Wagner College is in the top 20% of U.S. colleges for creating higher salaries for graduates, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The college was ranked 120 out of 538 institutions — 12th in New York State — for alumni success, according to the Journal’s 2026 “Best Colleges in the U.S.” list, which was created in partnership with the survey company College Pulse.
Wagner was in the top half of the overall Best Colleges list, as well as rankings of best value schools and schools that produce social mobility for students.
“Our faculty and staff work hard to help prepare our students for success,” said Wagner President Jeffrey Doggett.
The salary ranking, according to the Journal, “measures the extent to which a college boosts its graduates’ salaries beyond what they would be expected to earn regardless of which college they attended,” combined with a measure of the time to pay off the average cost of attendance.
The Journal ranking follows closely this fall’s recognition of Wagner as a Higher Earnings Institution by the Carnegie Classifications of Higher Education, based on alumni salaries. Money awarded Wagner 4.5 out of 5 stars in its 2025 Best Colleges listing, which was based in part on alumni pay. And a 2024 Payscale examination of post-graduate salaries listed Wagner in the top 10% of U.S. institutions.
“Rankings like these are just more validation of what our students and alumni already know — a Wagner degree is a differentiator in terms of employability and earning potential,” Doggett said.
