Bay Bridge and San Francisco skyline at sunset

WEST

The West Coast is synonymous with artificial intelligence, software development, biotechnology, and shipping. Does this mean that the region keeps pace with the East Coast for starting MBA pay? In the end, the West is closer to the Southwest and Mid-Atlantic, with 17 business schools producing graduates who averaged $150K or more in the region to start. Out West, Stanford GSB paces the pack with a $194,235 average. That’s over $26K and $32K higher than its next closest regional competitors (U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School and UCLA Anderson, respectively). However, it is a Wharton grad who earned the highest starting base at $374,000 (though Stanford GSB didn’t report its highest-paid alum out West). One stat of note: All but one Top 10 MBA program saw average base pay increase for 2025 graduates.

U.S. News Rank	School	2025 West Low	2024 West Low	2023 West Low	2025 West Average	2024 West Average	2023 West Average	2025 West High	2024 West High	2023 West High
1	Stanford	NA	NA	$85,000	$194,235	$192,195	$186,716	NA	NA	$500,000
2	Wharton	$120,000	$95,000	$100,000	$178,088	$171,292	$176,763	$374,000	$273,000	$324,000
3	University of Chicago (Booth)	$90,000	$100,000	$120,000	$173,927	$165,571	$170,371	$250,000	$235,000	$275,000
4	Northwestern (Kellogg)	$105,000	$126,000	$95,000	$163,989	$163,866	$171,329	$215,000	$260,000	$225,000
4	Harvard	$117,000	$120,000	$120,000	$187,814	$184,070	$168,686	$275,000	$350,000	$250,000
6	MIT (Sloan)	$100,000	$105,000	$110,000	$181,651	$161,668	$171,343	$300,000	$192,000	$310,000
7	New York University (Stern)	$125,000	$135,000	$85,000	$170,956	$156,000	$151,859	$235,000	$190,000	$215,000
7	Columbia	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	$240,000
9	Dartmouth (Tuck)	$124,500	$126,000	$126,000	$165,180	$171,067	$169,402	$284,000	$200,000	$195,000
10	California-Berkeley (Haas)	$90,000	$90,000	$72,800	$168,190	$161,684	$165,148	$300,000	$250,000	$225,000
11	Yale SOM	$102,000	$97,500	$91,000	$155,927	$156,446	$161,620	$192,000	$208,000	$192,000
11	Virginia (Darden)	$66,000	$125,000	$120,000	$151,195	$166,391	$165,756	$192,000	$192,000	$195,000
13	Michigan (Ross)	$125,400	$120,000	$120,000	$162,251	$159,768	$159,992	$225,000	$300,000	NA
14	Duke (Fuqua)	$124,500	$120,000	$117,885	$156,994	$159,298	$160,256	$192,000	$194,750	$205,000
15	Cornell (Johnson)	$92,000	$125,000	NA	$157,676	$153,891	NA	$200,000	$192,000	NA
16	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	$105,000	$110,000	$107,000	$148,472	$148,512	$154,683	$190,000	$194,400	$200,000
16	Vanderbilt (Owen)	$115,000	$114,000	$115,000	$142,760	$143,967	$144,259	$190,000	$185,000	$215,000
18	Texas (McCombs)	$130,000	$72,000	$115,000	$149,680	$139,371	$146,885	$190,000	$192,000	$192,000
18	UCLA (Anderson)	$75,000	$70,000	$61,984	$158,124	$151,100	$153,495	$245,000	$208,000	$175,000
20	University of Washington (Foster)	$85,000	$95,000	$87,400	$143,993	$151,186	$151,386	$190,000	$193,000	$185,000
21	Indiana (Kelley)	$113,000	$142,800	$87,780	$141,283	$161,888	$141,599	$197,000	$192,000	$175,000
21	North Carolina (Kenan Flagler)	$105,000	$110,000	$115,000	$147,250	$136,043	$148,431	$192,000	$172,300	$198,634
23	Emory (Goizueta)	NA	$126,000	$140,000	NA	$160,000	$148,667	NA	$194,000	$190,000
23	Texas-Dallas (Jindal)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
25	USC (Marshall)	NA	NA	$50,000	NA	NA	$151,174	NA	NA	$185,000
25	Georgia (Terry)	$130,000	NA	NA	$141,400	NA	NA	$150,000	NA	$200,000
27	Georgia Tech (Scheller)	$140,000	$54,080	NA	$154,980	$161,585	NA	$175,000	$249,600	$192,000
27	Washington U. (Olin)	$115,000	$90,000	$125,000	$134,497	$136,382	$139,000	$169,100	$160,000	NA
29	Rice (Jones)	$40,000	$105,000	$115,000	$113,500	$126,667	$153,436	$171,000	$140,000	$156,000
29	Arizona State (Carey)	$84,240	$70,000	$102,250	$131,569	$119,000	$142,254	$169,100	$175,000	$175,000
31	Georgetown (McDonough)	$68,405	$72,000	$92,700	$129,429	$134,180	$157,237	$192,000	$180,000	NA
32	Ohio State (Fisher)	$100,000	$80,000	$100,000	$119,060	$106,667	$128,900	$140,000	$120,000	$175,000
32	Minnesota (Carlson)	NA	NA	$108,000	NA	NA	$158,000	NA	NA	$190,000
34	Notre Dame (Mendoza)	$127,900	$75,000	$30,000	$156,214	$124,667	$116,800	$190,000	$175,000	$142,800
34	Rochester (Simon)	$83,000	$100,000	$125,000	$140,194	$142,218	$144,563	$190,000	$168,500	$192,000
36	SMU (Cox)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
36	Texas A&M (Mays)	NA	NA	$125,000	NA	NA	$153,767	NA	NA	$169,100
38	Iowa State (Ivy)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
39	Florida (Warrington)	NA	NA	$114,000	NA	NA	$121,000	NA	NA	$125,000
39	BYU (Marriott)	$67,600	$55,000	$70,000	$124,103	$111,147	$118,929	$175,000	$175,000	$180,000
39	Utah (Eccles)	$75,000	$57,000	$80,000	$104,067	$109,267	$117,517	$142,800	$175,000	$169,100
39	University of Miami (Herbert)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
43	Michigan State (Broad)	NA	$85,000	$90,000	NA	$127,429	$119,633	NA	$143,000	$150,000
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)	NA	$90,000	$96,281	NA	$129,000	$138,273	NA	$165,000	$194,400
48	Wisconsin	NA	$62,400	$120,000	NA	$128,770	$152,333	NA	$170,000	$171,000
48	Pittsburgh (Katz)	NA	NA	$105,000	NA	NA	$138,571	NA	NA	$169,000
48	Arkansas (Walton)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
51	UC Irvine (Merage)	62,400	80,000	75,000	124,070	128,972	$124,888	$142,800	$200,000	$169,100

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