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These are the Russell Group unis with the highest average grad salaries in 2024.


These are the Russell Group unis with the highest average grad salaries in 2024.

We have painstakingly calculated the average graduate salary for each Russell Group Uni based on data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA’s) 2024 Graduate Outcomes Survey.  Who knew that maths GCSE could be useful? The data comes from undergrads and postgrads who escaped university in the 2021/2022 academic year, so it shows what students from these unis are earning a year and a half or so after they graduate, once they’ve found their first proper grown-up non-pub jobs.

The University of Liverpool and Cardiff University fall at the bottom of the table, with grads making just £28,712.99 and £29,263.39 respectively. That’s below the national average graduate salary of 29,535.97.

Clearly, there is little point in trying so hard to get into Oxbridge, because Cambridge and Oxford are only in third and fourth place on the list. Students from the London School of Economics and Political Science (aka LSE) have the highest grad salaries, with a massive £39,966.28 each year. I guess it makes sense that people who did degrees about money know how to make lots of it. Closely behind LSE is another London-based uni, Imperial. Grads from those unis are going to need the extra cash considering what a disturbing amount of money they spent on rent.

Without further ado, here are the average grad salaries for each Russell Group uni in 2024:

24. University of Liverpool £28,712.99

23. Cardiff University, £29,263.39

22. University of York, £29,732.39

21. Queen’s University Belfast, £29,810.19

20. Newcastle University, £30,105.32

19. University of Manchester, £30,116.54

18. University of Leeds, £30,361.58

17. University of Glasgow, £30,620.21

16. University of Sheffield, £30,687.01

15. University of Southampton, £30,749.51

14. The University of Birmingham, £30.946.11

13. University of Nottingham, £30,999.51

Russell Group unis with the highest grad salaries in 2024

Studying at this mediocre-looking campus in Exeter will result in a mediocre grad salary
(Credit: Chessie Gunner)

12. University of Exeter, £31,097.94

11. University of Bristol, £31,655.08

10. University of Edinburgh, £31,971.90

9. Queen Mary University of London, £32,024.94

8. Durham University, £32,421.32

7. King’s College London, £33,215.28

6. University of Warwick, £34,093.43

5. University College London (UCL), £34,564,77

4. University of Oxford, £35,192.74

3. University of Cambridge, £36,108.26

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