Rice Business Students at Partio

MARKETING

In the 2026 U.S. News survey of business school leaders, the Wharton School ranked as the top MBA program for Marketing. That honor, however, did not translate to pay for 2025 Wharton grads who entered the field. Their $166,959 bases ranked just 6th among MBA programs ranked by U.S. News. The program even lagged behind Harvard Business School, which didn’t even rank among the Top 20 Marketing schools in the U.S. News survey. Overall, Stanford GSB grads collected the highest bases in Marketing, averaging $183, 973, besting both Harvard ($175,657) and UC Berkeley Haas ($172,442). Northwestern Kellogg, popularly regarding as the top MBA program for Marketing, reported a $153,564 average. Among the surprises, Marketing hires from Rice Jones ($141,542) and Notre Dame Mendoza ($138,100) achieved bases that eclipsed higher-ranked programs like Michigan Ross, Yale SOM, Cornell Johnson, and Duke Fuqua. In addition, there were 10 programs that produced one or more grads who secured bases of $200,000 or more, led by a Chicago Booth MBA who received $400,000 to start.

U.S. News Rank	School	2025 Marketing Low	2024 Marketing Low	2023 Marketing Low	2025 Marketing Average	2024 Marketing Average	2023 Marketing Average	2025 Marketing High	2024 Marketing High	2023 Marketing High
1	Stanford	NA	NA	$120,000	$183,973	$172,100	$178,738	NA	NA	$250,000
2	Wharton	$117,000	$85,000	$64,202	$166,959	$154,785	$150,145	$273,000	$225,000	$200,000
3	University of Chicago (Booth)	$90,000	$125,000	$100,000	$168,728	$160,397	$155,455	$400,000	$218,000	$225,000
4	Northwestern (Kellogg)	$110,000	$115,000	$110,000	$153,564	$149,922	$143,710	$250,000	$200,000	$240,000
4	Harvard	$80,920	$30,000	$36,590	$175,657	$158,499	$159,512	$300,000	$310,000	$300,000
6	MIT (Sloan)	$45,000	$110,000	$110,000	$168,826	$170,637	$164,308	$220,000	$396,840	$250,000
7	New York University (Stern)	$82,009	$114,000	$100,000	$147,612	$136,883	$145,543	$220,000	$186,000	$186,000
7	Columbia	$55,000	$45,000	$50,000	$144,075	$139,753	$146,773	$250,000	$293,000	$200,000
9	Dartmouth (Tuck)	$65,955	$115,000	$105,144	$143,855	$142,370	$150,537	$190,000	$194,400	$192,000
10	California-Berkeley (Haas)	$130,000	$120,000	$110,000	$172,442	$140,692	$146,487	$230,000	$190,000	$190,000
11	Yale SOM	$70,000	$99,662	$110,000	$130,517	$137,609	$151,252	$170,000	$186,400	$186,000
11	Virginia (Darden)	$70,000	$47,000	$90,000	$140,858	$123,241	$132,613	$178,000	$169,500	$170,000
13	Michigan (Ross)	$72,800	$110,000	$110,000	$128,715	$139,468	$141,212	$185,000	$230,000	$194,400
14	Duke (Fuqua)	$66,353	$120,000	$100,000	$129,419	$134,726	$139,951	$160,000	$170,000	$208,330
15	Cornell (Johnson)	$105,000	$120,000	$80,000	$137,535	$133,700	$127,754	$180,000	$170,000	$171,000
16	Vanderbilt (Owen)	$70,000	$100,000	$105,000	$121,091	$125,611	$130,724	$140,000	$138,000	$162,000
16	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	$110,000	$120,000	$120,000	$153,317	$145,873	$148,606	$194,000	$185,000	$183,000
18	UCLA (Anderson)	$75,000	$70,000	$65,000	$142,522	$136,008	$137,994	$185,000	$190,000	$215,000
