The East Coast isn’t the only region blessed with top MBA programs. Along Lake Michigan, you’ll find Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, home of the world’s best marketing program. Travel 20 miles south on Lake shore Drive and you’ll come across the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Booth, tied with Harvard Business School as the #1 MBA program according to U.S. News. And that doesn’t count the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, which nearly cracked the M7 this year in the U.S. News ranking. With these schools boasting such talent and prestige, it’d be natural to assume their graduates pulled down the biggest paychecks in the Midwest. Think again. Stanford GSB grads again made off with the highest pay at $149,250 – a number tempered by the average being based on four graduates. Wharton grads collected $137,279 bases, with one lucky hire bagging $300,000 to start. In fact, Kellogg and Booth landed very similar bases in the Midwest: $132,454 and $131,691 – though a Booth grad also grossed a $225,000 check. Georgetown McDonough made a dent in the Midwest with 13 grads from the 2017 Class earning $129,172, nearly $2,500 higher than Michigan Ross grads received. That said, Midwest schools ranked among the top programs for pay increases in the region over the past two years, headed by the University of Illinois Gies (+$13,808), Northwestern Kellogg (+$12,295), Michigan State Broad (+$11,562), Michigan Ross (+$8,357), and Chicago Booth (+$8,123).