Georgia Tech’s Tech Square is located in Midtown Atlanta, a fast-growing hub for innovation and entrepreneurship. Courtesy photo

SOUTH

The South is the proverbial up-and-comer. Want to work in banking? That’s Charlotte. International trade? Welcome to Miami! Fortune 500 companies? Atlanta boasts 18 of them. Thinking entertainment? Hello, Orlando (and Atlanta). Culture? New Orleans…Charleston…Memphis. Education? Can’t go wrong with Duke, Vanderbilt, or Georgia Tech. MBA pay? Well, that will come. Thing is, the South is still growing into itself. That means compensation can lag behind. After all, just 13 business schools produced 2025 classes that started at $150K or more in the South – up one school from the previous year. Here, Harvard Business School grads made the most at $190,886 in average base, beating out NYU Stern ($186,000) and Wharton ($178,000). Among home-grown schools, Emory Goizueta tops the list at $159,302 on average, followed by Duke Fuqua ($153,103) and Vanderbilt Owen ($149,255). That’s said, the highest individual paycheck was claimed by a graduate of the University of Miami’s Herbert Business School, who raked in a $260,000 base to start.

U.S. News Rank	School	2025 South Low	2024 South Low	2023 South Low	2025 South Average	2024 South Average	2023 South Average	2025 South High	2024 South High	2023 South High
1	Stanford	NA	NA	$155,000	NA	$180,000	$195,000	NA	NA	$260,000
2	Wharton	$155,000	$81,000	$95,000	$178,000	$178,342	$169,690	$200,000	$300,000	$300,000
3	University of Chicago (Booth)	$100,000	$104,500	$107,196	$167,316	$162,088	$177,566	$200,000	$198,000	$195,000
4	Northwestern (Kellogg)	$130,000	$118,400	$112,500	$177,167	$164,033	$169,077	$245,000	$225,000	$192,000
4	Harvard	$140,000	$130,000	$75,000	$190,886	$171,952	$173,383	$250,000	$215,000	$240,000
6	MIT (Sloan)	$113,000	$135,000	$142,000	$171,538	$167,255	$164,120	$192,000	$225,000	$192,000
7	New York University (Stern)	$120,000	$100,000	NA	$186,000	$150,000	NA	$240,000	$190,000	NA
7	Columbia	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
9	Dartmouth (Tuck)	$110,000	$115,000	$130,000	$162,578	$154,286	$180,346	$192,000	$190,000	$212,500
10	California-Berkeley (Haas)	NA	NA	$106,000	NA	NA	$165,290	NA	NA	$208,000
11	Yale SOM	$110,000	$90,000	$100,000	$165,889	$124,625	$169,400	$192,000	$190,000	$192,000
11	Virginia (Darden)	$86,000	$100,000	$110,000	$168,012	$164,084	$169,761	$192,000	$200,000	$220,000
13	Michigan (Ross)	$67,200	$100,000	$132,600	$153,167	$157,041	$171,450	$192,000	$192,000	$192,000
14	Duke (Fuqua)	$90,000	$80,000	$90,000	$153,103	$160,683	$164,393	$192,000	$250,000	$200,000
15	Cornell (Johnson)	$90,000	$79,050	NA	$154,900	$134,810	NA	$192,000	$175,000	NA
16	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	$85,000	$95,000	$115,000	$124,696	$133,475	$138,889	$150,000	$192,000	$192,000
16	Vanderbilt (Owen)	$84,000	$75,000	$50,000	$149,255	$146,911	$153,857	$192,000	$192,500	$192,000
18	Texas (McCombs)	$130,000	$130,000	$120,000	$132,000	$151,000	$138,475	$135,000	$175,000	$175,000
18	UCLA (Anderson)	NA	NA	$100,000	NA	NA	$146,800	NA	NA	$192,000
20	University of Washington (Foster)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
21	Indiana (Kelley)	$90,000	$72,800	$90,000	$113,143	$99,175	$123,625	$140,000	$118,450	$175,000
21	North Carolina (Kenan Flagler)	$59,400	$52,000	$80,000	$136,975	$140,355	$146,368	$225,000	$192,000	$192,000
23	Emory (Goizueta)	$90,000	$83,000	$80,000	$159,302	$155,217	$155,693	$225,000	$190,000	$192,000
23	Texas-Dallas (Jindal)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
25	USC (Marshall)	NA	NA	$85,000	NA	NA	$126,250	NA	NA	$175,000
25	Georgia (Terry)	$83,000	$72,000	$90,000	$115,394	$122,000	$124,307	$192,000	$200,000	$175,000
27	Georgia Tech (Scheller)	$80,000	$45,760	$69,996	$136,316	$141,786	$159,358	$192,000	$312,000	$249,600
27	Washington U. (Olin)	$60,000	$100,000	NA	$110,000	$123,429	NA	$145,000	$150,000	NA
29	Rice (Jones)	$95,000	NA	$115,000	$121,575	NA	$140,000	$140,000	NA	NA
29	Arizona State (Carey)	$86,004	NA	$85,000	$86,004	NA	$117,714	$86,004	NA	$132,000
31	Georgetown (McDonough)	$100,000	$72,000	$114,000	$138,571	$124,490	$145,600	$175,000	$175,000	$175,000
32	Ohio State (Fisher)	NA	$60,000	NA	NA	$110,000	NA	NA	$135,000	NA
32	Minnesota (Carlson)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
34	Notre Dame (Mendoza)	$70,000	$115,000	$97,100	$137,638	$136,667	$131,014	$190,000	$175,000	$175,000
34	Rochester (Simon)	$80,004	$120,000	$120,000	$118,000	$140,000	$156,667	$135,000	$160,000	$175,000
36	SMU (Cox)	$130,000	$80,000	$60,000	$134,600	$123,750	$112,250	$142,800	$160,000	$175,000
36	Texas A&M (Mays)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
38	Iowa State (Ivy)	NA	$70,000	NA	NA	$77,667	NA	NA	$88,000	NA
39	Florida (Warrington)	$100,000	$50,000	$85,000	$127,921	$113,679	$131,154	$192,000	$192,000	$192,000
39	BYU (Marriott)	$115,000	$94,992	$90,000	$124,286	$122,743	$118,214	$132,000	$130,000	$130,000
39	Utah (Eccles)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
39	University of Miami (Herbert)	78,000	60,000	NA	$114,778	94,233	NA	$260,000	$192,000	NA
43	Michigan State (Broad)	$85,000	NA	NA	$112,350	NA	NA	$140,000	NA	NA
43	Maryland (Smith)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
43	Tennessee (Haslam)	72,500	63,700	$68,000	$112,500	115,078	$93,326	$175,000	$175,000	$140,450
46	American University (Kogod)	50,000	NA	NA	96,667	NA	NA	140,000	NA	NA
46	Boston U. (Questrom)	$95,000	NA	NA	$116,763	NA	NA	$144,000	NA	NA
48	Wisconsin	NA	$80,000	$100,000	NA	$122,500	$112,800	NA	$155,000	$120,000
48	Pittsburgh (Katz)	NA	$98,100	$92,000	NA	$111,820	$116,250	NA	$125,000	$148,000
48	Arkansas (Walton)	$75,000	$70,000	NA	$80,024	$85,367	NA	$95,500	$105,000	NA
51	UC Irvine (Merage)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA

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