The 50 colleges that score highest for Linguistics 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 $101,817 (college-wide) · 24 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 3 | Columbia University in the City of New York | NY | Median earnings $102,491 (college-wide) · 42 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 4 | University of Chicago | IL | Median earnings $91,885 (college-wide) · 22 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 5 | Princeton University | NJ | Median earnings $110,066 (college-wide) · 22 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 6 | University of Pennsylvania | PA | Median earnings $111,371 (college-wide) · 14 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 7 | Yale University | CT | Median earnings $100,533 (college-wide) · 28 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 8 | Rice University | TX | Median earnings $89,718 (college-wide) · 10 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 9 | Brown University | RI | Median earnings $93,487 (college-wide) · 41 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 10 | Duke University | NC | Median earnings $88,098 · 16 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 11 | University of California-Los Angeles | CA | Median earnings $62,927 · 102 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 12 | Dartmouth College | NH | Median earnings $97,434 (college-wide) · 17 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 13 | Cornell University | NY | Median earnings $89,275 (field-wide) · 20 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 14 | Swarthmore College | PA | Median earnings $80,257 (college-wide) · 10 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 15 | Northeastern University | MA | Median earnings $92,538 (college-wide) · 10 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 16 | University of California-Berkeley | CA | Median earnings $76,724 · 77 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 17 | Northwestern University | IL | Median earnings $89,363 (college-wide) · 16 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 18 | New York University | NY | Median earnings $82,509 (college-wide) · 24 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 19 | Emory University | GA | Median earnings $76,993 · 25 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 20 | University of Southern California | CA | Median earnings $60,805 (field-wide) · 14 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 21 | University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | Median earnings $61,580 · 102 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 22 | Boston University | MA | Median earnings $83,238 (college-wide) · 23 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 23 | University of California-San Diego | CA | Median earnings $55,776 · 65 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 24 | Georgetown University | DC | Median earnings $65,574 · 31 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 25 | Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | GA | Median earnings $102,772 (college-wide) · 36 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 26 | University of Florida | FL | Median earnings $48,198 · 84 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 27 | Tulane University of Louisiana | LA | Median earnings $79,925 (field-wide) · 11 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 28 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MI | Median earnings $55,137 · 31 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 29 | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | NC | Median earnings $54,181 · 39 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 30 | University of Washington-Seattle Campus | WA | Median earnings $55,540 · 57 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 31 | William & Mary | VA | Median earnings $60,177 (field-wide) · 34 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 32 | University of Rochester | NY | Median earnings $79,042 (college-wide) · 15 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 33 | Macalester College | MN | Median earnings $63,878 (college-wide) · 12 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 34 | Reed College | OR | Median earnings $62,927 (college-wide) · 13 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 35 | North Carolina State University at Raleigh | NC | Median earnings $60,031 · 47 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 36 | Stony Brook University | NY | Median earnings $64,547 · 44 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 37 | Brandeis University | MA | Median earnings $78,746 · 10 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 38 | Oberlin College | OH | Median earnings $58,343 (college-wide) · 12 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 39 | University of Massachusetts-Amherst | MA | Median earnings $71,631 (college-wide) · 58 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 40 | University of Georgia | GA | Median earnings $63,942 (field-wide) · 34 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 41 | San Diego State University | CA | Median earnings $42,922 · 21 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 42 | University of Maryland-College Park | MD | Median earnings $58,893 (field-wide) · 15 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 43 | Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University | VA | Median earnings $68,263 · 60 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 44 | The University of Texas at Austin | TX | Median earnings $59,742 · 26 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 45 | University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras | PR | Median earnings $31,930 · 74 graduates last year · 6% of the school's degrees | |
| 46 | Rutgers University-New Brunswick | NJ | Median earnings $60,883 · 44 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 47 | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | IL | Median earnings $61,774 · 26 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 48 | Occidental College | CA | Median earnings $71,779 (field-wide) · 22 graduates last year · 5% of the school's degrees | |
| 49 | The University of Tennessee-Knoxville | TN | Median earnings $52,703 · 46 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 50 | University of California-Davis | CA | Median earnings $58,443 · 33 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees |
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