The 50 colleges that score highest for Geography on public federal data: selectivity, graduate earnings, program size, academic strength and graduate depth. It is a starting point for your research, not a judgment of quality.
50 colleges · each name links to its page, with sources · data snapshot October 2, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026
How we rank programs · showing the top 50 of 50 core colleges ranked, those with enough graduates and earnings data · All top-programs lists
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| Rank | College | State | What we measured | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | University of Southern California | CA | Median earnings $83,369 (field-wide) · 12 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 2 | University of California-Los Angeles | CA | Median earnings $67,193 · 46 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 3 | Dartmouth College | NH | Median earnings $72,985 · 28 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 4 | Middlebury College | VT | Median earnings $103,056 (field-wide) · 19 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 5 | Colgate University | NY | Median earnings $105,764 (field-wide) · 14 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 6 | University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | Median earnings $67,521 · 60 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 7 | University of Florida | FL | Median earnings $67,276 · 29 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 8 | University of Georgia | GA | Median earnings $69,704 (field-wide) · 16 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 9 | University of Maryland-College Park | MD | Median earnings $63,835 · 26 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 10 | George Washington University | DC | Median earnings $78,390 · 18 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 11 | Binghamton University | NY | Median earnings $71,207 · 18 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 12 | United States Military Academy | NY | Earnings not published · 64 graduates last year · 6% of the school's degrees | |
| 13 | University of Wisconsin-Madison | WI | Median earnings $59,424 · 55 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 14 | The University of Texas at Austin | TX | Median earnings $62,438 · 34 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 15 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | WA | Median earnings $64,950 · 108 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 16 | San Diego State University | CA | Median earnings $58,004 · 43 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 17 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | IL | Median earnings $62,504 · 26 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 18 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | NC | Median earnings $49,476 · 32 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 19 | University of Massachusetts-Amherst | MA | Median earnings $69,046 (field-wide) · 11 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 20 | Syracuse University | NY | Median earnings $71,543 · 25 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 21 | United States Air Force Academy | CO | Earnings not published · 39 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 22 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | VA | Median earnings $65,259 · 33 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 23 | Florida State University | FL | Median earnings $52,537 · 15 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 24 | University of Connecticut | CT | Median earnings $76,851 · 24 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 25 | Auburn University | AL | Median earnings $65,659 (field-wide) · 10 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 26 | Brigham Young University | UT | Median earnings $64,875 · 30 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 27 | Texas A&M University-College Station | TX | Median earnings $65,228 · 48 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 28 | California State University-Long Beach | CA | Median earnings $48,715 · 37 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 29 | Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus | PA | Median earnings $68,993 · 31 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 30 | Arizona State University Digital Immersion | AZ | Median earnings $62,668 (college-wide) · 104 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 31 | The University of Tennessee-Knoxville | TN | Median earnings $54,656 · 29 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 32 | University of South Carolina-Columbia | SC | Median earnings $59,472 · 20 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 33 | University of Colorado Boulder | CO | Median earnings $57,677 · 62 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 34 | University of Denver | CO | Median earnings $64,492 (field-wide) · 23 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 35 | University at Buffalo | NY | Median earnings $68,176 · 26 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 36 | University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras | PR | Median earnings $31,499 · 12 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 37 | Miami University-Oxford | OH | Median earnings $75,701 (field-wide) · 16 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 38 | University of Vermont | VT | Median earnings $40,871 · 19 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 39 | James Madison University | VA | Median earnings $63,768 · 52 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 40 | Indiana University-Bloomington | IN | Median earnings $71,460 (field-wide) · 10 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 41 | Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College | LA | Median earnings $66,168 · 18 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 42 | University of Minnesota-Twin Cities | MN | Median earnings $53,666 · 24 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 43 | University of South Florida | FL | Median earnings $54,944 · 19 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 44 | Oregon State University | OR | Median earnings $59,496 (field-wide) · 23 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 45 | University of North Carolina Wilmington | NC | Median earnings $50,011 (field-wide) · 10 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 46 | Northern Illinois University | IL | Median earnings $47,738 · 11 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 47 | California State Polytechnic University-Pomona | CA | Median earnings $57,424 · 27 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 48 | University of Arizona | AZ | Median earnings $63,680 (field-wide) · 36 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 49 | State University of New York at New Paltz | NY | Median earnings $51,890 (field-wide) · 10 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 50 | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | NC | Median earnings $57,208 · 38 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees |
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