Stanford GSB returned to the top spot in 2022. However, the school didn’t reveal the number of graduates who re-located to the South last year, so it is difficult to know how credible its $40K improvement in pay really is. Still, runner-up Harvard Business School – twice the size of Stanford GSB – sent 28 grads to Southern states in 2022. And HBS grads made $184,339 to start – a shade under the GSB’ at $185,432. In total, 10 business schools averaged $150K or more in the South, including regional powerhouse Emory Goizueta at $151,327. That said, last year’s top school, NYU’s Stern School of Business, sent just 2 members of the Class of 2022 to the South. Individually, an HBS and a GSB grad each took home the highest base salary at $325K, with graduates from Chicago Booth and Virginia Darden also cracking the $200K mark. Several Southern programs also graduated a student who made $175K to start in the region, including Emory Goizueta, Georgia Tech Scheller, Florida Warrington, and Vanderbilt Owen.