Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania

OPERATIONS

Looking to make the big bucks? Then Operations may not be the right gig for you. In 2025, there were only four business schools whose graduates averaged $150,000 or more to start. The Wharton School led the pack with $165,300, up nearly $19K over the past two years. However, Wharton edged out MIT Sloan by less than $1K in 2025, after a nearly $17K gap between them the year before. From a micro view, a Sloan grad tied with a Northwestern Kellogg counterpart for the highest base at $245,000.

U.S. News Rank	School	2025 Operations Low	2024 Operations Low	2023 Operations Low	2025 Operations Average	2024 Operations Average	2023 Operations Average	2025 Operations High	2024 Operations High	2023 Operations High
1	Stanford	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
2	Wharton	$137,000	$100,000	$70,000	$165,300	$160,417	$146,500	$220,000	$300,000	$190,000
3	University of Chicago (Booth)	$142,000	$126,000	$135,000	$153,100	$151,033	$152,460	$160,000	$180,000	$200,000
4	Northwestern (Kellogg)	$90,000	NA	$143,500	$155,860	NA	$148,900	$245,000	NA	$157,100
4	Harvard	NA	$106,000	NA	NA	$178,846	NA	NA	$260,000	NA
6	MIT (Sloan)	$130,000	$112,000	$85,800	$164,367	$143,447	$145,363	$245,000	$175,000	$190,000
7	New York University (Stern)	NA	NA	$92,000	NA	NA	$136,667	NA	NA	$175,000
7	Columbia	$107,500	$62,000	$120,000	$147,922	$153,100	$150,172	$220,000	$230,000	$175,000
9	Dartmouth (Tuck)	$125,000	NA	$120,981	$147,829	NA	$139,116	$192,000	NA	$155,000
10	California-Berkeley (Haas)	$82,945	$59,305	$136,500	$148,993	$128,861	$164,500	$185,000	$185,000	$197,000
11	Yale SOM	$132,600	$104,000	$100,000	$145,867	$135,667	$132,000	$160,000	$170,000	$157,000
11	Virginia (Darden)	$110,000	$110,000	$120,700	$140,133	$140,714	$138,175	$175,000	$160,000	$150,000
13	Michigan (Ross)	$67,200	$130,000	$125,000	$134,342	$140,667	$148,812	$170,000	$150,000	$184,000
14	Duke (Fuqua)	$90,000	$132,000	$120,000	$140,610	$149,250	$141,250	$160,000	$161,450	$175,000
15	Cornell (Johnson)	$60,000	NA	$142,800	$100,000	NA	$154,600	$135,000	NA	$175,000
16	Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	$100,000	$80,000	$116,000	$145,258	$129,860	$147,789	$207,000	$150,000	$170,000
16	Vanderbilt (Owen)	$115,000	$130,000	$115,000	$137,122	$142,600	$138,750	$145,000	$155,000	$180,000
18	Texas (McCombs)	$130,000	$100,000	$125,000	$139,130	$126,370	$141,625	$155,000	$152,550	$175,000
18	UCLA (Anderson)	$100,000	$83,200	$61,984	$132,825	$138,300	$119,181	$190,000	$200,000	$142,800
20	University of Washington (Foster)	$110,000	$125,000	$90,000	$138,350	$138,640	$130,900	$150,000	$155,000	$150,000
21	Indiana (Kelley)	$95,000	$94,236	$125,000	$118,967	$122,079	$144,500	$142,800	$147,000	$169,100
21	North Carolina (Kenan Flagler)	$70,000	$120,000	$90,000	$127,814	$145,225	$127,563	$143,000	$192,000	$175,000
23	Emory (Goizueta)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
23	Texas-Dallas (Jindal)	NA	$102,000	$88,000	NA	$117,833	$107,000	NA	$135,000	$116,000
25	USC (Marshall)	$130,000	$105,000	$120,000	$141,225	$133,850	$136,600	$160,000	$175,000	$150,000
25	Georgia (Terry)	$120,000	$110,000	NA	$136,033	$131,867	NA	$142,800	$142,800	NA
27	Georgia Tech (Scheller)	$95,000	$90,000	NA	$134,633	$112,250	NA	$150,000	$144,000	NA
27	Washington U. (Olin)	$92,000	$110,000	$95,000	$112,333	$119,333	$115,750	$130,000	$130,000	$140,000
29	Rice (Jones)	NA	$110,000	$92,000	NA	$126,667	$118,875	NA	$150,000	$145,000
29	Arizona State (Carey)	$84,240	$60,000	$93,000	$123,664	$104,749	$112,737	$165,000	$142,800	$142,800
31	Georgetown (McDonough)	$112,320	$130,000	$88,116	$145,340	$156,200	$141,982	$175,000	$188,000	$175,000
32	Ohio State (Fisher)	$83,000	$60,000	NA	$111,538	$106,151	NA	$140,000	$135,000	NA
32	Minnesota (Carlson)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
34	Notre Dame (Mendoza)	$65,000	$78,000	$100,000	$130,140	$117,167	$124,989	$155,000	$175,000	$142,800
34	Rochester (Simon)	$82,000	$75,000	$115,000	$114,600	$115,175	$121,667	$155,000	$142,800	$130,000
36	SMU (Cox)	$105,000	$80,000	NA	$123,950	$101,600	NA	$142,800	$135,000	NA
36	Texas A&M (Mays)	$120,000	$77,000	$50,200	$136,743	$109,833	$108,713	$142,800	$126,500	$155,500
38	Iowa State (Ivy)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
39	Florida (Warrington)	$100,000	NA	$90,000	$100,333	NA	$111,667	$105,000	NA	$145,000
39	BYU (Marriott)	$65,000	$75,000	$65,000	$116,333	$123,180	$118,578	$160,000	$150,000	$150,000
39	Utah (Eccles)	$80,000	$57,000	$85,000	$104,000	$85,900	$118,750	$118,000	$130,000	$147,000
39	University of Miami (Herbert)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
43	Michigan State (Broad)	$90,000	$100,000	$90,000	$117,030	$130,154	$111,978	$144,000	$175,000	$142,000
43	Maryland (Smith)	$85,000	NA	NA	$120,560	NA	NA	$142,800	NA	NA
43	Tennessee (Haslam)	$72,500	$63,700	$70,000	$102,994	$109,693	$98,651	$126,000	$145,000	$145,000
46	American University (Kogod)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA
46	Boston U. (Questrom)	$105,000	$85,000	NA	$123,900	$122,500	NA	$140,000	$150,000	NA
48	Wisconsin	$22,736	$70,000	$43,131	$69,447	$110,775	$117,803	$90,000	$142,000	$142,800
48	Pittsburgh (Katz)	$75,000	NA	$65,000	$91,667	NA	$126,263	$120,000	NA	$165,000
48	Arkansas (Walton)	$75,000	$80,000	NA	$82,750	$90,000	NA	$88,000	$100,000	NA
51	UC Irvine (Merage)	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA	NA

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