Ranked, compared, and filtered by real data: costs, outcomes, and admissions
The University of Oregon and Oregon State represent the classic public flagship split, with Oregon more liberal arts oriented in Eugene and Oregon State more land-grant and technical in Corvallis, while Reed College in Portland operates as one of the most academically rigorous small liberal arts colleges in the country, graduating a disproportionate number of students who go on to earn PhDs.
Portland State has built a strong urban planning, sustainability, and social work focus that reflects the particular preoccupations of a city that takes those issues seriously.
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See how Oregon'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 Oregon 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 Oregon'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 Oregon by the ratio of 10-year graduate earnings to annual net price.
| # | College | Net Price / yr | Earnings (10yr) | Ratio | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portland State University Portland | $9,552 | $57,906 | 6.1× | Excellent |
| 2 | Clackamas Community College Oregon City | $7,855 | $42,886 | 5.5× | Excellent |
| 3 | Mt Hood Community College Gresham | $7,821 | $41,125 | 5.3× | Excellent |
| 4 | Chemeketa Community College Salem | $8,200 | $40,968 | 5.0× | Excellent |
| 5 | Klamath Community College Klamath Falls | $7,050 | $34,357 | 4.9× | Excellent |
| 6 | Oregon Institute of Technology Klamath Falls | $15,706 | $72,273 | 4.6× | Excellent |
| 7 | Southwestern Oregon Community College Coos Bay | $8,527 | $38,349 | 4.5× | Excellent |
| 8 | Umpqua Community College Roseburg | $8,340 | $36,676 | 4.4× | 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 Oregon, based on IPEDS completion data.
The specific degree programs producing the most graduates across Oregon'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 Oregon. 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 Oregon 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.
