You don&#8217;t have to get a bachelor&#8217;s degree to have a successful career. In fact, there are lots of high-paying, meaningful jobs that you can land with an associate degree. To help you make a smart choice about where you should earn an associate degree, Payscale has ranked schools that grant associate degrees in this year&#8217;s College Salary Report. You can compare the salaries for workers with zero-to-five and 10-or-more years of experience who graduated from a wide variety of schools, including public community colleges, private career colleges, for-profit schools, not-for-profit schools, and colleges and universities that offer associate degrees in addition to bachelor&#8217;s degree programs.
In general, public community colleges produce the highest earners. If you are looking for an affordable education, that&#8217;s a good thing &#8211; community colleges are usually the most affordable way to get a college education whether you want an AA or want to transfer to a four-year school.

Earn your associate degree alumni earn high salaries. Find the best 2-year colleges by graduate salary nationwide in Payscale's College Salary Report.

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PayScale has ranked hundreds of two-year colleges by how much their alumni go on to earn. Find out which schools produce the highest-paid graduates.

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