Washington University Tops Another National Ranking!

Median Household Income of Selected Colleges and Universities

I was pretty intrigued when a new study appeared last week which highlighted Washington University in a not so great light, but I was a bit surprised how local journalists analyzed the results. An article in the New York Times first reported on the new study which puts Wash U at the very top of colleges where the top 1% (in terms of income) outrepresent the bottom 60% in household income. The numbers are based on some older data, but in the article 21.7% of Wash U students come from the top 1% ($630K+ income) compared to only 6.1% from the bottom 60% (<$65K.) The Wash U administration uses these numbers to pat themselves on the back and boast how in just four years they are projected to more than double that 6.1% number to 13% (still a pretty paltry figure.) But what both recent Post Dispatch and Student Life articles tend to do is focus too much at the top and bottom of the socioeconomic data, and skip the much larger middle data. What I found most shocking was the median household income number which none of these articles seem to address. For Washington University that number is an impressive $272,000. Here is a table where I include Wash U as well as some nearby peers, plus a number of local colleges and universities:

	Med. HH Inc	Top 1%	Top 10%	Top 20%	Bot 60%	Bot 20%
Wash U	$272,000.00	21.7	71	84	6.1	< 1
Notre Dame	$191,400.00	15.4	59	75	10	1.6
Northwestern	$171,200.00	14.1	53	66	16.8	3.7
U. Chicago	$134,500.00	10	44	58	24.5	5.5
Saint Louis U	$133,700.00	5.4	41	61	19	3.3
Mizzou/MUST	$110,100.00	2.9	29	50	25.4	4.3
U. Illinois	$109,000.00	2.5	30	50	29.5	6.1
Truman State	$108,400.00	< 1	22	50	18.8	2.4
SLCOP	$103,300.00	1.4	20	50	19.1	2.1
Maryville	$99,500.00	< 1	19	43	22.6	4.3
Fontbonne	$98,000.00	< 1	20	43	30.1	6.7
Indiana	$95,800.00	3.1	24	42	31.2	5.8
SIUE	$93,100.00	< 1	14	37	30.8	5.7
Lindenwood	$92,500.00	< 1	16	37	31.1	4.8
Missouri State	$91,200.00	< 1	16	37	31	4.5
Webster	$90,800.00	1.6	15	38	35.3	6.2
SEMO	$77,100.00	< 1	11	29	40.7	8.9
U.Central MO	$75,900.00	< 1	9.3	26	41.6	7.8
SIUC	$75,700.00	< 1	14	31	43.3	9.2
SLCC	$48,000.00	< 1	7.1	17	62.2	18

Compared to the numbers for Notre Dame, Northwestern and U. Chicago, other elite midwestern schools, the $272K of Wash U is a very striking median household income. None of those competitive scchools breaks a median income of $200K whereas Wash U is closer to $300K. Plus none of those other top school even have 1/6 of their students from the top 1% where WUSTL has more than 1 out of  every 5. And they all have at least 1% from the bottom 20%.

It is also interesting to look at the distribution as it is spread through other schools. I was surprised that SLU is actually very close to U. Chicago in income distribution, since U.Chicago is a much more selective school. I am sure students at SLU realize their demographic is not as wealthy as nearby Wash U, but compared to just about every other school they are a fairly affluent bunch. With 1 out of every 20 students hailing from the top 1% and over 6/10 from the top 20% they are definitely not a typical middle-class distribution. 

I believe the numbers for "Missouri" include Mizzou and S&T (Rolla) and possibly UMSL and UMKC as well (the two latter campuses cannot be found in the data otherwise) and even their more open admissions does not promote a more "typical" income distribution. Nearly 3% come from the top 1%, and half are from the top 20%. Only 1/4 of students at the University of Missouri system come from the bottom 60% of household incomes, substantially more that at Wash U or SLU, but still not a very large number. The median income of $110,000 is also suprisingly not that much lower than SLU or U. Chicago, but similar to UIUC or Truman State.

Looking at other local schools the only one that actually follows the true income population distribution is the bottom school, St. Louis Community College, where the percentages almost line up exactly as expected and with a median income of $48,000, close to the $47,000 median income in Missouri.