Ranked, compared, and filtered by real data: costs, outcomes, and admissions
The University of Minnesota is one of the great comprehensive research universities in the country that doesn't always get the national attention it deserves. Its medical school's deep partnerships with the Mayo Clinic system give it clinical access that most programs can only read about.
Carleton and Macalester bring a serious liberal arts college tradition to the Twin Cities region, and both have produced Fulbright scholars at rates that put them among the most productive small colleges in the country.
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See how Minnesota's colleges compare to the national average on the four measures most students and families weigh when deciding where to go: cost, acceptance rates, graduate earnings, and graduation rates.
The colleges in Minnesota that rank highest by UCD Score, and those that deliver above-national graduate earnings at a below-average net price, two of the strongest signals when choosing a school.
Not every student is looking for the same thing. These six panels rank Minnesota's colleges by the data that matters most for each path.
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by net price
Ranked by enrollment
Ranked by grad earnings
Which colleges give you the most for what you spend? These eight schools rank highest in Minnesota by the ratio of 10-year graduate earnings to annual net price.
| # | College | Net Price / yr | Earnings (10yr) | Ratio | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | White Earth Tribal and Community College Mahnomen | $1,811 | $18,044 | 10.0× | Excellent |
| 2 | Riverland Community College Austin | $7,427 | $45,247 | 6.1× | Excellent |
| 3 | University of Minnesota-Morris Morris | $8,837 | $50,919 | 5.8× | Excellent |
| 4 | University of Minnesota-Rochester Rochester | $13,744 | $69,020 | 5.0× | Excellent |
| 5 | Saint Mary's University of Minnesota Winona | $11,704 | $58,170 | 5.0× | Excellent |
| 6 | South Central College North Mankato | $9,082 | $45,068 | 5.0× | Excellent |
| 7 | St Cloud Technical and Community College Saint Cloud | $9,635 | $46,874 | 4.9× | Excellent |
| 8 | Hennepin Technical College Brooklyn Park | $10,272 | $49,460 | 4.8× | Excellent |
ROI Ratio = median earnings 10 years after enrollment ÷ annual net price. Higher is better.
The six fields of study with the most annual graduates across all colleges in Minnesota, based on IPEDS completion data.
The specific degree programs producing the most graduates across Minnesota's colleges. A more granular view than the Popular Majors above, useful when you already know roughly what you want to study and want to see where the volume is.
Careers with a strong employment footprint in Minnesota. What graduates from local colleges actually go on to do. State-level employment is shown where the BLS publishes it; national wage + growth shown alongside.
The cities in Minnesota with the most colleges, ranked by number of institutions.
Utah crowds 14,137 students into each of its colleges, four times the national norm. These are the states where college options are scarcest per student.
There are 170 colleges that operate a medical school, and they cluster hard. Texas leads with 14, three states hold a fifth of them, and four states have none.
Northeast college graduates earn about $12,700 more a decade out than Southern ones, but they also pay thousands more to get there. The regional split, by the numbers.
Browse our full directory: every college, major, program, and career we track, all built from verified government data.
Scout uses AI and can make mistakes. Verify important numbers on the page.
