Law Schools Ranked by Debt to Starting Income Ratio

With recent data published by the Department of Education, Law School Transparency compiled and analyzed law school graduates' median law school debt and their median earnings in the year after graduation. Below, we have listed each law school ranked by highest to lowest earnings to debt ratio.

Note that the data reflects 2015 and 2016 law school graduates, and only those who borrowed money to attend law school. Four schools (Faulkner, Indiana Tech, UDC, and Vermont Law School) did not have data reported by the Department of Education and thus are not included in this list.

1 Stanford University

2 Harvard University

3 Duke University

4 University of Pennsylvania

5 University of Chicago

6 Cornell University

7 Northwestern University

8 Brigham Young University

9 Columbia University

10 Yale University

11 University of Iowa

12 University of Connecticut

13 Washington University in St Louis

14 University of Virginia

15 New York University

16 University of Wisconsin

17 Georgia State University

18 University of California - Berkeley

19 Temple University

20 Boston College

21 University of Michigan

22 Wayne State University

23 University of Tennessee

24 University of Nebraska

25 Texas Tech University

26 University of Texas

27 Vanderbilt University

28 University of Arkansas - Fayetteville

29 Mitchell Hamline School of Law

30 University of California - Los Angeles

31 University of North Dakota

32 University of Kansas

33 University of Kentucky

34 University of Mississippi

35 University of Alabama

36 University of Illinois

37 University of Houston

38 Boston University

39 Baylor University

40 University of Utah

41 University of Hawaii

42 University of Oklahoma

43 Louisiana State University

44 CUNY

45 University of Nevada - Las Vegas

46 University of Georgia

47 University of Missouri - Columbia

48 University of Southern California

49 Villanova University

50 University of Tulsa

51 University of Florida

52 University of California - Davis

53 Quinnipiac University

54 Washington and Lee University

55 Fordham University

56 University of Arizona

57 University of Montana

58 University of Cincinnati

59 Indiana University - Bloomington

60 Rutgers University

61 Georgetown University

62 University of South Dakota

63 University of Wyoming

64 West Virginia University

65 University of Arkansas - Little Rock

66 William and Mary

67 Case Western Reserve University

68 University of Memphis

69 Arizona State University

70 Duquesne University

71 Ohio State University

72 University of Puerto Rico

73 Cardozo-Yeshiva University

74 Cleveland-Marshall College of Law

75 Washburn University

76 University of New Mexico

77 Pace University

78 University of St. Thomas - Minneapolis

79 St. John's University

80 George Mason University

81 Northern Kentucky University

82 Concordia University School of Law

83 Florida State University

84 University of Notre Dame

85 University of Washington

86 SUNY Buffalo

87 University of California - Irvine

88 University of Akron

89 Michigan State University

90 University of Oregon

91 Drexel University

92 University of Idaho

93 Chicago-Kent College of Law

94 Southern Methodist University

95 University of Colorado

96 Brooklyn Law School

97 University of Richmond

98 Northern Illinois University

99 Syracuse University

100 University of Minnesota

101 University of North Carolina

102 Emory University

103 Liberty University

104 University of Toledo

105 Pennsylvania State University - Dickinson Law

106 Pennsylvania State University - Penn State Law

107 University of Missouri - Kansas City

108 Indiana University - Indianapolis

109 University of California - Hastings

110 St. Louis University

111 Albany Law School

112 Wake Forest University

113 University of Baltimore

114 Northeastern University

115 University of South Carolina

116 University of Maryland

117 University of Pittsburgh

118 Florida International University

119 University of San Diego

120 Tulane University

121 Gonzaga University

122 New England School of Law

123 Southern Illinois University

124 Loyola University Chicago

125 George Washington University

126 St. Mary's University

127 University of Louisville

128 Texas A&M

129 Drake University

130 Loyola Marymount University

131 Seton Hall University

132 University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

133 South Texas College of Law Houston

134 Belmont University

135 Santa Clara University

136 Catholic University of America

137 Suffolk University

138 North Carolina Central University

139 Ohio Northern University

140 DePaul University

141 Southern University Law Center

142 Chapman University

143 Roger Williams University

144 University of Denver

145 Regent University

146 Pepperdine University

147 Florida A&M University

148 Hofstra University

149 Touro College

150 Lewis and Clark College

151 Widener University

152 Stetson University

153 Creighton University

154 Western New England University School of Law

155 New York Law School

156 Capital University

157 University of Dayton

158 Western State University

159 University of Miami

160 Marquette University

161 Seattle University

162 Howard University

163 University of the Pacific

164 Samford University

165 Mississippi College

166 Mercer University

167 Oklahoma City University

168 Nova Southeastern University

169 California Western School of Law

170 Loyola University New Orleans

171 Texas Southern University

172 American University

173 University of Detroit Mercy

174 University of Illinois at Chicago - John Marshall Law School

175 Campbell University

176 Willamette University

177 Lincoln Memorial University

178 Charleston School of Law

179 University of San Francisco

180 Appalachian School of Law

181 Valparaiso University

182 University of La Verne

183 St. Thomas University - Florida

184 Inter American University

185 Ave Maria School of Law

186 Arizona Summit Law School

187 Elon Law School

188 Golden Gate University

189 Southwestern Law School

190 Thomas M Cooley Law School

191 John Marshall Law School - Atlanta

192 Barry University

193 Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico

194 Charlotte School of Law

195 Thomas Jefferson School of Law

196 Whittier Law School

197 Florida Coastal School of Law

Note: a previous version of this blog included data compiled by Forbes, which we were later informed had several inconsistencies. Thus we have removed that list and replaced it with the above list based on the more complete, accurate data as compiled by Law School Transparency.

Looking for other ways to sort through all the data available about law schools? Check out our customizable law school data and rankings tool, My Rank (it's free, and it always will be).