Best Colleges by Major / Political Science and Government

Best Colleges for Political Science and Government 2026

20 schools ranked by graduate earnings — real data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.

Political Science and Government graduates are well-positioned for careers across multiple industries. The rankings below are based on actual graduate earnings data from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.

Earnings shown are median graduate earnings 4 years after graduation (or 1 year if 4-year data is unavailable), sourced from the College Scorecard.See full major data

Top 20 Political Science and Government Programs by Graduate Earnings

#	School	Earnings	Tuition	Accept Rate	Enrollment
1	Yale University New Haven, CT	$98,467	$64,700	5%	6,811
2	Harvard University Cambridge, MA	$89,043	$59,076	3%	7,755
3	University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA	$86,353	$66,104	6%	10,768
4	Colgate University Hamilton, NY	$85,816	$67,024	12%	3,122
5	Duke University Durham, NC	$84,950	$65,805	7%	6,417
6	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH	$84,898	$65,739	6%	4,367
7	Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA	$80,009	$62,412	7%	1,627
8	Williams College Williamstown, MA	$79,779	$64,860	10%	2,060
9	Southern Methodist University Dallas, TX	$79,400	$64,460	61%	7,106
10	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY	$79,220	$69,045	4%	8,899
11	University of Chicago Chicago, IL	$78,986	$66,939	5%	7,540
12	Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA	$75,918	$62,180	29%	5,803
13	Stanford University Stanford, CA	$75,464	$62,484	4%	7,841
14	Georgetown University Washington, DC	$74,225	$65,081	13%	7,462
15	American Public University System Charles Town, WV	$73,582	$8,400	N/A	38,976
16	George Washington University Washington, DC	$72,844	$64,990	44%	10,848
17	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN	$72,701	$63,946	6%	7,143
18	Brown University Providence, RI	$72,438	$68,230	5%	7,273
19	Cornell University Ithaca, NY	$72,438	$66,014	8%	15,935
20	Villanova University Villanova, PA	$72,272	$64,701	25%	7,005