🇺🇸 Best Software Engineering Programs in United States by ROI
Ranked by ROI score — net salary after rent and living costs, weighted by graduation rate, relative to total degree tuition. Salary figures are median graduate earnings from government data (2026).
| # | University | ROI | Salary ($) | Payback | Tuition ($/yr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Computer Science. | 48.0 | $84,241 | 2 yrs | $33,925 |
| 2 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Computer and Information Sciences, General. | 40.2 | $72,942 | 2 yrs | $33,925 |
| 3 | University of Chicago Computer Science. | 39.9 | $84,241 | 2 yrs | $41,608 |
| 4 | University of Georgia Computer Science. | 39.8 | $84,241 | 2 yrs | $39,021 |
| 5 | Vanderbilt University Computer Science. | 37.1 | $84,241 | 3 yrs | $44,369 |
| 6 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Computer Science. | 36.8 | $84,241 | 2 yrs | $40,194 |
| 7 | University of California-San Diego Computer Science. | 36.2 | $84,241 | 2 yrs | $34,916 |
| 8 | Purdue University-Main Campus Computer Science. | 36.1 | $84,241 | 2 yrs | $40,880 |
| 9 | Rice University Computer and Information Sciences, General. | 36.0 | $72,942 | 3 yrs | $37,436 |
| 10 | University of California-Berkeley Computer Science. | 35.9 | $84,241 | 3 yrs | $37,747 |
| 11 | Stanford University Computer Science. | 34.8 | $84,241 | 3 yrs | $38,660 |
| 12 | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities Computer Science. | 31.9 | $84,241 | 3 yrs | $46,978 |
| 13 | University of California-Irvine Computer Science. | 31.5 | $84,241 | 3 yrs | $39,903 |
| 14 | Indiana University-Bloomington Computer Science. | 31.5 | $84,241 | 3 yrs | $45,539 |
| 15 | University of Tulsa Computer Science. | 31.4 | $84,241 | 2 yrs | $42,000 |
| 16 | University of California-Los Angeles Computer and Information Sciences, General. | 31.0 | $72,942 | 3 yrs | $35,134 |
| 17 | Brigham Young University Computer Science. | 30.9 | $84,241 | 3 yrs | $43,579 |
| 18 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh Computer Science. | 30.5 | $84,241 | 3 yrs | $48,448 |
| 19 | California Institute of Technology Computer Science. | 30.3 | $84,241 | 3 yrs | $45,010 |
| 20 | University of Maryland-College Park Computer Science. | 30.1 | $84,241 | 3 yrs | $43,898 |
| 21 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management. | 29.6 | $57,516 | 3 yrs | $33,925 |
| 22 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus Computer Software and Media Applications. | 29.0 | $56,679 | 3 yrs | $33,925 |
| 23 | Harvard University Computer Science. | 28.2 | $84,241 | 4 yrs | $53,385 |
| 24 | University of California-Riverside Computer Science. | 27.7 | $84,241 | 3 yrs | $40,051 |
| 25 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus Computer and Information Sciences, General. | 27.7 | $72,942 | 3 yrs | $39,455 |