Even low-ranked colleges can be a ticket to six figures: Graduates earn $100K+ a decade later—more than twice as much as high school grads

As the new school year gets well underway, Gen Z is once again facing a daunting question: Is the degree they’re pursuing actually going to be worth it ? A new ranking of America’s top 500 colleges is offering a helpful insight: they don’t necessarily need an elite name on their diploma to land a six-figure salary.

The list, compiled by Forbes , is unsurprisingly dominated at the top by Ivy League-level institutions like MIT, Princeton and Harvard, where graduates are expected to earn median salaries of more than $120,000 a decade after receiving their diploma.

Graduates of the University of Pennsylvania, ranked No.

5, come out even higher, with median 10-year earnings of $151,328.

But the more surprising finding comes at the other end of the list: Most of the lowest-ranked schools put six-figure salaries well within reach.

Marietta College, a private liberal arts college in rural Ohio ranked No.

500, has median 10-year earnings of $105,837.

In fact, nearly every school on the list has median earnings of over $90,000, meaning the earnings gap between a prestigious college and those lesser-known can be considerably narrower than students might expect.

For comparison, the median annual earnings of full-time workers ages 25 to 34 with only a high school diploma is $41,800, according to the U.S.

Department of Education .

The two datasets measure different populations and timeframes, but the figures still underscore the earnings premium associated with a college degree—even one from a lower-ranked school.

The college decision is about more than just salary Post-graduation salaries are just one factor for students to consider when deciding where to go to college.

Schools that repeatedly appear at the top of college rankings typically offer advantages that don’t show up in a 10-year salary figure, including expansive alumni networks , access to prominent faculty and research opportunities, and name recognition.

But any benefits come with risks and costs of their own, particularly as colleges across the country grapple with falling enrollment and mounting financial pressures .