnings $128,566 (college-wide) · 22 graduates last year · 9% of the school's degrees | |
| 8 | Columbia University in the City of New York | NY | Median earnings $102,491 (college-wide) · 32 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 9 | Yale University | CT | Median earnings $100,533 (college-wide) · 31 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 10 | University of California-Berkeley | CA | Median earnings $96,043 · 112 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 11 | University of California-Los Angeles | CA | Median earnings $85,708 · 86 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 12 | Duke University | NC | Median earnings $97,800 (college-wide) · 19 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 13 | Cornell University | NY | Median earnings $118,649 · 45 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 14 | Johns Hopkins University | MD | Median earnings $87,555 (college-wide) · 22 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 15 | New York University | NY | Median earnings $69,334 · 76 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 16 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MI | Median earnings $92,293 · 59 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 17 | Rice University | TX | Median earnings $89,718 (college-wide) · 15 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 18 | University of California-San Diego | CA | Median earnings $95,018 · 69 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 19 | Northwestern University | IL | Median earnings $89,363 (college-wide) · 19 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 20 | Vanderbilt University | TN | Median earnings $91,565 (college-wide) · 14 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 21 | University of Maryland-College Park | MD | Median earnings $90,900 · 67 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 22 | Brown University | RI | Median earnings $93,487 (college-wide) · 40 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 23 | Washington University in St Louis | MO | Median earnings $86,182 (college-wide) · 15 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 24 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | WA | Median earnings $75,867 · 102 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 25 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | GA | Median earnings $82,431 · 58 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 26 | Carnegie Mellon University | PA | Median earnings $119,715 (field-wide) · 21 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 27 | The University of Texas at Austin | TX | Median earnings $74,738 · 93 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 28 | University of California-Irvine | CA | Median earnings $96,215 · 67 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 29 | University of Notre Dame | IN | Median earnings $110,029 · 30 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 30 | University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | Median earnings $85,219 · 138 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 31 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | NC | Median earnings $103,477 · 35 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 32 | Dartmouth College | NH | Median earnings $97,434 (college-wide) · 11 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 33 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | WI | Median earnings $77,380 · 49 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 34 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | OH | Median earnings $94,543 · 48 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 35 | University of Rochester | NY | Median earnings $79,042 (college-wide) · 43 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 36 | Emory University | GA | Median earnings $79,034 (field-wide) · 21 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 37 | Boston University | MA | Median earnings $83,238 (college-wide) · 22 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 38 | Pomona College | CA | Median earnings $77,779 (college-wide) · 19 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 39 | University of Florida | FL | Median earnings $68,682 · 49 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 40 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | IL | Median earnings $81,077 · 35 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 41 | Swarthmore College | PA | Median earnings $80,257 (college-wide) · 10 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 42 | University of Virginia-Main Campus | VA | Median earnings $68,174 (field-wide) · 38 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 43 | University of California-Davis | CA | Median earnings $78,569 · 45 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 44 | Bowdoin College | ME | Median earnings $82,735 (college-wide) · 24 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 45 | University of Southern California | CA | Median earnings $54,966 (field-wide) · 22 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 46 | Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | PA | Median earnings $81,763 · 62 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 47 | Harvey Mudd College | CA | Median earnings $138,687 (college-wide) · 22 graduates last year · 10% of the school's degrees | |
| 48 | Amherst College | MA | Median earnings $77,644 (college-wide) · 24 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 49 | Barnard College | NY | Median earnings $80,516 (college-wide) · 11 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 50 | Case Western Reserve University | OH | Median earnings $87,989 (college-wide) · 19 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees |
Coming soon
Match by GPA, budget, AP scores and intended major, and track every deadline. Leave your email and we’ll tell you at launch.