Program ranking · CIP 54.01 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for History

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for History (CIP 54.01) bachelor's completers. Rankings use earnings only - not prestige, selectivity, or editorial judgment - and require at least 25 completers so tiny suppressed cohorts do not dominate the list.

Compiled by PlainCollege , College outcomes data analysis

$136,403
Highest history earnings: 100
Colleges ranked: $54,659
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $54,659 median earnings for History bachelor's (CIP 54.01) completers. Dartmouth College leads at $136,403.

According to the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard.

$136,403
#1 - Dartmouth College: $54,659
#100 - the cutoff to make this list: 25+
completers required per school: 1,246
US schools offering this CIP

Earnings are field-of-study medians for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled; see methodology for horizon and lag details.

Dartmouth College

$136,403
Duke University

$112,377
Yale University

$109,947
Columbia University in t…

$98,079
University of Pennsylvania

$88,517
Brown University

$85,520
Cornell University

$82,031
Princeton University

$80,347
Boston College

$80,073
University of Southern C…

$79,940
Northwestern University

$78,966
Colgate University

$75,784
Georgetown University

$75,501
New York University

$74,545
Virginia Military Instit…

$72,630

What this shows History medians often reflect teaching, archives, and graduate-school pipelines - debt and cohort size still matter alongside the headline median.

