The 50 colleges that score highest for Sociology 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 $104,653 (field-wide) · 20 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 2 | Harvard University | MA | Median earnings $111,436 (field-wide) · 42 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 3 | University of Chicago | IL | Median earnings $149,058 (field-wide) · 48 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 4 | Columbia University in the City of New York | NY | Median earnings $101,536 · 57 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 5 | Princeton University | NJ | Median earnings $140,381 (field-wide) · 37 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 6 | Brown University | RI | Median earnings $106,726 (field-wide) · 39 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 7 | Yale University | CT | Median earnings $121,975 (field-wide) · 27 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 8 | Johns Hopkins University | MD | Median earnings $118,529 (field-wide) · 14 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 9 | Rice University | TX | Median earnings $115,776 (field-wide) · 17 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 10 | Northwestern University | IL | Median earnings $75,267 · 20 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 11 | Cornell University | NY | Median earnings $73,200 · 43 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 12 | Vanderbilt University | TN | Median earnings $83,649 · 29 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 13 | New York University | NY | Median earnings $77,650 · 76 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 14 | Emory University | GA | Median earnings $99,320 (field-wide) · 53 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 15 | University of California-Berkeley | CA | Median earnings $71,363 · 273 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 16 | University of California-Los Angeles | CA | Median earnings $64,692 · 658 graduates last year · 7% of the school's degrees | |
| 17 | University of Pennsylvania | PA | Median earnings $72,217 · 20 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 18 | Northeastern University | MA | Median earnings $69,585 · 22 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 19 | Dartmouth College | NH | Median earnings $81,722 · 34 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 20 | University of Notre Dame | IN | Median earnings $69,704 · 34 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 21 | Duke University | NC | Median earnings $61,425 · 31 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 22 | Bowdoin College | ME | Median earnings $105,110 (field-wide) · 18 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 23 | Amherst College | MA | Median earnings $110,437 (field-wide) · 11 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 24 | Barnard College | NY | Median earnings $77,821 · 27 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 25 | Washington University in St Louis | MO | Median earnings $88,714 (field-wide) · 14 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 26 | Colby College | ME | Median earnings $100,327 (field-wide) · 21 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 27 | Wellesley College | MA | Median earnings $106,442 (field-wide) · 16 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 28 | Haverford College | PA | Median earnings $81,993 (field-wide) · 10 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 29 | Case Western Reserve University | OH | Median earnings $103,935 (field-wide) · 21 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 30 | Colgate University | NY | Median earnings $105,764 (field-wide) · 31 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 31 | Boston University | MA | Median earnings $63,791 · 45 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 32 | Boston College | MA | Median earnings $70,121 · 52 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 33 | Hamilton College | NY | Median earnings $108,700 (field-wide) · 16 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 34 | University of Virginia-Main Campus | VA | Median earnings $68,538 · 60 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 35 | University of Michigan-Ann Arbor | MI | Median earnings $63,419 · 119 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 36 | University of Southern California | CA | Median earnings $70,555 · 53 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 37 | Georgetown University | DC | Median earnings $90,449 (field-wide) · 27 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 38 | Grinnell College | IA | Median earnings $91,631 (field-wide) · 24 graduates last year · 5% of the school's degrees | |
| 39 | Bates College | ME | Median earnings $97,124 (field-wide) · 20 graduates last year · 4% of the school's degrees | |
| 40 | Tufts University | MA | Median earnings $61,719 · 36 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 41 | Davidson College | NC | Median earnings $81,400 (college-wide) · 11 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 42 | Middlebury College | VT | Median earnings $58,241 · 19 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 43 | Wesleyan University | CT | Median earnings $73,897 (college-wide) · 32 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 44 | University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | Median earnings $60,013 · 650 graduates last year · 9% of the school's degrees | |
| 45 | University of California-Irvine | CA | Median earnings $56,457 · 233 graduates last year · 3% of the school's degrees | |
| 46 | Villanova University | PA | Median earnings $92,403 (field-wide) · 11 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 47 | University of Maryland-College Park | MD | Median earnings $65,974 · 98 graduates last year · 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 48 | William & Mary | VA | Median earnings $87,655 · 47 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees | |
| 49 | Lehigh University | PA | Median earnings $85,934 (field-wide) · 10 graduates last year · under 1% of the school's degrees | |
| 50 | Vassar College | NY | Median earnings $61,106 · 11 graduates last year · 2% of the school's degrees |
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