Which Minnesota computer science program has the lowest debt?

Carleton College reports the lowest median federal debt, $18,233, with first-year pay of $88,132.

How much do computer science graduates earn in Minnesota?

The median across 13 Minnesota computer science bachelor's programs is $72,865 in the first year after graduating and $99,864 five years after.

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

13 Minnesota programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 13 of them also report federal debt.

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

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

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Minnesota computer science bachelor's program pays its graduates $72,865 in their first year, $2,465 more than the national median. Carleton College reports the highest first-year pay ($88,132), and Carleton College the lowest median debt ($18,233).

Median first-year pay$72,865National $70,400

Median pay after 5 years$99,864National $105,613

Median federal debt$23,875National $23,308

Debt-to-earnings35%National 34%

All 13 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	Carleton CollegeNorthfield · private nonprofit	$88,132	$121,569	$18,233	21%
2	University of MinnesotaMinneapolis · public	$82,861	$111,199	$19,500	24%
3	St Olaf CollegeNorthfield · private nonprofit	$82,278	$105,613	$23,875	29%
4	University of St Thomas (Minnesota)Saint Paul · private nonprofit	$73,301	$100,656	$23,704	32%
5	University of Minnesota-DuluthDuluth · public	$73,224	$94,445	$23,375	32%
6	Concordia University-Saint PaulSaint Paul · private nonprofit	$72,875	Not reported	$29,180	40%
7	Metropolitan State UniversitySaint Paul · public	$72,865	$99,864	$27,008	37%
8	Saint Johns UniversityCollegeville · private nonprofit	$69,964	$95,885	$24,384	35%
9	Winona StateWinona · public	$65,817	$90,428	$23,250	35%
10	Saint Cloud StateSaint Cloud · public	$63,287	$106,149	$27,360	43%
11	Augsburg UniversityMinneapolis · private nonprofit	$63,065	Not reported	$25,000	40%
12	University of Minnesota-MorrisMorris · public	$55,441	$87,775	$19,993	36%
13	Rasmussen UniversitySt. Cloud · private for-profit	$53,832	$72,149	$38,409	71%

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

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 13 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Carleton College$88,132
University of Minnesota$82,861
St Olaf College$82,278
University of St Thomas (Minnesota)$73,301
University of Minnesota-Duluth$73,224

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

$130,050

Median pay in Minnesota. 35,890 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $79,900Top 10%: $169,810

Computer and Information Systems Managers

$176,380

Median pay in Minnesota. 10,970 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $110,830Top 10%: $277,490

Data Scientists

$128,800

Median pay in Minnesota. 4,020 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $65,730Top 10%: $179,640

Information Security Analysts

$130,710

Median pay in Minnesota. 2,680 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $83,140Top 10%: $169,750

Common questions

Carleton College in Northfield reports the highest median first-year pay, $88,132. Its median federal debt is $18,233.

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 Minnesota 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