The full top 100

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
1	Dartmouth College	NH	$136,403	$19,000	40
2	Duke University	NC	$112,377	$13,000	41
3	Yale University	CT	$109,947	$8,250	94
4	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	$98,079	$21,500	111
5	University of Pennsylvania	PA	$88,517	$10,000	64
6	Brown University	RI	$85,520	$13,491	83
7	Cornell University	NY	$82,031	$17,110	50
8	Princeton University	NJ	$80,347	-	68
9	Boston College	MA	$80,073	$18,997	64
10	University of Southern California	CA	$79,940	$12,138	82
11	Northwestern University	IL	$78,966	$15,917	63
12	Colgate University	NY	$75,784	-	31
13	Georgetown University	DC	$75,501	$16,640	46
14	New York University	NY	$74,545	$18,875	118
15	Virginia Military Institute	VA	$72,630	$19,500	34
16	College of the Holy Cross	MA	$72,423	$27,000	65
17	Fordham University	NY	$72,389	$26,000	54
18	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	$71,187	$18,250	139
19	George Washington University	DC	$70,734	$23,250	72
20	Harvard University	MA	$70,679	$12,721	139
21	University of Notre Dame	IN	$70,423	$19,000	57
22	Emory University	GA	$69,988	$21,000	38
23	Vanderbilt University	TN	$69,820	$16,514	49
24	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$66,518	$15,833	60
25	Binghamton University	NY	$65,984	$18,375	77
26	Tufts University	MA	$65,540	$15,500	30
27	California State University-East Bay	CA	$65,217	$20,000	39
28	Syracuse University	NY	$64,871	$24,250	44
29	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$64,755	$13,034	121
30	University of Chicago	IL	$64,330	-	79
31	Monmouth University	NJ	$63,947	$27,000	26
32	William & Mary	VA	$63,632	$15,000	99
33	Mount Saint Mary College	NY	$63,174	$26,999	35
34	College of Staten Island CUNY	NY	$63,071	$17,354	45
35	Barnard College	NY	$62,258	$16,350	41
36	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$62,077	$19,096	121
37	University of California-San Diego	CA	$61,745	$16,756	78
38	CUNY Lehman College	NY	$61,512	$12,897	34
39	The University of Texas at Dallas	TX	$61,321	$19,125	25
40	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	$61,059	$15,000	134
41	Oberlin College	OH	$60,895	$25,250	29
42	Hobart William Smith Colleges	NY	$60,616	$27,000	30
43	University of California-Santa Cruz	CA	$60,519	$18,100	93
44	Kean University	NJ	$60,236	$22,158	51
45	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	$60,089	$21,026	85
46	Boston University	MA	$59,986	$25,996	47
47	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	$59,819	$20,499	49
48	Vassar College	NY	$59,814	$19,000	29
49	American Public University System	WV	$59,793	$30,321	103
50	National University	CA	$59,645	$29,687	29
51	American University	DC	$59,630	$26,000	25
52	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$59,555	$13,500	249
53	Williams College	MA	$59,535	-	53
54	Marquette University	WI	$59,529	$19,369	38
55	Brandeis University	MA	$59,426	$23,250	38
56	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	$59,342	$14,282	156
57	University of Kansas	KS	$58,936	$21,695	38
58	San Francisco State University	CA	$58,717	$15,000	61
59	Washington State University	WA	$58,415	$22,266	73
60	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$58,343	$19,500	119
61	Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	$58,258	$19,975	39
62	CUNY Hunter College	NY	$58,253	$13,000	55
63	University of Massachusetts-Boston	MA	$57,992	$23,801	28
64	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	$57,952	$14,250	143
65	San Diego State University	CA	$57,861	$13,881	67
66	Ramapo College of New Jersey	NJ	$57,820	$21,500	29
67	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$57,783	$16,751	127
68	University of California-Davis	CA	$57,734	$13,312	115
69	University of Houston-Clear Lake	TX	$57,675	$18,750	34
70	Loyola University Chicago	IL	$57,639	$23,288	53
71	The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	$57,159	$22,000	66
72	Baylor University	TX	$57,006	$24,625	42
73	University of Connecticut	CT	$56,937	$21,377	69
74	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	$56,881	$18,625	110
75	Florida State University	FL	$56,834	$17,500	87
76	Sonoma State University	CA	$56,819	$13,500	44
77	Oregon State University	OR	$56,790	$22,431	57
78	Old Dominion University	VA	$56,715	$23,000	40
79	Florida International University	FL	$56,676	$17,125	59
80	University of Missouri-Columbia	MO	$56,632	$21,000	30
81	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	$56,597	$21,250	84
82	University of Maryland-Baltimore County	MD	$56,394	$19,579	49
83	Towson University	MD	$56,318	$18,327	47
84	California State University-Bakersfield	CA	$56,081	-	62
85	University of Massachusetts-Lowell	MA	$55,973	$22,564	31
86	University of North Texas	TX	$55,906	$21,000	150
87	California State University-Sacramento	CA	$55,797	$18,471	115
88	James Madison University	VA	$55,782	$20,018	61
89	University of Houston	TX	$55,475	$19,500	87
90	University of New Mexico-Main Campus	NM	$55,464	$19,200	50
91	California State University-Los Angeles	CA	$55,413	$14,777	50
92	University of Delaware	DE	$55,388	$22,518	65
93	University at Albany	NY	$55,377	$19,500	81
94	University of Maryland Global Campus	MD	$55,336	$16,373	132
95	University of Nevada-Reno	NV	$55,230	$16,500	59
96	University of New Hampshire-Main Campus	NH	$54,841	$22,750	43
97	Arizona State University Digital Immersion	AZ	$54,798	$23,493	128
98	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	$54,798	$23,493	104
99	University of Vermont	VT	$54,694	$20,247	37
100	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	$54,659	$19,000	95

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for History (CIP 54.01) bachelor's completers. Only operating schools with at least 25 completers and a published median are included. Ties break toward larger completer cohorts. For the full program profile - including every reporting school and national distribution - see History (bachelor's). Methodology lives on our methodology page.

Caveats and limitations

"Best" here means highest reported median earnings for the stated CIP scope - not teaching quality, licensure pass rates, clinical placement strength, or fit for any one student. This list covers History (CIP 54.01) bachelor's programs - area studies and political science (CIP 45.10) are ranked separately when demand warrants.

Figures cover federally aided completers only, use Treasury-linked earnings, and describe a lagged cohort. Regional pay scales and graduate-school paths both move the median without proving a causal school effect.

This ranking is for informational purposes only and does not constitute academic or career advice. Earnings do not predict any individual graduate's outcome.

Every figure on PlainCollege is rendered directly from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard data, no number is typed in by an editor. Rankings are computed directly from College Scorecard field-of-study data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error on this page. Review the public data changelog. Data current as of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals.