Which Ohio computer science program has the lowest debt?

Youngstown State reports the lowest median federal debt, $21,000, with first-year pay of $66,674.

How much do computer science graduates earn in Ohio?

The median across 12 Ohio computer science bachelor's programs is $71,296 in the first year after graduating and $96,661 five years after.

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

12 Ohio programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 11 of them also report federal debt.

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

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

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Ohio computer science bachelor's program pays its graduates $71,296 in their first year, $896 more than the national median. Case Western reports the highest first-year pay ($95,688), and Youngstown State the lowest median debt ($21,000).

Median first-year pay$71,296National $70,400

Median pay after 5 years$96,661National $105,613

Median federal debt$25,000National $23,308

Debt-to-earnings35%National 34%

All 12 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	$95,688	$119,949	$25,391	27%
2	Cedarville UniversityCedarville · private nonprofit	$76,615	$103,162	$27,000	35%
3	Franklin UniversityColumbus · private nonprofit	$76,264	$100,285	$47,834	63%
4	University of DaytonDayton · private nonprofit	$74,052	Not reported	$25,000	34%
5	Ohio UniversityAthens · public	$73,932	$93,416	$21,500	29%
6	Xavier UniversityCincinnati · private nonprofit	$73,546	Not reported	$27,000	37%
7	Ohio Northern UniversityAda · private nonprofit	$69,046	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
8	Cleveland StateCleveland · public	$68,280	Not reported	$23,365	34%
9	Youngstown StateYoungstown · public	$66,674	$71,313	$21,000	31%
10	John Carroll UniversityUniversity Heights · private nonprofit	$65,716	$84,643	$23,250	35%
11	Capital UniversityColumbus · private nonprofit	$62,806	$95,013	$27,000	43%
12	Kent StateKent · public	$60,051	$98,308	$25,000	42%

Ohio Northern University reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Ohio computer science 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 11 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 computer science, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Software Developers

$114,090

Median pay in Ohio. 44,790 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $77,790Top 10%: $168,400

Computer and Information Systems Managers

$163,640

Median pay in Ohio. 19,500 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $100,900Top 10%: $233,510

Data Scientists

$102,630

Median pay in Ohio. 6,100 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $61,710Top 10%: $160,650

Information Security Analysts

$110,480

Median pay in Ohio. 6,010 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $68,070Top 10%: $171,450

Common questions

Case Western in Cleveland reports the highest median first-year pay, $95,688. Its median federal debt is $25,391.

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 Ohio 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