Tuck | Mr. Invest In Change
GMAT 710, GPA 3.1
Tuck | Mr. Chemical Engineer
GRE 326, GPA 3
INSEAD | Mr. Future AI Product Manager
GMAT 715, GPA 3.7
NYU Stern | Mr. Operations Strategy & Youth Leadership
GMAT 770, GPA 4
IE Business School | Mr. JD Garay
GRE GPA: 3.9, GPA 3.0
Kellogg SOM | Mr. Military To Entrepreneur
GMAT 745, GPA 2.38
London Business School | Mr. Decarbonisation
GMAT 695, GPA 3.5
Kellogg SOM | Mr. MENA Growth Equity
GMAT 730, GPA 3.4
Kellogg SOM | Mr. West Point Logistics
GRE 327, GPA 2.76
Harvard | Mr. Energy & AI PM
GRE 328, GPA 9.65
Tepper | Mr. Tech Mil-Veteran
GMAT TBD, GPA 3.35
Columbia | Mr. European MBB Consultant
GMAT 645 (Gmat Focus), GPA 8.2
MIT Sloan | Mr. Startup Strategy
GMAT 720, GPA 3.7
Stanford GSB | Mr. Mid-Market PE
GMAT 770, GPA 4
Stanford GSB | Mr. MBB Guy From Big 4 & Startup
GRE 325, GPA 3

MBA Pay By Occupation & Industry: Here’s How Much You’re Worth

A school-by-school look at how much MBA grads are earning in every industry

by: Jeff Schmitt on September 01, 2026 | 35 minute read

Texas A&M Mays Business School in College Station, Texas has announced the launch of a new ‘Flex’ Online MBA — part of the school’s growing portfolio of online programs. Mays photo

ENERGY

There are only two certainties in life: Death and Taxes. Still, energy is the hidden hand behind economic growth, personal independence, and political stability. That makes it an underrated avenue for MBAs…even if pay hasn’t caught up to importance. Here, Wharton grads lead the pack, earning $177,833 to start. The school also boasted the highest-paid MBA in the field at $260,000. That said, Texas schools are the place to go to top out, with Texas McCombs, Rice Jones, and Texas A&M Mays each reporting a graduate earning $200K in base to start.

U.S. News Rank School 2025 Energy Industry Low 2024 Energy Industry Low 2023 Energy Industry Low 2025 Energy Industry Average 2024 Energy Industy Average 2023 Energy Industry Average 2025 Energy Industry High 2024 Energy Industry High 2023 Energy Industry High
1 Stanford NA NA $103,600 $169,625 $166,700 $168,100 NA NA $200,000
2 Wharton $147,000 $85,600 $100,000 $177,833 $153,956 $159,714 $260,000 $185,000 $200,000
3 University of Chicago (Booth) NA $104,500 $100,000 NA $151,583 $145,000 NA $210,000 $200,000
4 Northwestern (Kellogg) NA $95,000 $120,000 NA $128,750 $142,667 NA $170,000 $158,000
4 Harvard $130,000 $110,000 $112,500 $155,000 $172,354 $153,247 $175,000 $220,000 $240,000
6 MIT (Sloan) $140,000 $140,000 $105,000 $161,000 $152,857 $151,667 $175,000 $165,000 $170,000
7 New York University (Stern) NA NA $125,000 NA NA $133,333 NA NA $145,000
7 Columbia NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
9 Dartmouth (Tuck) $125,000 NA $130,000 $161,367 NA $151,250 $185,000 NA $170,000
10 California-Berkeley (Haas) $135,000 $125,000 $110,000 $156,143 $150,000 $149,800 $185,000 $195,000 $180,000
11 Yale SOM $115,000 $80,000 $125,000 $147,871 $127,778 $146,000 $168,000 $170,000 $180,000
11 Virginia (Darden) $76,000 $98,000 NA $132,071 $135,600 NA $168,000 $150,000 NA
13 Michigan (Ross) $121,000 $120,000 $115,000 $150,400 $144,167 $131,500 $175,000 $165,000 $170,000
14 Duke (Fuqua) $90,000 $105,000 $125,000 $141,857 $148,727 $146,125 $168,000 $170,000 $169,000
15 Cornell (Johnson) $135,000 $79,050 $110,000 $151,250 $129,763 $131,250 $170,000 $165,000 $145,000
16 Vanderbilt (Owen) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
16 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) $100,000 NA $124,000 $149,250 $128,000 $151,000 $207,000 $137,667 $210,000
18 UCLA (Anderson) NA $80,000 $110,000 NA $123,486 $126,250 NA $140,000 $140,000
18 Texas (McCombs) $100,000 $120,000 $100,000 $141,706 $137,222 $133,749 $200,000 $175,000 $185,000
20 University of Washington (Foster) NA NA $100,000 NA NA $111,667 NA NA $120,000
21 Indiana (Kelley) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
21 North Carolina (Kenan Flagler) $85,000 $75,000 $115,000 $127,398 $134,846 $137,083 $160,000 $165,000 $165,000
23 Emory (Goizueta) NA NA $115,000 NA NA $143,400 NA NA $152,000
23 Texas-Dallas (Jindal) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
25 USC (Marshall) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
25 Georgia (Terry) NA $75,000 NA NA $136,667 NA NA $200,000 NA
27 Washington U. (Olin) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
27 Georgia Tech (Scheller) $93,000 NA $118,000 $103,944 NA $122,667 $123,832 NA $125,000
29 Rice (Jones) $75,000 $83,200 $100,000 $133,489 $117,997 $129,357 $200,000 $140,400 $165,000
29 Arizona State (Carey) $85,010 NA NA $103,005 NA NA $121,000 NA NA
31 Georgetown (McDonough) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
32 Ohio State (Fisher) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
32 Minnesota (Carlson) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
34 Notre Dame (Mendoza) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
34 Rochester (Simon) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
36 SMU (Cox) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
36 Texas A&M (Mays) $87,000 $115,000 $75,000 $144,920 $116,000 $107,000 $212,600 $118,000 $128,000
38 Iowa State (Ivy) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
39 BYU (Marriott) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
39 Utah (Eccles) NA $78,000 NA NA $101,375 NA NA $138,000 NA
39 University of Miami (Herbert) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
39 Florida (Warrington) $105,000 NA $85,000 $126,000 NA $125,000 $141,000 NA $150,000
43 Michigan State (Broad) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
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) $85,000 $80,000 $112,000 $108,000 $103,857 $132,250 $144,000 $125,000 $145,000
48 Wisconsin NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
48 Pittsburgh (Katz) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
48 Arkansas (Walton) NA $77,250 NA NA $77,250 NA NA $77,250 NA
51 UC Irvine (Merage) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA

Next Page: Real Estate

Previous Page
Continue Reading

© Copyright 2026 Poets & Quants. All rights reserved. This article may not be republished, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. To reprint or license this article or any content from Poets & Quants, please submit your request HERE.