Best HBCUs for securing top jobs and high salaries, ranked
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Forbes just released its top HBCU rankings, highlighting the public and private institutions delivering the highest return on investment, graduation rates, and mid-career median pay. The recognition comes as demand for the Black college experience reaches record highs—even as campuses navigate ongoing controversies like financial aid constraints and Howard University’s recent unenrollments over unpaid balances. Despite those systemic hurdles, the culture on these campuses remains undeniably rooted in history, pride, hustle, and community. Here is a look at which schools led the ranking and what the metrics reveal about graduate outcomes.
Despite a 2018 audit that exposed nearly $1 million in embezzled financial aid, to the historic 34-day Blackburn Center sit-in in 2021 over unlivable housing conditions and campus mold, Forbes named Howard the #1 private HBCU in the nation.
The Meeca earned the top spot based on its impressive 69% six-year graduation rate, 90% retention rate, and standout alumni including Kamala Harris, Thurgood Marshall, Toni Morrison and Taraji P. Henson. Howard graduates command an early-career median pay of $70,600, and median mid-career salaries exceeding $123,000.
Claiming the #2 spot is Spelman College, an institution founded in 1881 where sisterhood, academic prestige and global leadership shines. Spelman, the country’s first HBCU for women, boasts a 91% retention rate, a powerhouse alumni network that includes Alice Walker and Stacey Abrams, and $102,000 mid-career median pay, Forbes reported.
The Atlanta college is also known for its strong programs in biology, biochemistry, psychology, and education.
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Best HBCUs for securing top jobs and high salaries, ranked
Story by Angela Wilson
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Best HBCUs for Securing Top Jobs and High Salaries, Ranked
Forbes just released its top HBCU rankings, highlighting the public and private institutions delivering the highest return on investment, graduation rates, and mid-career median pay. The recognition comes as demand for the Black college experience reaches record highs—even as campuses navigate ongoing controversies like financial aid constraints and Howard University’s recent unenrollments over unpaid balances. Despite those systemic hurdles, the culture on these campuses remains undeniably rooted in history, pride, hustle, and community. Here is a look at which schools led the ranking and what the metrics reveal about graduate outcomes.
Top Private HBCUs
1. Howard University
Howard University (Photo: Getty Images)
Despite a 2018 audit that exposed nearly $1 million in embezzled financial aid, to the historic 34-day Blackburn Center sit-in in 2021 over unlivable housing conditions and campus mold, Forbes named Howard the #1 private HBCU in the nation.
The Meeca earned the top spot based on its impressive 69% six-year graduation rate, 90% retention rate, and standout alumni including Kamala Harris, Thurgood Marshall, Toni Morrison and Taraji P. Henson. Howard graduates command an early-career median pay of $70,600, and median mid-career salaries exceeding $123,000.
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2. Spelman College
Claiming the #2 spot is Spelman College, an institution founded in 1881 where sisterhood, academic prestige and global leadership shines. Spelman, the country’s first HBCU for women, boasts a 91% retention rate, a powerhouse alumni network that includes Alice Walker and Stacey Abrams, and $102,000 mid-career median pay, Forbes reported.
The Atlanta college is also known for its strong programs in biology, biochemistry, psychology, and education.
Related: The Rising HBCU Enrollment: 15 Largest Black Schools Ranked by Size
3. Morehouse College
Graduates of Morehouse College arrive for their graduation ceremony ahead of US President Joe Biden’s commencement address, on the campus of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia on May 19, 2024. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, Morehouse’s pipeline of Black male talent remains unrivaled. According to Forbes, Morehouse College graduates boast a median mid-career salary of $126,700—the highest among the top three private HBCUs.
With a roster of distinguished alumni that includes Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, and Maynard Jackson—the first African American mayor of Atlanta—Morehouse continues to stand on a tradition of brotherhood and a century-long mandate to cultivate transformative leaders that change the world.
When it comes to producing Black doctors, Xavier University of Louisiana is in a league of its own. The nation’s only historically Catholic HBCU “has more Black students who go on to graduate from medical school than any other college in the country, outpacing even Ivy League campuses and huge state universities,” the school announced.
Driven by elite programs in pre-med, pharmacy, and neuroscience, XULA turns undergraduate ambition into success well beyond the classroom with mid-career alumni salaries soaring past $104,000.
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