Illini Success report highlights increase in employment, starting salaries among recent Illinois graduates – News Bureau
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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Recent graduates from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign achieved high rates of employment and continuing education along with an increase in starting salaries and signing bonuses, according to the latest Illini Success report.
The data also spotlights the university’s role in keeping top talent within the state of Illinois following graduation.
This year’s
Illini Success report
reflects the postgraduation plans of students who completed undergraduate degrees in August 2024, December 2024 and May 2025. It captures the number of graduates who earn a “first destination” — defined as a job, enrollment in graduate or professional school, or a volunteer position — within six months of graduation.
The report found 93% of this graduation cohort secured a first destination: 58% of students started a job, 34% enrolled in additional education and less than 1% took on a volunteer position.
This cohort also saw a significant boost in compensation upon entering the workforce, with the average salary for employed recent Illinois graduates reported at $79,516 — an increase of 5.5% — and a median signing bonus of $6,000.
Illinois bolstered an already strong yearly trend of its students increasingly staying in state following graduation, according to the report.
Of those graduates who are Illinois residents, 80% secured their first destination within Illinois. From the entire cohort of graduates from the 2024-2025 classes, including out-of-state and international students, 70% will remain in the state for employment or continuing education, a 1% increase from last year. The remaining 30% secured their first destinations across 47 other U.S. states, District of Columbia, and 24 other countries.
“Illinois operates at a large scale and continues to equip students with the tangible skills that they leverage for success beyond graduation,” said Chancellor Charles L. Isbell, Jr. “This year’s report is further proof that Illinois delivers on its promise of allowing students to explore and pursue their passions while building a solid foundation for future leadership.”
For those undergraduate students who pursued graduate or professional school programs, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign was overwhelmingly the top destination, with 865 graduates staying at the university for continuing education — 10 times more than those who enrolled in any other institution.
The Illini Success report also detailed the university’s commitment to providing experiential learning to its undergraduate students and evidence that these learning experiences can serve as a meaningful pipeline to successful postgraduation opportunities.
The report noted that 91% of graduates took part in experiential learning (internship, research project, study abroad, service learning, clinical programs) while attending Illinois, with 43% of those students receiving job offers as a result of that opportunity.
Employers that hired at least 10 graduates include Archer Daniels Midland, Amazon, Caterpillar Inc., Chicago Public Schools, Deloitte, Echo Global Logistics, Epic Systems, EY, Google, JPMorganChase, KPMG, Microsoft, PepsiCo, PwC and State Farm, among others.
Data obtained to prepare the annual Illini Success report comes from a survey of graduates and through a collection of other sources, including the National Student Clearinghouse, college reports and LinkedIn metrics. This year’s report had a knowledge rate of 65%. The yearly project is a collaboration across the university between the Office of the Provost, The Career Center, Division of Management Information, Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning and other partners.
Illini Success by the Numbers (2024-2025)
93, the percentage of graduates who secured a first destination (job, graduate school, volunteer program).
91, the percentage of students who participated in an experiential learning opportunity (internship, research, study abroad, etc.)
43, the percentage of students who received a job offer as a result of their experiential learning opportunity
80, the percentage of graduates who are Illinois residents and stayed in the state.
48, the number of states, including Illinois, where students found first destinations.
24, the number of other countries where students found first destinations.
$79,516, the average salary for an employed recent graduate.
$52,600 to $90,000, the range of median salary by college.
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