Subject ranking — 2026 edition
Best UK Universities for Graduate Salary
Raw earnings favour institutions that teach medicine, economics and computing. This table adjusts for subject mix so the ordering reflects the effect of the institution rather than its course catalogue.
London School of Economics is ranked first in the 2026 best uk universities for graduate salary, with an overall score of 97.0 out of 100. Imperial College London is second and University of Oxford third. 10 institutions are ranked in this edition.
Published
Outcomes 30%Salary 20%Faculty 15%Selectivity 15%Employers 10%Network 10%
RankInstitution & programmeOverall
- 1
London School of Economics
London
Outcomes95Salary99Faculty95Selectivity96Employers95Network9297.0Score - 2
Imperial College London
London
Outcomes96Salary97Faculty96Selectivity95Employers94Network9295.2Score - 3
University of Oxford
Oxford
Outcomes96Salary95Faculty98Selectivity99Employers97Network9293.8Score - 4
University of Cambridge
Cambridge
Outcomes96Salary94Faculty98Selectivity99Employers97Network9193.1Score - 5
University College London
London
Outcomes91Salary90Faculty93Selectivity90Employers90Network9088.4Score - 6
King's College London
London
Outcomes85Salary87Faculty85Selectivity82Employers84Network8584.0Score - 7
University of Warwick
Coventry
Outcomes86Salary86Faculty83Selectivity84Employers83Network7983.3Score - 8
University of Bath
Bath
Outcomes86Salary84Faculty79Selectivity80Employers80Network7681.1Score - 9
Durham University
Durham
Outcomes84Salary83Faculty79Selectivity84Employers80Network7580.4Score - 10
University of Bristol
Bristol
Outcomes83Salary81Faculty80Selectivity81Employers80Network7679.6Score
Graduate Salary 2026: frequently asked questions
- Which institution is number one in the 2026 graduate salary ranking?
- London School of Economics, based in London, ranks first with an overall score of 97.0 out of 100.
- How is this ranking calculated?
- Every entry is scored on the same six weighted indicators — Graduate outcomes (30%), Salary uplift (20%), Faculty & research strength (15%), Selectivity (15%), Employer reputation (10%), Cohort & network reach (10%) — each normalised across the table and combined into an overall score out of 100. Nothing is reweighted table by table.
- How many institutions are ranked, and how often is the table updated?
- 10 institutions appear in the 2026 edition. A new edition is published every year on 30 September, with all six indicators re-collected for that edition.
- Can an institution pay to appear or move up?
- No. No institution pays to be assessed, to appear in a table, or to change its position, and no score is shown to an institution before publication.
Related rankings
Scored on the composite set out in our methodology. See also all rankings.