How are the best colleges for Nursing ranked?

By the median earnings of Nursing graduates ~10 years after entry, from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard field-of-study data. It measures financial outcomes for that specific field at each school — not overall prestige or how hard it is to get in.

Does a higher rank mean the program is better, or easier to enter?

Neither on its own. It means graduates of that field tend to earn more — which reflects the field, the school, and who enrolls. Admission difficulty is separate: use each school's acceptance rate here, then run your personalized odds. Earnings also lag ~2 years and cover federally-aided graduates.

Why isn't every college listed?

We only rank schools where College Scorecard reports field-of-study earnings for Nursing among the school's programs, so coverage grows as more institutions report. A missing school isn't a judgment — we just don't have verified Nursing earnings for it yet.

Best colleges for Nursing

Ranked by median Nursing graduate earnings (~10 years after entry) from College Scorecard’s field-of-study data — the financial outcome for that specific field, not a prestige ranking. Source-cited; model your own odds and net price at each.

#	College	Location	Nursing earnings	Net price	Accept.
1	Fresno Pacific University	Fresno, CA	$100,849	$13,630	64%
2	University of San Francisco	San Francisco, CA	$100,292	$41,431	62%
3	Mercy University	Dobbs Ferry, NY	$97,959	$14,072	86%
4	Saint Mary's University of Minnesota	Winona, MN	$97,071	$11,704	93%
5	Wagner College	Staten Island, NY	$95,910	$28,241	88%
6	California State University-Chico	Chico, CA	$95,797	$14,480	93%
7	CUNY Lehman College	Bronx, NY	$95,348	$3,148	57%
8	College of Staten Island CUNY	Staten Island, NY	$94,579	$5,579	92%
9	Long Island University	Brookville, NY	$94,508	$33,062	86%
10	CUNY Hunter College	New York, NY	$94,255	$2,984	54%
11	NYU	New York, NY	$94,243	$37,050	9%
12	Farmingdale State College	Farmingdale, NY	$93,439	$10,867	63%
13	San Jose State University	San Jose, CA	$92,277	$13,760	85%
14	New York Institute of Technology	Old Westbury, NY	$91,744	$22,443	81%
15	Vanguard University of Southern California	Costa Mesa, CA	$91,300	$21,241	62%
16	Molloy University	Rockville Centre, NY	$90,956	$24,347	82%
17	Columbia	New York, NY	$90,856	$21,590	4%
18	Emmanuel College	Boston, MA	$90,856	$26,706	76%
19	Pace University	New York, NY	$90,727	$30,892	76%
20	UCLA	Los Angeles, CA	$90,678	$12,548	9%
21	Adelphi University	Garden City, NY	$90,625	$30,783	66%
22	Azusa Pacific University	Azusa, CA	$89,570	$22,212	88%
23	CUNY Medgar Evers College	Brooklyn, NY	$89,044	$5,718	86%
24	CUNY Graduate School and University Center	New York, NY	$88,786	—	68%
25	Dominican University of California	San Rafael, CA	$88,637	$35,333	84%
26	CUNY New York City College of Technology	Brooklyn, NY	$88,399	$5,127	80%
27	CUNY York College	Jamaica, NY	$87,973	$4,456	64%
28	California State University-Los Angeles	Los Angeles, CA	$87,548	$3,967	91%
29	San Diego State University	San Diego, CA	$87,377	$15,364	36%
30	Concordia University-Irvine	Irvine, CA	$86,202	$28,115	66%
31	California State University-Fullerton	Fullerton, CA	$86,042	$6,555	91%
32	Stony Brook	Stony Brook, NY	$85,898	$18,784	49%
33	California State University-Long Beach	Long Beach, CA	$85,795	$10,440	46%
34	Point Loma Nazarene University	San Diego, CA	$85,206	$38,729	84%
35	California Baptist University	Riverside, CA	$84,201	$26,285	85%
36	Mount Saint Mary College	Newburgh, NY	$84,085	$25,522	89%
37	University of Mount Saint Vincent	Bronx, NY	$83,768	$21,696	85%
38	New England Institute of Technology	East Greenwich, RI	$83,546	$36,483	67%
39	Linfield University	McMinnville, OR	$83,349	$26,536	85%
40	Dominican University New York	Orangeburg, NY	$83,177	$41,832	63%
41	SUNY College of Technology at Delhi	Delhi, NY	$83,043	$17,225	89%
42	Kean University	Union, NJ	$82,238	$12,447	76%
43	UC Irvine	Irvine, CA	$81,929	$14,251	29%
44	Saint Peter's University	Jersey City, NJ	$81,886	$12,199	90%
45	Mount Saint Mary's University	Los Angeles, CA	$81,662	$21,413	73%
46	Governors State University	University Park, IL	$81,491	$12,329	48%
47	University of Scranton	Scranton, PA	$80,779	$32,568	81%
48	Ramapo College of New Jersey	Mahwah, NJ	$79,631	$18,173	71%
49	Webster University	Saint Louis, MO	$79,081	$27,047	86%
50	University of Portland	Portland, OR	$78,612	$28,210	89%

Quick answers

How are the best colleges for Nursing ranked?: By the median earnings of Nursing graduates ~10 years after entry, from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard field-of-study data. It measures financial outcomes for that specific field at each school — not overall prestige or how hard it is to get in.
Does a higher rank mean the program is better, or easier to enter?: Neither on its own. It means graduates of that field tend to earn more — which reflects the field, the school, and who enrolls. Admission difficulty is separate: use each school's acceptance rate here, then run your personalized odds. Earnings also lag ~2 years and cover federally-aided graduates.
Why isn't every college listed?: We only rank schools where College Scorecard reports field-of-study earnings for Nursing among the school's programs, so coverage grows as more institutions report. A missing school isn't a judgment — we just don't have verified Nursing earnings for it yet.

Model my odds at these →Other majors →

Earnings are field-of-study medians from College Scorecard and lag ~2 years; they cover federally-aided graduates, not every student, and are not a guarantee of individual outcomes.

These outputs are estimates from a baseline model — not guarantees of admission, cost, or outcome.