The 25 Most Underrated Colleges In America

Future income isn't the only factor that should determine college choice, but it may be the most important one.

So how good are the famous college rankings from U.S. News & World Report at predicting future income? It turns out there are some majorly underrated and overrated schools.

We plotted U.S. News' ranking of the best colleges against PayScale's mid-career salary rank to identify the outliers (read the full methodology here).

University of Massachusetts Lowell emerged as the most underrated school, heading a list of state schools and lesser-known tech schools.

#25 Widener University

Ranked #378 in our composite of U.S. News's college and university lists.

Ranked #319 in PayScale's mid-career salary list.

(As you can see, Widener ranks much better on salary than it does in the standard college ranking.)

Widener is a private school with 6,000 students on a 108-acre campus just outside of Philadelphia. Almost 30% of the students major in business and 22% major in health professions, which may explain why graduated have such high mid-career salaries at an average of $78,200.

Note: Although U.S. News ranks colleges and universities separately, we combined these lists by doubling the ranking. Read the full methodology here.

#24 Northern Illinois University

Ranked #378 in our composite of U.S. News's college and university lists.

Ranked #314 in PayScale's mid-career salary list.

Located in DeKalb, IL, Northern Illinois is a large public school that's comprised of seven colleges offering degrees in a variety of subjects, including speech, psychology, nursing, and accounting. The average mid-career salary is $78,300.

Note: Although U.S. News ranks colleges and universities separately, we combined these lists by doubling the ranking. Read the full methodology here.

#23 University of San Francisco

Ranked #212 in our composite of U.S. News's college and university lists.

Ranked #82 in PayScale's mid-career salary list.

The University of San Francisco is a private Jesuit university that was founded in 1855. Even though it's not ranked very high at #106 on US News' list, students are drawn here for its great location right near the Golden Gate Bridge and for its small class sizes. The average mid-career salary is high at $92,400.

Note: Although U.S. News ranks colleges and universities separately, we combined these lists by doubling the ranking. Read the full methodology here.