Carleton College Data & Information Overview
Want the scoop on Carleton College? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors Carleton offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more. Want to know more about a specific stat? Just click on its tile, and you’ll go to a page that goes more in-depth on that subject. You can also use the links below to go directly to any section on this page.- Rankings
- Admission and Acceptance
- Faculty
- Retention and Graduation Rates
- Diversity
- Cost
- Student Debt
- Average Earnings
- Location
- Majors
- Online Learning
- