Which Ohio accounting program has the lowest debt?

University of Toledo reports the lowest median federal debt, $20,973, with first-year pay of $52,700.

How much do accounting graduates earn in Ohio?

The median across 30 Ohio accounting bachelor's programs is $54,929 in the first year after graduating and $73,311 five years after.

How many accounting bachelor's programs are in Ohio?

30 Ohio programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 26 of them also report federal debt.

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

30 programs report first-year pay
26 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 Ohio accounting bachelor's program pays its graduates $54,929 in their first year, $870 more than the national median. Case Western reports the highest first-year pay ($67,830), and University of Toledo the lowest median debt ($20,973).

Median first-year pay$54,929National $54,059

Median pay after 5 years$73,311National $71,308

Median federal debt$27,000National $24,958

Debt-to-earnings45%National 45%

All 30 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	Case WesternCleveland · private nonprofit	$67,830	$90,949	$25,000	37%
2	Miami UniversityOxford · public	$67,743	$92,144	$23,000	34%
3	University of DaytonDayton · private nonprofit	$65,127	$88,053	$27,000	41%
4	Ohio StateColumbus · public	$62,399	$89,592	$23,284	37%
5	John Carroll UniversityUniversity Heights · private nonprofit	$62,145	$89,675	$27,000	43%
6	Ohio UniversityAthens · public	$61,856	$80,032	$26,000	42%
7	Capital UniversityColumbus · private nonprofit	$60,405	$81,240	Not reported	Not reported
8	Xavier UniversityCincinnati · private nonprofit	$60,200	$83,248	$27,000	45%
9	Baldwin Wallace UniversityBerea · private nonprofit	$59,401	$78,503	$27,000	45%
10	University of Mount UnionAlliance · private nonprofit	$59,142	Not reported	$27,000	46%
11	University of CincinnatiCincinnati · public	$57,706	$74,355	$22,875	40%
12	Cedarville UniversityCedarville · private nonprofit	$57,656	Not reported	$22,875	40%
13	Walsh UniversityNorth Canton · private nonprofit	$57,043	$70,501	$27,600	48%
14	Bowling Green StateBowling Green · public	$55,838	$74,461	$22,251	40%
15	Ashland UniversityAshland · private nonprofit	$55,407	Not reported	$27,000	49%
16	Wilmington CollegeWilmington · private nonprofit	$54,451	$68,981	$31,000	57%
17	Cleveland StateCleveland · public	$54,088	$75,073	$25,250	47%
18	Kent StateKent · public	$53,988	$72,738	$24,119	45%
19	University of AkronAkron · public	$53,920	$69,301	$23,082	43%
20	Tiffin UniversityTiffin · private nonprofit	$53,517	Not reported	$27,000	50%
21	Youngstown StateYoungstown · public	$53,227	$61,990	$23,279	44%
22	University of ToledoToledo · public	$52,700	$75,684	$20,973	40%
23	Wright StateDayton · public	$52,651	$71,094	$25,022	48%
24	Franklin UniversityColumbus · private nonprofit	$51,929	$64,994	$32,941	63%
25	University of Northwestern OhioLima · private nonprofit	$49,910	$55,189	$31,000	62%
26	University of FindlayFindlay · private nonprofit	$49,357	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
27	Ohio Wesleyan UniversityDelaware · private nonprofit	$48,958	$87,197	$27,000	55%
28	Muskingum UniversityNew Concord · private nonprofit	$48,949	$68,919	Not reported	Not reported
29	Hiram CollegeHiram · private nonprofit	$40,613	$61,266	$27,000	66%
30	Shawnee StatePortsmouth · public	$35,827	$52,125	Not reported	Not reported

Capital University, University of Findlay, Muskingum University, and Shawnee State report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. 2 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Ohio accounting program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 26 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

$79,320

Median pay in Ohio. 50,440 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $52,140Top 10%: $131,400

Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks

$48,810

Median pay in Ohio. 45,140 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $36,110Top 10%: $67,330

Financial Managers

$140,870

Median pay in Ohio. 27,360 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $82,190Top 10%: $273,760

Financial and Investment Analysts

$94,280

Median pay in Ohio. 9,760 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $57,870Top 10%: $142,420

Common questions

Case Western in Cleveland reports the highest median first-year pay, $67,830. Its median federal debt is $25,000.

Accounting (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked636 programs by pay and debt Accounting (Associate's) programs in Ohio, ranked5 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 Ohio 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