Which Illinois accounting program has the lowest debt?

Northeastern Illinois University reports the lowest median federal debt, $15,000, with first-year pay of $50,475.

How much do accounting graduates earn in Illinois?

The median across 28 Illinois accounting bachelor's programs is $55,004 in the first year after graduating and $76,870 five years after.

How many accounting bachelor's programs are in Illinois?

28 Illinois programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 28 of them also report federal debt.

Accounting (Bachelor's) Programs in Illinois, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

28 programs report first-year pay
28 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Accounting and Related Services

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Illinois accounting bachelor's program pays its graduates $55,004 in their first year, $945 more than the national median. UIUC reports the highest first-year pay ($74,731), and Northeastern Illinois University the lowest median debt ($15,000).

Median first-year pay$55,004National $54,059

Median pay after 5 years$76,870National $71,308

Median federal debt$23,389National $24,958

Debt-to-earnings43%National 45%

All 28 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	UIUCChampaign · public	$74,731	$96,827	$20,500	27%
2	Illinois Wesleyan UniversityBloomington · private nonprofit	$70,831	$96,598	$27,000	38%
3	Loyola ChicagoChicago · private nonprofit	$69,965	$93,326	$22,125	32%
4	DePaul UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$69,250	$92,255	$24,500	35%
5	Bradley UniversityPeoria · private nonprofit	$65,842	$86,572	$26,925	41%
6	UICChicago · public	$65,680	$77,917	$18,750	29%
7	Northern Illinois UniversityDekalb · public	$63,743	$83,523	$18,500	29%
8	Illinois StateNormal · public	$62,940	$81,805	$22,482	36%
9	Augustana CollegeRock Island · private nonprofit	$62,149	$80,334	$27,000	43%
10	Elmhurst UniversityElmhurst · private nonprofit	$59,734	$86,907	$18,125	30%
11	North Central CollegeNaperville · private nonprofit	$58,717	$79,216	$26,667	45%
12	Dominican UniversityRiver Forest · private nonprofit	$57,187	$85,966	$26,000	45%
13	Roosevelt UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$55,350	$75,822	$26,667	48%
14	McKendree UniversityLebanon · private nonprofit	$55,313	$60,209	$21,500	39%
15	Southern Illinois University-CarbondaleCarbondale · public	$54,694	$70,417	$23,251	43%
16	Benedictine UniversityLisle · private nonprofit	$54,328	$66,115	$23,325	43%
17	DeVry UniversityLisle · private for-profit	$54,264	$65,249	$54,380	100%
18	Millikin UniversityDecatur · private nonprofit	$51,680	$62,366	$28,320	55%
19	Northeastern Illinois UniversityChicago · public	$50,475	$63,837	$15,000	30%
20	Aurora UniversityAurora · private nonprofit	$50,086	$79,539	$23,452	47%
21	Illinois CollegeJacksonville · private nonprofit	$50,017	$55,868	$27,000	54%
22	Western Illinois UniversityMacomb · public	$49,900	$65,058	$30,023	60%
23	Saint Xavier UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$49,533	$78,176	$23,326	47%
24	Southern Illinois University EdwardsvilleEdwardsville · public	$49,046	$74,476	$20,500	42%
25	Eastern Illinois UniversityCharleston · public	$48,070	$79,045	$23,974	50%
26	Governors StateUniversity Park · public	$47,836	$64,348	$22,000	46%
27	Lewis UniversityRomeoville · private nonprofit	$47,616	$64,649	$23,162	49%
28	University of Illinois SpringfieldSpringfield · public	$43,081	$69,159	$24,117	56%

2 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois accounting program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 28 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to accounting, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Accountants and Auditors

$80,230

Median pay in Illinois. 54,930 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 115,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $54,510Top 10%: $131,990

Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks

$49,560

Median pay in Illinois. 51,470 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 144,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: some college, no degree.

Bottom 10%: $32,360Top 10%: $71,480

Financial Managers

$165,880

Median pay in Illinois. 52,720 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 65,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $100,070Top 10%: $313,110

Financial and Investment Analysts

$101,180

Median pay in Illinois. 20,520 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $64,700Top 10%: $166,090

Common questions

UIUC in Champaign reports the highest median first-year pay, $74,731. Its median federal debt is $20,500.

Accounting (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked636 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Illinois rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the accounting bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024