Program ranking · CIP 38.01 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Philosophy

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Philosophy (CIP 38.01) 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

$107,454
Highest philosophy earnings: 56
Colleges ranked: $31,906
#56 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $31,906 median earnings for Philosophy bachelor's (CIP 38.01) completers. University of Pennsylvania leads at $107,454.

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

$107,454
#1 - University of Pennsylvania: $31,906
#56 - the cutoff to make this list: 25+
completers required per school: 774
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.

University of Pennsylvania

$107,454
California Polytechnic S…

$98,592
Boston College

$97,519
William & Mary

$75,423
Fordham University

$74,507
University of California…

$71,796
The University of Texas at

$71,790
University of Chicago

$71,709
University of North Caro…

$70,709
Seton Hall University

$70,628
Boston University

$68,026
University of Michigan-A…

$67,293
Pennsylvania State Unive…

$65,675
California State Univers…

$65,115
University of Maryland-C…

$64,846

What this shows Philosophy medians often reflect law-school and knowledge-work pipelines more than a single occupation - debt and cohort size still matter.

The full top 56

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
1	University of Pennsylvania	PA	$107,454	$19,000	202
2	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$98,592	-	35
3	Boston College	MA	$97,519	$18,000	95
4	William & Mary	VA	$75,423	$18,312	35
5	Fordham University	NY	$74,507	$20,500	40
6	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	$71,796	$15,000	109
7	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	$71,790	$19,500	51
8	University of Chicago	IL	$71,709	$22,641	77
9	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	$70,709	$14,618	56
10	Seton Hall University	NJ	$70,628	$19,250	32
11	Boston University	MA	$68,026	$25,375	56
12	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$67,293	$19,125	37
13	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	PA	$65,675	$23,250	49
14	California State University-Sacramento	CA	$65,115	$14,753	25
15	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	$64,846	$19,500	65
16	Virginia Commonwealth University	VA	$64,402	$20,500	33
17	University of Scranton	PA	$63,410	$27,000	29
18	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$63,326	$13,345	87
19	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$61,754	$15,000	123
20	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	$61,595	$13,500	82
21	University of Washington-Bothell Campus	WA	$61,595	$13,500	64
22	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$61,186	$21,500	69
23	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	$59,935	$24,188	55
24	Arizona State University Digital Immersion	AZ	$59,935	$24,188	55
25	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	$58,891	$21,625	32
26	University of Oregon	OR	$58,635	$24,500	36
27	University of California-Davis	CA	$58,633	$13,000	52
28	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	$56,885	$20,937	52
29	University of Iowa	IA	$56,786	$25,385	25
30	University of Houston	TX	$55,875	$24,200	28
31	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	$55,823	$20,800	25
32	University of Arizona	AZ	$55,804	$19,750	27
33	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$54,822	$17,375	39
34	San Diego State University	CA	$53,390	$25,000	29
35	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	$53,189	$20,500	37
36	University of Florida	FL	$52,656	$17,413	48
37	New York University	NY	$52,633	$23,250	71
38	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	PA	$52,436	-	39
39	University of Southern California	CA	$51,831	$7,500	65
40	University of California-Riverside	CA	$51,402	$19,022	49
41	University of California-Santa Cruz	CA	$51,398	$15,000	60
42	University of Colorado Colorado Springs	CO	$49,909	$25,000	31
43	University of South Florida	FL	$49,561	-	30
44	Utah Valley University	UT	$49,403	-	32
45	The Catholic University of America	DC	$49,378	$26,759	26
46	California State University-Long Beach	CA	$49,062	$12,919	35
47	Florida State University	FL	$47,153	$22,000	30
48	California State University-Fullerton	CA	$44,533	-	28
49	CUNY Lehman College	NY	$43,165	$17,600	27
50	Florida International University	FL	$43,085	$13,393	45
51	San Francisco State University	CA	$42,993	$15,750	41
52	California State University-Fresno	CA	$42,337	$13,824	28
53	University of St Thomas	MN	$41,209	$17,500	35
54	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$34,482	$18,413	30
55	The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	TX	$33,457	$13,000	26
56	Franciscan University of Steubenville	OH	$31,906	$20,000	36

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Philosophy (CIP 38.01) 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 Philosophy (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 Philosophy (CIP 38.01) bachelor's programs - religious studies and ethics-adjacent majors 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.