If you’re trying to find a college, you’re probably focused on the average cost of tuition. But maybe you shouldn’t be.

Instead, perhaps you should focus on the average salary of college graduates from the schools you are considering.

The 2009 PayScale College Salary Report says that Dartmouth College graduates have the highest mid-career median salary, at $129,000. Loma Linda University alumni have the highest median starting salary, at $71,400.

Here are the 20 US colleges and universities that produce graduates with the highest mid-career salaries. In the case of a tie, the college with the higher median starting salary received a higher ranking.

Colleges and Universities	Mid-Career Median Salary
1. Dartmouth College	$129,000
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology	$126,000
3. Harvard University	$126,000
4. Harvey Mudd College	$125,000
5. Stanford University	$124,000
6. Princeton University	$124,000
7. Colgate University	$122,000
8. University of Notre Dame	$121,000
9. Yale University	$120,000
10. University of Pennsylvania	$118,000
11. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	$116,000
12. Duke University	$116,000
13. Bucknell University	$116,000
14. California Institute of Technology	$115,000
15. Polytechnic University of New York, Brooklyn	$114,000
16. Lehigh University	$114,000
17. Carnegie Mellon University	$113,000
18. University of California, Berkeley	$112,000
19. Santa Clara University	$111,000
20. Georgetown University	$111,000

Of course, the salary you can expect depends on more than simply the college from which you graduate. Your career plays a major role in your salary. For better or worse, the average salary of an engineer will probably be higher than the average salary of an elementary school teacher no matter either of their alma maters.

Still, the best college deal may come from average salary statistics, not tuition statistics. Neither will measure a college graduate’s happiness with a chosen field, but it can’t hurt!

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