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

Columbia Business School Manhattanville Campus

REAL ESTATE

“You’re not in the burger business. You’re in the real estate business.”

That was quite the epiphany for McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc, who discovered that his biggest asset was land ownership – providing the control and revenue to fuel expansion. Despite land being the center of where you live and work (and what you do,) U.S. News was able to collect pay data for just 16 MBA programs among its Top 50. While Wharton, Columbia, and Berkeley Haas rank as the top three MBA programs for Real Estate according to a 2026 U.S. News survey of business school leaders, Stanford GSB grads make the most starting out with a $176,667. Columbia Business School served as the runner-up at $170,139, taking consolation in one of its grads nabbing a $450,000 starting base.

U.S. News Rank School 2025 Real Estate Industry Low 2024 Real Estate Industry Low 2023 Real Estate Industry Low 2025 Real Estate Industry Average 2024 Real Estate Industry Average 2023 Real Estate Industry Average 2025 Real Estate Industry High 2024 Real Estate Industry High 2023 Real Estate Industry High
1 Stanford NA NA NA $176,667 $243,333 NA NA NA NA
2 Wharton $120,000 $115,000 $64,202 $150,444 $155,833 $148,837 $200,000 $200,000 $200,000
3 University of Chicago (Booth) NA $120,000 $100,000 NA $141,000 $131,667 NA $175,000 $160,000
4 Northwestern (Kellogg) NA NA $110,000 NA NA $158,667 NA NA $216,000
4 Harvard $80,920 $106,000 $70,000 $125,987 $148,875 $139,650 $150,000 $190,000 $175,000
6 MIT (Sloan) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
7 New York University (Stern) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
7 Columbia $115,000 $85,900 $102,375 $170,139 $144,414 $155,170 $450,000 $210,000 $250,000
9 Dartmouth (Tuck) NA NA $140,000 NA NA $150,000 NA NA $160,000
10 California-Berkeley (Haas) $90,000 $104,000 $66,661 $166,667 $121,000 $131,166 $300,000 $130,000 $200,000
11 Yale SOM NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
11 Virginia (Darden) NA $100,000 $120,000 NA $125,000 $150,000 NA $155,000 $190,000
13 Michigan (Ross) NA NA $135,000 NA NA $140,000 NA NA $150,000
14 Duke (Fuqua) $80,080 NA NA $120,270 NA NA $155,000 NA NA
15 Cornell (Johnson) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
16 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper) NA $145,000 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
16 Vanderbilt (Owen) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
18 Texas (McCombs) $120,000 $120,000 $100,000 $138,333 $128,333 $125,000 $165,000 $145,000 $150,000
18 UCLA (Anderson) $90,000 $110,000 $120,000 $124,000 $126,250 $133,000 $160,000 $140,000 $155,000
20 University of Washington (Foster) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
21 Indiana (Kelley) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
21 North Carolina (Kenan Flagler) $100,000 $80,000 $80,000 $122,500 $114,862 $125,815 $145,000 $157,700 $160,000
23 Emory (Goizueta) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
23 Texas-Dallas (Jindal) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
25 USC (Marshall) $90,000 $120,000 NA $115,000 $145,000 NA $135,000 $175,000 NA
25 Georgia (Terry) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
27 Georgia Tech (Scheller) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
27 Washington U. (Olin) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
29 Rice (Jones) NA NA $100,000 NA NA $122,500 NA NA $150,000
29 Arizona State (Carey) $77,000 NA NA $77,500 NA NA $85,000 NA NA
31 Georgetown (McDonough) $100,000 $90,000 $100,000 $107,800 $121,333 $124,583 $125,000 $155,000 $150,000
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 $90,000 NA NA $125,000 NA NA $175,000 NA
34 Rochester (Simon) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
36 SMU (Cox) $67,500 $75,000 NA $76,667 $115,000 NA $90,000 $160,000 NA
36 Texas A&M (Mays) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
38 Iowa State (Ivy) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
39 Florida (Warrington) 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 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
39 University of Miami (Herbert) $78,000 NA NA $114,714 NA NA $260,000 NA NA
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) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
48 Wisconsin $43,128 $80,000 $90,000 $89,021 $109,600 $113,000 $130,000 $155,000 $170,000
48 Pittsburgh (Katz) NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA
48 Arkansas (Walton) $80,000 $90,000 NA $80,000 $90,000 NA $80,000 $90,000 NA
51 UC Irvine (Merage) NA NA $75,000 NA NA $104,000 NA NA $120,000

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