What is a college's “mobility rate”?

It's the share of a college's students who both grew up in the bottom fifth of the household-income distribution and reached the top fifth as adults — a measure combining access (enrolling lower-income students) and success (their later earnings). It comes from Opportunity Insights' Mobility Report Cards.

How current is this data?

The mobility figures track students born around 1980–1982 (who attended college circa 1999–2004), linked to later tax records. They're the best available causal-quality mobility data but are historical, so treat them as directional rather than a current snapshot.

Colleges with the Best Economic Mobility — AdmitQuant

Colleges with the best economic mobility

Ranked by mobility rate — the share of students who rise from the bottom income quintile to the top — from Opportunity Insights (Chetty et al.). A measure of both who a college enrolls and how they fare afterward.

#	College	Location	Mobility rate	Accept.
1	CUNY Bernard M Baruch College	New York, NY	12.9%	48%
2	CUNY Lehman College	Bronx, NY	10.2%	57%
3	CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice	New York, NY	9.7%	57%
4	Pace University	New York, NY	8.4%	76%
5	Texas A & M International University	Laredo, TX	8.1%	44%
6	CUNY Brooklyn College	Brooklyn, NY	8.1%	58%
7	CUNY Hunter College	New York, NY	7.5%	54%
8	CUNY Queens College	Queens, NY	7.1%	64%
9	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	Pomona, CA	6.8%	75%
10	CUNY York College	Jamaica, NY	6.8%	64%
11	UC Irvine	Irvine, CA	6.8%	29%
12	New Jersey Institute of Technology	Newark, NJ	6.5%	65%
13	UC Riverside	Riverside, CA	6.0%	76%
14	UCLA	Los Angeles, CA	5.6%	9%
15	Albertus Magnus College	New Haven, CT	5.5%	59%
16	Xavier University of Louisiana	New Orleans, LA	5.3%	69%
17	Tuskegee University	Tuskegee, AL	5.2%	49%
18	Florida International University	Miami, FL	5.2%	55%
19	Binghamton	Vestal, NY	5.1%	39%
20	Dillard University	New Orleans, LA	5.0%	42%
21	UC Berkeley	Berkeley, CA	4.9%	11%
22	UC San Diego	La Jolla, CA	4.8%	27%
23	Grambling State University	Grambling, LA	4.6%	45%
24	Art Center College of Design	Pasadena, CA	4.6%	75%
25	UC Davis	Davis, CA	4.4%	42%
26	California State University-Long Beach	Long Beach, CA	4.4%	46%
27	Stevens	Hoboken, NJ	4.3%	48%
28	University of the Pacific	Stockton, CA	4.3%	71%
29	Dickinson State University	Dickinson, ND	4.1%	37%
30	Howard University	Washington, DC	4.0%	41%
31	New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology	Socorro, NM	4.0%	44%
32	Fordham	Bronx, NY	4.0%	59%
33	USC	Los Angeles, CA	3.9%	10%
34	Elizabeth City State University	Elizabeth City, NC	3.9%	64%
35	LeTourneau University	Longview, TX	3.8%	38%
36	Florida Institute of Technology	Melbourne, FL	3.8%	58%
37	Fresno Pacific University	Fresno, CA	3.7%	64%
38	Plaza College	Forest Hills, NY	3.7%	30%
39	State University of New York at New Paltz	New Paltz, NY	3.7%	62%
40	San Diego State University	San Diego, CA	3.7%	36%
41	Chicago State University	Chicago, IL	3.7%	43%
42	Fashion Institute of Technology	New York, NY	3.6%	60%
43	Illinois Tech	Chicago, IL	3.6%	55%
44	University of La Verne	La Verne, CA	3.6%	71%
45	NYU	New York, NY	3.6%	9%
46	Claflin University	Orangeburg, SC	3.6%	65%
47	Barry University	Miami, FL	3.6%	77%
48	Maine Maritime Academy	Castine, ME	3.5%	54%
49	Barnard	New York, NY	3.5%	9%
50	Kean University	Union, NJ	3.4%	76%
51	MIT	Cambridge, MA	3.4%	5%
52	Occidental College	Los Angeles, CA	3.3%	44%
53	College of the Ozarks	Point Lookout, MO	3.3%	12%
54	Clark Atlanta University	Atlanta, GA	3.3%	64%
55	Spelman College	Atlanta, GA	3.3%	25%
56	Rochester Institute of Technology	Rochester, NY	3.3%	67%
57	Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University	Tallahassee, FL	3.3%	21%
58	Nova Southeastern University	Fort Lauderdale, FL	3.3%	73%
59	Adelphi University	Garden City, NY	3.3%	66%
60	Southeastern Oklahoma State University	Durant, OK	3.2%	76%

Quick answers

What is a college's “mobility rate”?: It's the share of a college's students who both grew up in the bottom fifth of the household-income distribution and reached the top fifth as adults — a measure combining access (enrolling lower-income students) and success (their later earnings). It comes from Opportunity Insights' Mobility Report Cards.
How current is this data?: The mobility figures track students born around 1980–1982 (who attended college circa 1999–2004), linked to later tax records. They're the best available causal-quality mobility data but are historical, so treat them as directional rather than a current snapshot.

Source: Opportunity Insights Mobility Report Cards. Historical (1980–82 cohorts); not a guarantee of individual outcomes.

These outputs are estimates from a baseline model — not guarantees of admission, cost, or outcome.