Which Washington business administration program has the lowest debt?

Olympic College reports the lowest median federal debt, $11,305, with first-year pay of $58,058.

How much do business administration graduates earn in Washington?

The median across 18 Washington business administration bachelor's programs is $48,708 in the first year after graduating and $70,012 five years after.

How many business administration bachelor's programs are in Washington?

18 Washington programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 15 of them also report federal debt.

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

18 programs report first-year pay
15 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Business Administration, Management and Operations

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Washington business administration bachelor's program pays its graduates $48,708 in their first year, $3,312 more than the national median. City University of Seattle reports the highest first-year pay ($79,592), and Olympic College the lowest median debt ($11,305).

Median first-year pay$48,708National $45,396

Median pay after 5 years$70,012National $62,714

Median federal debt$20,959National $26,000

Debt-to-earnings40%National 55%

All 18 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	City University of SeattleSeattle · private nonprofit	$79,592	$88,228	$18,000	23%
2	Olympic CollegeBremerton · public	$58,058	Not reported	$11,305	19%
3	Northwest UniversityKirkland · private nonprofit	$54,779	$78,310	$25,000	46%
4	Western Washington UniversityBellingham · public	$53,402	$80,761	$17,375	33%
5	Pacific Lutheran UniversityTacoma · private nonprofit	$52,919	$70,355	$20,959	40%
6	Washington StatePullman · public	$52,636	$69,669	$21,102	40%
7	Central Washington UniversityEllensburg · public	$49,791	$65,927	$20,000	40%
8	University of Puget SoundTacoma · private nonprofit	$49,106	$82,150	$26,442	54%
9	University of WashingtonSeattle · public	$49,004	$75,229	$15,000	31%
10	Columbia Basin CollegePasco · public	$48,411	$69,169	$12,500	26%
11	Clark CollegeVancouver · public	$48,159	Not reported	$23,274	48%
12	Saint Martin's UniversityLacey · private nonprofit	$47,962	$60,842	$25,000	52%
13	Whitworth UniversitySpokane · private nonprofit	$47,241	$64,039	$29,124	62%
14	Seattle UniversitySeattle · private nonprofit	$46,598	$77,071	$22,979	49%
15	Eastern Washington UniversityCheney · public	$45,138	$62,866	$19,168	42%
16	Yakima Valley CollegeYakima · public	$44,370	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
17	Spokane Falls Community CollegeSpokane · public	$27,280	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
18	Northwest Indian CollegeBellingham · public	$25,182	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported

Yakima Valley College, Spokane Falls Community College, and Northwest Indian College report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Washington business administration program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 15 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 administration, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

General and Operations Managers

$133,750

Median pay in Washington. 50,630 people work in this job in Washington. 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%: $77,680Top 10%: $269,320

First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

$79,480

Median pay in Washington. 31,790 people work in this job in Washington. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 127,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $56,900Top 10%: $120,710

First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers

$60,750

Median pay in Washington. 27,640 people work in this job in Washington. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 113,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $44,890Top 10%: $86,860

Project Management Specialists

$124,160

Median pay in Washington. 36,240 people work in this job in Washington. 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%: $74,750Top 10%: $202,120

Common questions

City University of Seattle in Seattle reports the highest median first-year pay, $79,592. Its median federal debt is $18,000.

Business Administration (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked1,105 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 Washington rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the business administration 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