Program ranking · CIP 45.11 bachelor's · College Scorecard · Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

Best Colleges for Sociology

Using U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard field-of-study data retrieved March-July 2026, these colleges rank highest on median earnings for Sociology (CIP 45.11) 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

$101,536
Highest sociology earnings: 100
Colleges ranked: $55,161
#100 cutoff

The list in one line

Every college on this list reports at least $55,161 median earnings for Sociology bachelor's (CIP 45.11) completers. Columbia University in the City of New York leads at $101,536.

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

$101,536
#1 - Columbia University in: $55,161
#100 - the cutoff to make this list: 25+
completers required per school: 969
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.

Columbia University in t…

$101,536
William & Mary

$87,655
Vanderbilt University

$83,649
Dartmouth College

$81,722
George Washington Univer…

$78,857
Barnard College

$77,821
New York University

$77,650
Northwestern University

$75,267
Cornell University

$73,200
Fordham University

$71,581
University of California…

$71,363
University of Southern C…

$70,555
Boston College

$70,121
California Polytechnic S…

$69,883
University of Notre Dame

$69,704

What this shows Sociology medians mix research, nonprofit, and graduate-school pipelines - debt still matters when public-sector pay sits below private knowledge-work roles.

The full top 100

#	School Name	State	Median Earnings	Median Debt	Completers
1	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	$101,536	$27,000	50
2	William & Mary	VA	$87,655	$14,000	34
3	Vanderbilt University	TN	$83,649	-	38
4	Dartmouth College	NH	$81,722	$19,250	31
5	George Washington University	DC	$78,857	-	40
6	Barnard College	NY	$77,821	$14,899	25
7	New York University	NY	$77,650	$18,875	61
8	Northwestern University	IL	$75,267	$13,622	25
9	Cornell University	NY	$73,200	$11,650	58
10	Fordham University	NY	$71,581	$25,495	64
11	University of California-Berkeley	CA	$71,363	$13,000	283
12	University of Southern California	CA	$70,555	$9,625	56
13	Boston College	MA	$70,121	$18,500	50
14	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo	CA	$69,883	$16,500	64
15	University of Notre Dame	IN	$69,704	$19,800	41
16	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	$68,538	$19,239	89
17	Loyola Marymount University	CA	$68,053	$17,750	42
18	Syracuse University	NY	$67,044	$24,500	50
19	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	$65,974	$18,800	73
20	CUNY Brooklyn College	NY	$65,606	-	31
21	Brandeis University	MA	$65,481	$27,000	40
22	Clark University	MA	$64,988	$23,889	28
23	La Salle University	PA	$64,953	$27,000	37
24	National University	CA	$64,860	$27,687	44
25	Binghamton University	NY	$64,797	$19,500	40
26	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	$64,692	$14,453	696
27	College of the Holy Cross	MA	$64,642	$26,449	37
28	Boston University	MA	$63,791	$26,375	38
29	University of Miami	FL	$63,764	$16,375	37
30	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	VA	$63,654	$22,562	209
31	Central Washington University	WA	$63,608	$21,950	74
32	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	$63,419	$18,419	132
33	Franklin and Marshall College	PA	$63,251	$19,000	25
34	Gonzaga University	WA	$62,626	$25,125	37
35	Morehouse College	GA	$62,517	$27,000	35
36	California State University-East Bay	CA	$62,427	$17,757	188
37	San Francisco State University	CA	$62,385	$15,000	122
38	Moravian University	PA	$62,315	$27,000	27
39	Mount Holyoke College	MA	$62,313	$21,500	36
40	Michigan State University	MI	$62,204	$25,845	118
41	Chapman University	CA	$62,047	$20,000	30
42	University of San Francisco	CA	$61,883	$24,125	44
43	University of Delaware	DE	$61,725	$23,197	40
44	Tufts University	MA	$61,719	$15,000	49
45	Loyola University Chicago	IL	$61,429	$20,500	40
46	Duke University	NC	$61,425	-	35
47	Miami University-Oxford	OH	$61,149	$23,250	42
48	University of Georgia	GA	$61,124	$15,875	83
49	Suffolk University	MA	$61,032	$27,000	48
50	Wake Forest University	NC	$60,635	$23,000	47
51	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	$60,292	$18,181	245
52	Brigham Young University	UT	$60,277	$14,000	85
53	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	$60,013	$13,500	672
54	CUNY York College	NY	$59,899	$10,450	60
55	University of Connecticut	CT	$59,684	$19,500	70
56	Rhode Island College	RI	$59,643	$17,805	37
57	University of California-Davis	CA	$59,171	$12,600	291
58	Stony Brook University	NY	$58,966	$17,250	139
59	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	$58,807	$21,500	124
60	Smith College	MA	$58,664	$19,000	26
61	University of Massachusetts-Boston	MA	$58,394	$25,250	48
62	University of Mary Washington	VA	$58,224	$22,212	44
63	University of Maine	ME	$58,217	$26,350	35
64	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	$58,026	$16,000	216
65	Northern Illinois University	IL	$58,023	$27,000	44
66	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	$58,007	$17,212	105
67	CUNY Hunter College	NY	$57,965	$10,245	188
68	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	$57,857	$17,410	160
69	Washington State University	WA	$57,846	$21,450	57
70	Baylor University	TX	$57,822	$25,937	34
71	The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	TX	$57,807	-	56
72	Whitworth University	WA	$57,755	$26,000	34
73	University at Albany	NY	$57,508	$21,500	165
74	Western Colorado University	CO	$57,359	-	27
75	Colorado State University-Fort Collins	CO	$57,300	$19,746	138
76	John Carroll University	OH	$57,173	$26,000	32
77	Bowie State University	MD	$57,075	$22,578	28
78	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	$56,960	$21,500	121
79	California State University-Sacramento	CA	$56,886	$14,975	273
80	Oregon State University	OR	$56,865	$18,864	91
81	California State University-Channel Islands	CA	$56,855	$14,717	127
82	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	$56,690	$18,750	75
83	Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	$56,591	$18,982	35
84	Sonoma State University	CA	$56,581	$17,000	142
85	CUNY Queens College	NY	$56,550	$12,397	195
86	Central Connecticut State University	CT	$56,463	$28,000	37
87	University of California-Irvine	CA	$56,457	$15,000	251
88	University of Kentucky	KY	$56,266	$24,041	48
89	Iowa State University	IA	$55,714	$19,876	31
90	CUNY City College	NY	$55,683	$10,199	62
91	University of California-Riverside	CA	$55,682	$16,300	340
92	University of California-San Diego	CA	$55,534	$13,000	131
93	Wayne State University	MI	$55,499	$26,811	45
94	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	$55,393	$19,500	83
95	University of California-Santa Cruz	CA	$55,338	$15,679	223
96	University of Arizona	AZ	$55,300	$18,375	44
97	University of Oregon	OR	$55,204	$19,652	102
98	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	$55,197	$21,500	37
99	Rutgers University-Newark	NJ	$55,197	$21,500	26
100	Ramapo College of New Jersey	NJ	$55,161	$19,992	25

About This Ranking

Schools are ranked by College Scorecard field-of-study median earnings for Sociology (CIP 45.11) 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 Sociology (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 Sociology (CIP 45.11) bachelor's programs - anthropology (CIP 45.02) and social work (CIP 44.07) 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.