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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.

$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.

Top 15 sociology programs by median completer earnings

Sociology bachelor's (CIP 45.11) · higher is higher early-career pay

median earnings

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.

Source U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard Field of Study As of Mar-Jul 2026 retrievals

The full top 100

# School Name StateMedian EarningsMedian DebtCompleters
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.