Which Massachusetts computer science program has the lowest debt?

MIT reports the lowest median federal debt, $12,000, with first-year pay of $154,492.

How much do computer science graduates earn in Massachusetts?

The median across 20 Massachusetts computer science bachelor's programs is $86,061 in the first year after graduating and $148,489 five years after.

How many computer science bachelor's programs are in Massachusetts?

20 Massachusetts programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 18 of them also report federal debt.

Computer Science (Bachelor's) Programs in Massachusetts, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

20 programs report first-year pay
18 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Computer Science

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Massachusetts computer science bachelor's program pays its graduates $86,061 in their first year, $15,661 more than the national median. MIT reports the highest first-year pay ($154,492), and MIT the lowest median debt ($12,000).

Median first-year pay$86,061National $70,400

Median pay after 5 years$148,489National $105,613

Median federal debt$24,285National $23,308

Debt-to-earnings29%National 34%

All 20 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	MITCambridge · private nonprofit	$154,492	$220,064	$12,000	8%
2	Harvard UniversityCambridge · private nonprofit	$152,251	$219,550	Not reported	Not reported
3	Williams CollegeWilliamstown · private nonprofit	$110,814	$163,743	$12,208	11%
4	Tufts UniversityMedford · private nonprofit	$105,659	$168,606	$15,500	15%
5	Amherst CollegeAmherst · private nonprofit	$100,596	$194,751	$16,750	17%
6	WPIWorcester · private nonprofit	$93,888	$148,489	$27,000	29%
7	Boston UniversityBoston · private nonprofit	$90,050	$137,182	$23,250	26%
8	UMass AmherstAmherst · public	$88,554	$132,046	$23,569	27%
9	Boston CollegeChestnut Hill · private nonprofit	$86,749	$155,305	$19,000	22%
10	UMass LowellLowell · public	$86,167	$127,238	$27,000	31%
11	Wentworth Institute of TechnologyBoston · private nonprofit	$85,954	$111,629	$25,000	29%
12	Brandeis UniversityWaltham · private nonprofit	$80,431	$132,874	$26,142	33%
13	Western New England UniversitySpringfield · private nonprofit	$79,990	Not reported	$26,659	33%
14	College of the Holy CrossWorcester · private nonprofit	$74,842	Not reported	$27,000	36%
15	Mount Holyoke CollegeSouth Hadley · private nonprofit	$71,672	Not reported	$21,500	30%
16	Merrimack CollegeNorth Andover · private nonprofit	$70,256	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
17	Smith CollegeNorthampton · private nonprofit	$66,981	Not reported	$19,000	28%
18	Westfield StateWestfield · public	$66,349	Not reported	$27,000	41%
19	Suffolk UniversityBoston · private nonprofit	$60,259	Not reported	$27,000	45%
20	Bridgewater StateBridgewater · public	$57,007	$86,608	$27,000	47%

Harvard University and Merrimack College report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Massachusetts computer science program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 18 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

MIT$154,492
Harvard University$152,251
Williams College$110,814
Tufts University$105,659
Amherst College$100,596

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 computer science, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Software Developers

$165,210

Median pay in Massachusetts. 48,190 people work in this job in Massachusetts. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 95,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $102,810Top 10%: $213,970

Computer and Information Systems Managers

$214,960

Median pay in Massachusetts. 24,910 people work in this job in Massachusetts. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 16% from 2025 to 2035, with about 53,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $134,390Top 10%: $308,250

Data Scientists

$131,750

Median pay in Massachusetts. 9,420 people work in this job in Massachusetts. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 35% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $81,030Top 10%: $206,220

Information Security Analysts

$136,550

Median pay in Massachusetts. 6,100 people work in this job in Massachusetts. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 21% from 2025 to 2035, with about 14,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $85,790Top 10%: $226,190

Common questions

MIT in Cambridge reports the highest median first-year pay, $154,492. Its median federal debt is $12,000.

Computer Science (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked331 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 Massachusetts rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the computer science 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