Houston, Texas

SOUTHWEST

Low taxes. Affordable living. No winter. And unbelievable food! What’s not to love about the Southwest…provided your air conditioner doesn’t fizzle out? The area is packed with boomtowns like Dallas, Houston, Denver, and Phoenix that have emerged as leaders in healthcare, energy, aerospace, and semiconductors. A cushy spot for MBAs? The numbers bear that out, with graduates from 18 business schools averaging $150K or more to start. Harvard MBAs are the top earners in the Southwest, with 2025 grads netting $199,807. That number includes one HBS grad who wrangled a $450,000 starting base. That said, just 8 of the Top 20 programs reported pay increase in the Southwest over the previous year. Still, local favorites like Texas McCombs, Rice Jones, Arizona State W. P. Carey, and Texas A&M Mays reported improved base pay, on average, in the region.

U.S. News Rank	School	2025 Southwest Low	2024 Southwest Low	2023 Southwest Low	2025 Southwest Average	2024 Southwest Average	2023 Southwest Average	2025 Southwest High	2024 Southwest High	2023 Southwest High
1	Stanford	NA	NA	$115,000	$185,583	$175,250	$193,667	NA	NA	$300,000
2	Wharton	$100,000	$90,000	$81,000	$175,167	$181,958	$182,643	$250,000	$225,000	$230,000
3	University of Chicago (Booth)	$135,000	$150,000	$125,000	$179,200	$184,250	$185,286	$227,000	$196,000	$220,000
4	Northwestern (Kellogg)	$128,000	$120,000	$134,000	$170,550	$173,228	$189,409	$250,000	$200,000	$350,000
4	Harvard	$128,000	$125,000	$120,000	$199,807	$170,922	$183,763	$450,000	$215,000	$425,000
6	MIT (Sloan)	$120,000	$145,000	$130,000	$185,500	$184,417	$162,325	$300,000	$250,000	$192,000
7	New York University (Stern)	NA	$120,000	$105,000	NA	$140,000	$161,714	NA	$175,000	$192,000
7	Columbia	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
9	Dartmouth (Tuck)	$90,000	$135,000	$130,000	$175,538	$170,500	$174,500	$192,000	$192,000	$192,000
10	California-Berkeley (Haas)	NA	NA	$110,000	$184,000	NA	$147,250	NA	NA	$192,000
11	Yale SOM	$131,000	$125,000	$122,536	$185,462	$169,182	$175,734	$239,000	$192,000	$192,000
11	Virginia (Darden)	$76,000	$47,000	$100,000	$167,110	$163,322	$179,518	$235,000	$215,000	$192,000
13	Michigan (Ross)	$110,000	$110,000	$110,000	$151,188	$158,695	$162,793	$175,000	$200,000	$192,000
14	Duke (Fuqua)	$103,000	$70,000	$123,000	$163,743	$165,761	$167,471	$195,000	$192,000	$192,000
15	Cornell (Johnson)	$100,000	$120,000	NA	$167,222	$176,750	NA	$225,000	$225,000	NA
16	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	$110,000	$120,000	$80,000	$153,286	$136,413	$136,210	$192,000	$175,000	$175,000
16	Vanderbilt (Owen)	$118,000	$118,000	$120,000	$135,100	$159,625	$156,600	$145,000	$192,000	$192,000
18	Texas (McCombs)	$65,000	$65,000	$48,000	$154,275	$149,893	$159,788	$225,000	$192,000	$225,000
18	UCLA (Anderson)	$80,000	$120,000	$100,000	$131,520	$139,833	$146,278	$190,000	$190,000	$192,000
20	University of Washington (Foster)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
21	Indiana (Kelley)	$102,000	$70,000	$53,500	$120,160	$133,875	$155,678	$142,800	$175,000	$192,000
21	North Carolina (Kenan Flagler)	$65,000	$100,000	$110,000	$133,725	$148,382	$139,933	$175,000	$190,000	$175,000
23	Emory (Goizueta)	$90,000	NA	NA	$127,160	NA	NA	$175,000	NA	NA
23	Texas-Dallas (Jindal)	$90,000	$90,000	$85,000	$119,237	$125,175	$105,209	$158,000	$185,000	$130,000
25	USC (Marshall)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
25	Georgia (Terry)	$88,000	$75,000	$117,000	$118,600	$111,000	$130,000	$130,000	$130,000	$147,000
27	Georgia Tech (Scheller)	$115,000	$105,000	$123,000	$138,500	$141,667	$153,250	$169,000	$190,000	$175,000
27	Washington U. (Olin)	NA	NA	$65,000	NA	NA	$122,125	NA	NA	$192,000
29	Rice (Jones)	$75,000	$83,200	$60,000	$149,282	$147,925	$150,798	$230,000	$195,000	$225,000
29	Arizona State (Carey)	$70,000	$62,500	$93,000	$100,351	$93,387	$115,727	$142,800	$129,150	$165,000
31	Georgetown (McDonough)	NA	$105,000	$100,000	NA	$131,550	$154,000	NA	$165,000	$190,000
32	Ohio State (Fisher)	NA	NA	$142,800	NA	NA	$159,909	NA	NA	$175,000
32	Minnesota (Carlson)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
34	Notre Dame (Mendoza)	$130,000	$95,000	$117,000	$158,133	$146,000	$146,300	$185,000	$175,000	$185,000
34	Rochester (Simon)	NA	$105,000	$110,000	NA	$128,038	$136,725	NA	$150,000	$175,000
36	SMU (Cox)	$65,000	$70,000	$70,000	$124,431	$133,628	$137,930	$190,000	$190,000	$192,000
36	Texas A&M (Mays)	$65,000	$115,000	$50,200	$134,141	$132,811	$125,492	$212,600	$175,000	$175,000
38	Iowa State (Ivy)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
39	Florida (Warrington)	$102,500	$110,000	NA	$124,625	$139,000	NA	$141,000	$192,000	NA
39	BYU (Marriott)	NA	$85,000	$90,000	NA	$133,965	$126,910	NA	$169,500	$167,153
39	Utah (Eccles)	NA	NA	$62,500	NA	NA	$89,167	NA	NA	$125,000
39	University of Miami (Herbert)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
43	Michigan State (Broad)	$92,000	$105,000	$108,000	$126,267	$133,333	$122,667	$144,000	$175,000	$130,000
43	Maryland (Smith)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
43	Tennessee (Haslam)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
46	American University (Kogod)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
46	Boston U. (Questrom)	$112,000	NA	NA	$128,267	NA	NA	$142,800	NA	NA
48	Wisconsin	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
48	Pittsburgh (Katz)	NA	NA	$85,000	NA	NA	$110,000	NA	NA	$125,000
48	Arkansas (Walton)	$80,000	$70,000	NA	$83,250	$76,813	NA	$88,000	$80,000	NA
51	UC Irvine (Merage)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA

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