Which Ohio business program has the lowest debt?

Ohio State reports the lowest median federal debt, $19,900, with first-year pay of $48,597.

How much do business graduates earn in Ohio?

The median across 7 Ohio business bachelor's programs is $48,597 in the first year after graduating and $56,640 five years after.

How many business bachelor's programs are in Ohio?

7 Ohio programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 7 of them also report federal debt.

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

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

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Ohio business bachelor's program pays its graduates $48,597 in their first year, $1,890 more than the national median. Franklin University reports the highest first-year pay ($51,408), and Ohio State the lowest median debt ($19,900).

Median first-year pay$48,597National $46,707

Median pay after 5 years$56,640National $64,119

Median federal debt$28,813National $25,625

Debt-to-earnings60%National 54%

All 7 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	Franklin UniversityColumbus · private nonprofit	$51,408	Not reported	$30,885	60%
2	Ashland UniversityAshland · private nonprofit	$50,262	$57,458	$30,625	61%
3	University of AkronAkron · public	$49,049	$55,195	$31,000	63%
4	Ohio StateColumbus · public	$48,597	$65,016	$19,900	41%
5	Wright StateDayton · public	$46,523	$68,814	$22,375	48%
6	Bowling Green StateBowling Green · public	$46,018	$55,822	$25,769	56%
7	Central StateWilberforce · public	$29,472	$45,357	$31,569	107%

One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Ohio business 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 7 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 business, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

General and Operations Managers

$97,700

Median pay in Ohio. 153,160 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $47,400Top 10%: $216,360

Project Management Specialists

$95,770

Median pay in Ohio. 34,260 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $59,280Top 10%: $160,570

Management Analysts

$94,270

Median pay in Ohio. 25,120 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $61,600Top 10%: $146,740

Sales Managers

$135,510

Median pay in Ohio. 22,840 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $74,190Top 10%: $251,110

Common questions

Franklin University in Columbus reports the highest median first-year pay, $51,408. Its median federal debt is $30,885.

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 Ohio 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