The 50 colleges that score highest for History 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 | Stanford University | CA | Median earnings $124,080 (college-wide) · 21 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 2 | Harvard University | MA | Median earnings $70,679 · 152 graduates last year · 7% of the school's degrees | |
| 3 | Columbia University in the City of New York | NY | Median earnings $98,079 · 122 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 4 | University of Chicago | IL | Median earnings $64,330 · 84 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 5 | Princeton University | NJ | Median earnings $80,347 · 56 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 6 | University of Pennsylvania | PA | Median earnings $88,517 · 44 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 7 | Johns Hopkins University | MD | Median earnings $87,555 (college-wide) · 16 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 8 | Yale University | CT | Median earnings $109,947 · 129 graduates last year · 6% of the school's degrees | |
| 9 | Rice University | TX | Median earnings $89,718 (college-wide) · 24 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 10 | Brown University | RI | Median earnings $85,520 · 64 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 11 | Duke University | NC | Median earnings $112,377 · 17 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 12 | Vanderbilt University | TN | Median earnings $69,820 · 51 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 13 | Dartmouth College | NH | Median earnings $136,403 · 48 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 14 | University of California-Los Angeles | CA | Median earnings $59,555 · 216 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 15 | Cornell University | NY | Median earnings $82,031 · 33 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 16 | Northwestern University | IL | Median earnings $78,966 · 53 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 17 | Pomona College | CA | Median earnings $77,779 (college-wide) · 17 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 18 | University of California-Berkeley | CA | Median earnings $64,755 · 133 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 19 | Carnegie Mellon University | PA | Median earnings $114,862 (college-wide) · 14 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 20 | Williams College | MA | Median earnings $59,535 · 36 graduates last year · 5% of the school's degrees | |
| 21 | New York University | NY | Median earnings $74,545 · 96 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 22 | Amherst College | MA | Median earnings $103,601 · 23 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 23 | Bowdoin College | ME | Median earnings $82,735 (college-wide) · 27 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 24 | Emory University | GA | Median earnings $69,988 · 26 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 25 | Barnard College | NY | Median earnings $62,258 · 37 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 26 | University of Notre Dame | IN | Median earnings $70,423 · 45 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 27 | Northeastern University | MA | Median earnings $92,538 (college-wide) · 18 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 28 | Washington University in St Louis | MO | Median earnings $86,182 (college-wide) · 27 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 29 | Claremont McKenna College | CA | Median earnings $104,736 (college-wide) · 14 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 30 | Colby College | ME | Median earnings $80,490 (college-wide) · 23 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 31 | Tufts University | MA | Median earnings $65,540 · 41 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 32 | University of Virginia-Main Campus | VA | Median earnings $71,187 · 146 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 33 | University of Southern California | CA | Median earnings $79,940 · 85 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 34 | Middlebury College | VT | Median earnings $76,310 (college-wide) · 25 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 35 | Wellesley College | MA | Median earnings $84,803 (college-wide) · 11 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 36 | Haverford College | PA | Median earnings $79,966 (college-wide) · 14 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 37 | Boston University | MA | Median earnings $59,986 · 44 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 38 | Colgate University | NY | Median earnings $75,784 · 33 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 39 | Hamilton College | NY | Median earnings $78,411 (college-wide) · 24 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 40 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MI | Median earnings $62,077 · 101 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 41 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | NC | Median earnings $57,952 · 126 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 42 | Georgetown University | DC | Median earnings $75,501 · 48 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 43 | Boston College | MA | Median earnings $80,073 · 57 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 44 | Washington and Lee University | VA | Median earnings $100,087 · 29 graduates last year · 5% of the school's degrees | |
| 45 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | GA | Median earnings $102,772 (college-wide) · 11 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 46 | Carleton College | MN | Median earnings $75,525 (college-wide) · 18 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 47 | Wesleyan University | CT | Median earnings $73,897 (college-wide) · 24 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 48 | William & Mary | VA | Median earnings $63,632 · 129 graduates last year · 6% of the school's degrees | |
| 49 | University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | Median earnings $59,342 · 171 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 50 | Davidson College | NC | Median earnings $81,400 (college-wide) · 14 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees |
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