18	Texas (McCombs)	$65,000	$110,000	$100,000	$146,473	$135,781	$131,658	$200,000	$169,500	$167,000
20	University of Washington (Foster)	$83,000	$95,000	$111,827	$137,345	$142,536	$157,117	$190,000	$171,000	$198,534
21	Indiana (Kelley)	$90,000	$72,800	$90,000	$124,953	$123,630	$124,956	$147,000	$167,000	$171,000
21	North Carolina (Kenan Flagler)	$75,000	$95,000	$90,000	$125,806	$130,712	$131,177	$148,000	$162,900	$171,000
23	Emory (Goizueta)	$105,000	$110,000	$80,000	$120,994	$120,778	$121,864	$130,000	$140,000	$171,000
23	Texas-Dallas (Jindal)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
25	Georgia (Terry)	$83,000	$72,000	$95,000	$109,214	$109,400	$113,468	$135,000	$120,000	$126,000
25	USC (Marshall)	$85,000	$70,720	$50,000	$125,643	$127,871	$136,654	$217,400	$185,000	$184,000
27	Georgia Tech (Scheller)	$80,000	$110,337	$91,600	$120,480	$125,795	$116,150	$169,000	$165,000	$140,000
27	Washington U. (Olin)	$47,840	$80,000	$65,000	$113,520	$120,500	$114,955	$169,100	$142,000	$145,000
29	Arizona State (Carey)	$86,004	$66,505	$117,000	$131,768	$105,418	$123,000	$169,100	$130,000	$126,000
29	Rice (Jones)	$75,000	$110,000	$85,000	$141,542	$135,180	$140,221	$185,000	$169,500	$170,000
31	Georgetown (McDonough)	$120,000	$80,000	$66,636	$137,500	$117,436	$127,128	$162,000	$142,800	$170,000
32	Ohio State (Fisher)	$80,000	$40,000	$110,000	$111,250	$93,333	$128,747	$130,000	$120,000	$161,926
32	Minnesota (Carlson)	$100,000	$95,000	$110,000	$117,727	$119,773	$117,750	$136,000	$135,000	$130,000
34	Notre Dame (Mendoza)	$100,000	$68,500	$60,000	$138,100	$120,532	$116,250	$180,000	$160,000	$140,000
34	Rochester (Simon)	$80,004	$90,000	$100,000	$123,786	$124,800	$135,255	$180,000	$168,500	$186,000
36	SMU (Cox)	$110,000	$70,000	$109,400	$133,600	$106,856	$119,350	$190,000	$130,000	$130,000
36	Texas A&M (Mays)	NA	$114,000	$95,000	NA	$134,070	$141,644	NA	$169,500	$167,200
38	Iowa State (Ivy)	$53,400	$55,000	$36,000	$67,800	$71,611	$61,400	$80,000	$92,167	$75,000
39	Utah (Eccles)	$85,000	$75,100	$80,000	$101,750	$105,763	$122,582	$120,000	$126,000	$169,100
39	Florida (Warrington)	$102,500	$115,000	$100,000	$122,167	$121,667	$119,429	$132,000	$125,000	$130,000
39	BYU (Marriott)	$90,000	$55,000	$96,000	$129,000	$119,910	$127,815	$170,000	$169,500	$167,153
39	University of Miami (Herbert)	NA	$60,000	NA	NA	$64,333	NA	NA	$68,000	NA
43	Michigan State (Broad)	$88,000	NA	NA	$88,950	NA	NA	$103,000	NA	NA
43	Maryland (Smith)	NA	NA	$80,000	NA	NA	$126,414	NA	NA	$194,400
43	Tennessee (Haslam)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
46	Boston U. (Questrom)	$112,000	$80,000	$70,000	$119,083	$116,000	$127,582	$127,500	$165,000	$194,400
46	American University (Kogod)	$100,000	NA	NA	$137,467	NA	NA	$180,000	NA	NA
48	Arkansas (Walton)	$62,500	$70,000	NA	$79,542	$85,375	NA	$95,500	$96,500	NA
48	Wisconsin	$118,000	$85,000	$113,000	$130,750	$131,554	$128,030	$152,250	$170,000	$169,100
48	Pittsburgh (Katz)	NA	$90,000	$80,000	NA	$110,586	$114,818	NA	$140,000	$140,000
51	UC Irvine (Merage)	$120,000	$80,000	$104,000	$132,100	$106,875	$114,180	$140,000	$137,500	$122,720

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