Ranked, compared, and filtered by real data: costs, outcomes, and admissions
Ohio State in Columbus is one of the largest universities in the country by enrollment, with a medical center, law school, and research enterprise that make it a full-service flagship for a large and economically diverse state.
Case Western Reserve brings elite research credentials to Cleveland. Its partnership hospitals in the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals system give medical and health sciences students clinical access that is genuinely exceptional, and Oberlin, one of the first colleges to admit women and Black students in the 19th century, continues to shape American liberal arts education.
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See how Ohio'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 Ohio 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 Ohio'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 Ohio by the ratio of 10-year graduate earnings to annual net price.
| # | College | Net Price / yr | Earnings (10yr) | Ratio | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ohio University-Eastern Campus Saint Clairsville | $3,925 | $52,581 | 13.4× | Excellent |
| 2 | Lorain County Community College Elyria | $3,967 | $38,837 | 9.8× | Excellent |
| 3 | Ohio University-Lancaster Campus Lancaster | $5,650 | $52,581 | 9.3× | Excellent |
| 4 | Ohio University-Zanesville Campus Zanesville | $5,746 | $52,581 | 9.2× | Excellent |
| 5 | Ohio University-Chillicothe Campus Chillicothe | $5,755 | $52,581 | 9.1× | Excellent |
| 6 | Ohio University-Southern Campus Ironton | $5,993 | $52,581 | 8.8× | Excellent |
| 7 | Cuyahoga Community College District Cleveland | $4,266 | $35,654 | 8.4× | Excellent |
| 8 | North Central State College Mansfield | $4,687 | $38,158 | 8.1× | 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 Ohio, based on IPEDS completion data.
The specific degree programs producing the most graduates across Ohio'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 Ohio. 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 Ohio 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.
