Question 1

How are the best colleges for Physics ranked?

Accepted Answer

By the median earnings of Physics 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.

Question 2

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

Accepted Answer

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.

Question 3

Why isn't every college listed?

Accepted Answer

We only rank schools where College Scorecard reports field-of-study earnings for Physics 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 Physics earnings for it yet.

#	College	Location	Physics earnings	Net price	Accept.
1	MIT	Cambridge, MA	$84,653	$20,111	5%
2	Illinois	Champaign, IL	$74,845	$14,355	42%
3	Northeastern	Boston, MA	$74,200	$30,915	5%
4	RPI	Troy, NY	$69,338	$36,228	63%
5	DePaul University	Chicago, IL	$69,338	$30,902	76%
6	CU Boulder	Boulder, CO	$69,338	$25,346	78%
7	Arizona	Tucson, AZ	$64,791	$16,674	86%
8	University of Wisconsin-Platteville	Platteville, WI	$61,218	$16,032	89%
9	Portland State University	Portland, OR	$60,161	$9,552	91%
10	College of the Holy Cross	Worcester, MA	$59,417	$38,782	18%
11	The University of Texas at Dallas	Richardson, TX	$57,318	$18,267	65%
12	Whitworth University	Spokane, WA	$54,661	$26,534	90%
13	New Hampshire	Durham, NH	$53,358	$23,805	88%
14	UC Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara, CA	$52,107	$16,109	33%
15	Southern Arkansas University Main Campus	Magnolia, AR	$52,107	$14,027	75%
16	University of Detroit Mercy	Detroit, MI	$48,432	$15,232	75%
17	Murray State University	Murray, KY	$47,260	$9,096	86%
18	Lebanon Valley College	Annville, PA	$44,942	$26,979	84%
19	Carleton	Northfield, MN	$42,774	$25,407	20%
20	Mount Saint Mary's University	Los Angeles, CA	$41,565	$21,413	73%
21	Vassar	Poughkeepsie, NY	$41,025	$39,343	19%
22	Citadel Military College of South Carolina	Charleston, SC	$41,025	$20,723	23%
23	Oregon	Eugene, OR	$40,626	$22,182	88%
24	St Olaf College	Northfield, MN	$39,009	$23,874	48%
25	University of Puget Sound	Tacoma, WA	$38,289	$38,394	72%
26	Princeton	Princeton, NJ	$37,568	$6,128	5%
27	University of Northern Colorado	Greeley, CO	$37,568	$17,760	86%
28	California Lutheran University	Thousand Oaks, CA	$33,993	$30,109	76%
29	Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences	Boston, MA	$32,119	$39,545	85%
30	Lawrence University	Appleton, WI	$28,960	$23,401	64%

Best colleges for Physics

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