When you picture the Midwest, loyalty and tradition probably come to mind – friendly people who take care of their own…except when it comes to paying their MBAs. Here – like most regions – employers value Stanford GSB grads. This year, Stanford MBAs made $188,125 in the Midwest – up $20,268 from the previous year. The region also valued Wharton grads, who pulled in $175,944 to start, a $19,694 improvement. That said, Harvard MBAs didn’t fare so well in the Midwest last year. Numbering 26 grads, they made $143,365 on average – lower than MBAs from Carnegie Mellon Tepper and Texas McCombs – let alone MIT Sloan and Yale SOM. In fact, Tepper grads ranked 4th in the Midwest for pay, based on earning from 14 grads. In terms of regional powerhouses, the University of Chicago’s Booth School reported a $167,013 average for 2022 grads, besting Northwestern’s Kellogg School, whose MBAs made $160,331. As a whole, there were five programs where a graduate started at $200K, led by Chicago Booth ($300,000) and including Northwestern Kellogg and Notre Dame’s Mendoza College.