Which Missouri business program has the lowest debt?

Missouri Southern State reports the lowest median federal debt, $20,737, with first-year pay of $44,262.

How much do business graduates earn in Missouri?

The median across 9 Missouri business bachelor's programs is $47,821 in the first year after graduating and $60,369 five years after.

How many business bachelor's programs are in Missouri?

9 Missouri programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 9 of them also report federal debt.

Business (Bachelor's) Programs in Missouri, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

9 programs report first-year pay
9 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Business/Commerce, General

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Missouri business bachelor's program pays its graduates $47,821 in their first year, $1,114 more than the national median. University of Missouri reports the highest first-year pay ($55,999), and Missouri Southern State the lowest median debt ($20,737).

Median first-year pay$47,821National $46,707

Median pay after 5 years$60,369National $64,119

Median federal debt$22,732National $25,625

Debt-to-earnings58%National 54%

All 9 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	University of MissouriColumbia · public	$55,999	$80,927	$21,500	38%
2	UMSLSaint Louis · public	$48,928	$61,411	$21,538	44%
3	UMKCKansas City · public	$48,603	$60,369	$21,853	45%
4	Columbia College (Missouri)Columbia · private nonprofit	$48,329	$58,526	$28,100	58%
5	Lindenwood UniversitySaint Charles · private nonprofit	$47,821	$68,819	$31,000	65%
6	Avila UniversityKansas City · private nonprofit	$47,530	$70,789	$32,750	69%
7	Missouri Southern StateJoplin · public	$44,262	$57,377	$20,737	47%
8	Missouri StateSpringfield · public	$43,364	$54,872	$26,000	60%
9	Central Methodist University-College of Liberal Arts and SciencesFayette · private nonprofit	$39,435	$54,864	$22,732	58%

Debt and first-year pay at every Missouri business program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 9 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Missouri Southern State$20,737
University of Missouri$21,500
UMSL$21,538
UMKC$21,853
Central Methodist University-College of Liberal Arts and Sciences$22,732

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

General and Operations Managers

$79,300

Median pay in Missouri. 109,020 people work in this job in Missouri. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 285,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $42,460Top 10%: $188,820

Project Management Specialists

$94,660

Median pay in Missouri. 21,460 people work in this job in Missouri. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 76,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $56,660Top 10%: $157,650

Management Analysts

$97,270

Median pay in Missouri. 10,030 people work in this job in Missouri. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 94,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $60,690Top 10%: $153,300

Sales Managers

$115,370

Median pay in Missouri. 7,630 people work in this job in Missouri. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 47,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $60,920Top 10%: $223,340

Common questions

University of Missouri in Columbia reports the highest median first-year pay, $55,999. Its median federal debt is $21,500.

Business (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked206 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 Missouri rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the business 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