Bay Area schools rank near top for grads’ pay

Two Bay Area universities cracked the top 10 on a new ranking of schools with the highest-paid graduates.

Stanford University came in at No. 5 on the College Salary Report by Payscale, a software company that tracks compensation data across industries.

According to the report, which the company says is based on millions of survey responses from graduates, the median early career pay for a Stanford grad is $98,900, while the same figure for mid-career grads reaches $177,500.

Taking the No. 9 spot is Santa Clara University, a private Jesuit university in Silicon Valley that boasts several famous alumni, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and soccer icon Brandi Chastain. The median pay for an early career grad is $87,300, while mid-career alumni earn $173,100, according to Payscale.

At No. 18, UC Berkeley — the region’s great public powerhouse — is the highest-ranked state university on the list. Newer Berkeley graduates make $88,300, while mid-career workers earn $167,000.

Another, lesser-known Bay Area school — Pacific Union College, a small, private Christian institution in Napa County — finds itself near the top of a separate list of schools that offer two-year degrees. The median mid-career graduate of Pacific Union makes $97,900, according to the report, putting it at No. 3 among two-year schools. It also offers four-year degrees.

The company identified a common thread in many of the top schools.

“The colleges with the highest-earning alumni almost all have one thing in common — they produce a lot of engineers and other workers with valuable STEM degrees,” the report says in reference to science, technology, engineering and math.