Best Colleges for Sociology 2026

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

Sociology 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 Sociology Programs by Graduate Earnings

#	School	Earnings	Tuition	Accept Rate	Enrollment
1	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH	$71,802	$65,739	6%	4,367
2	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN	$71,102	$62,693	12%	8,923
3	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA	$70,722	$67,680	16%	9,865
4	Barnard College New York, NY	$68,952	$66,246	8%	3,219
5	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA	$67,872	$30,995	30%	21,521
6	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY	$66,948	$69,045	4%	8,899
7	American University Washington, DC	$65,245	$56,543	47%	7,593
8	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA	$64,119	$45,627	12%	33,073
9	Santa Clara University Santa Clara, CA	$62,009	$59,241	44%	6,235
10	New York University New York, NY	$61,935	$60,438	9%	29,430
11	University of San Francisco San Francisco, CA	$61,096	$58,222	51%	5,697
12	Manhattanville University Purchase, NY	$60,202	$42,950	85%	1,250
13	Providence College Providence, RI	$58,988	$60,848	49%	4,170
14	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA	$58,517	$41,997	43%	31,588
15	Fordham University Bronx, NY	$57,799	$61,992	56%	10,239
16	Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC	$57,671	$64,758	22%	5,471
17	Mount Saint Mary's University Los Angeles, CA	$57,398	$48,132	69%	1,746
18	College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA	$57,078	$60,850	21%	3,015
19	University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA	$57,043	$68,237	10%	20,817
20	Emory University Atlanta, GA	$56,032	$60,774	11%	7,275