The 34 US colleges with the highest-paid graduates, ranked

Former MIT students had the highest median earnings four years after graduation, according to Department of Education data. Marcio Silva/Getty Images College degrees can shape recent graduates' early-career outlooks. The US Department of Education measures median incomes of federal aid recipients after graduation. Graduates from MIT and Caltech had median earnings of over $150,000 four years after graduation. Tuition costs keep rising, recent graduates face an uncertain job market , and many families question how much a college degree is really worth. There are parts of the college experience that are hard to quantify, from building a network to learning how to think critically and live independently. There's one thing, however, that can help put the financial value of a college degree into perspective: how much money you earn once you have it. Each year, the Department of Education publishes data on college costs, student debt , completion rates, and earnings outcomes for students who received Title IV federal aid, about 13 million students annually, including federal grants, student loans, or work-study programs. The College Scorecard , the department's public database, lists the median annual earnings for former students four years after completing their degrees at each school. The data, like most measures used in college rankings , has its limitations. The College Scorecard's median earnings metric only measures the annual earnings of former students who received federal aid, were earning income, and were not enrolled in another institution at the four-year mark. Still, the data can help paint a picture of how a college degree can shape early-career earnings for some recent graduates. Factors like majors and geography can also affect how much graduates can potentially earn. Graduates entering high-paying fields such as computer science , engineering, or healthcare may earn more early in their careers than those pursuing different academic fields. Location can also play an important role, since salaries tend to be higher in areas with higher costs of living and expensive labor markets such as New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and the Bay Area. Using College Scorecard data, Business Insider ranked US colleges and universities that grant bachelor's degrees based on the median annual earnings of former students four years after graduation. The ranking includes traditional colleges and universities as well as specialized institutions, focused on fields such as health sciences or nursing. We highlighted each school's location and some of the top fields its students pursue, as reported by Niche and US News & World Report. Overwhelmingly, the science, healthcare, and engineering fields dominated the list, while economics, business, and some humanities and social science fields also appear throughout. See which 34 schools across the US ranked highest for median earnings four years after graduation. 33. (tie) Claremont McKenna College Katherine Carey/Shutterstock Location : Claremont, California Top majors: Economics and political science Median earnings: $111,000 33. (tie) Rush University Pamela Brick/Shutterstock Location : Chicago Top majors: Health services Median earnings: $111,000 32. Dartmouth College Jon Bilous/Shutterstock Location : Hanover, New Hampshire Top majors: Computer science, economics, and political science Median earnings: $112,000 26. (tie) Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science halbergman/Getty Images Location : Los Angeles Top majors: Biomedical sciences, nursing, and radiology Median earnings: $113,000 26. (tie) Stevens Institute of Technology Steve Rosenbach/Getty Images Location : Hoboken, New Jersey Top majors: Computer science and mechanical engineering Median earnings: $113,000 26. (tie) Yale University f11photo/Shutterstock Location : New Haven, Connecticut Top majors: Biomedical sciences, computer science, economics, mathematics, political science Median earnings: $113,000 26. (tie) Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Paul Buckowski/Albany Times Union via Getty Images Location : Albany, New York Top majors: Pharmaceutical sciences Median earnings: $113,000 26. (tie) Maine Maritime Academy travelview/Getty Images Location : Castine, Maine Top majors: Business logistics, marine engineering, marine science, and naval architecture Median earnings: $113,000 26. (tie) Cornell University arlutz73/Getty Images Location : Ithaca, New York Top majors: Biomedical sciences, business management and marketing, computer science, and engineering Median earnings: $113,000 25. Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing Ameer Mussard-Afcari/Shutterstock Location : New York City Top majors: Nursing Median earnings: $114,000 24. California Intercontinental University Patman Droneography/Shutterstock Location : Sioux Falls, South Dakota Top majors: Business administration, healthcare management, and information technology Median earnings: $115,000 21. (tie) Columbia University hapabapa/Getty Images Location : New York City Top majors: Computer science, economics, and political science Median earnings: $116,000 21. (tie) Duke University CRobertson/Getty Images Location : Durham, North Carolina Top majors: Biology, biomedical engineering, computer science, economics, and public policy studies Median earnings: $116,000 21. (tie) Golden Gate University DJSinop/Shutterstock Location : San Francisco Top majors: Business administration Median earnings: $116,000 19. (tie) Helene Fuld College of Nursing ChrisBoswell/Getty Images/iStockphoto Location : New York City Top majors: Nursing Median earnings: $117,000 19. (tie) Johns Hopkins University UmerPK/Getty Images Location : Baltimore Top majors: Biomedical engineering, cellular and molecular biology, computer science, and neuroscience Median earnings: $117,000 18. Babson College Yingna Cai/Shutterstock Location : Wellesley, Massachusetts Top majors: Business administration and entrepreneurship Median earnings: $118,000 16. (tie) Georgia Institute of Technology Aneese/Getty Images Location : Atlanta Top majors: Computer science and engineering Median earnings: $119,000 16. (tie) University of North Texas Health Science Center Philip Lange/Shutterstock Location : Fort Worth, Texas Top majors: Health administration, medical and biomedical sciences, osteopathic medicine, and public health Median earnings: $119,000 14. (tie) Georgetown University Michelle Brittain/Getty Images Location : Washington, DC Top majors: Biological and biomedical sciences, business administration, finance, international relations, and political science Median earnings: $120,000 14. (tie) American University of Health Sciences trekandshoot/Shutterstock Location : Signal Hill, California Top majors: Nursing and pharmaceutical sciences Median earnings: $120,000 12. (tie) John Patrick University of Health and Applied Sciences Aaron Yoder/Shutterstock Location : South Bend, Indiana Top majors: Medical imaging, medical physics, and radiology Median earnings: $122,000 12. (tie) Touro University Nevada Kit Leong/Shutterstock Location : Henderson, Nevada Top majors: Healthcare professions, nursing, and osteopathic medicine Median earnings: $122,000 11. University of Pennsylvania f11photo/Getty Images/iStockphoto Location : Philadelphia Top majors: Biological and biomedical sciences, business management and marketing, and social sciences Median earnings: $125,000 10. Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering quiggyt4/Shutterstock Location : Needham, Massachusetts Top majors: Electrical and mechanical engineering Median earnings: $127,000 9. University of Chicago Jacob Boomsma/Getty Images Location : Chicago Top majors: Biological sciences, computer science, economics, and mathematics Median earnings: $128,000 8. University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in St. Louis Perry Spring/Getty Images Location : St. Louis Top majors: Pharmaceutical sciences Median earnings: $132,000 7. Carnegie Mellon University Mindaugas Dulinskas/Getty Images/iStockphoto Location : Pittsburgh Top majors: Business administration, computer science, and electrical engineering Median earnings: $133,000 6. Harvard University Steve Rosenbach/Getty Images Location : Cambridge, Massachusetts Top majors: Biological and biomedical sciences, mathematics, social sciences, and statistics Median earnings: $135,000 4. (tie) Stanford University MattGush/Getty Images Location : Stanford, California Top majors: Computer science, engineering, and social sciences Median earnings: $137,000 4. (tie) Harvey Mudd College Jim Brown/Getty Images Location : Claremont, California Top majors: Engineering, computer science, mathematics Median earnings: $137,000 3. Samuel Merritt University Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock Location : Oakland, California Top majors: Nursing Median earnings: $148,000 2. California Institute of Technology JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock Location : Pasadena, California Top majors: Computer science, mechanical engineering, and physics Median earnings: $153,000 1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Marcio Silva/Getty Images Location : Cambridge, Massachusetts Top majors: Computer science and engineering Median earnings: $162,000 Read the original article on Business Insider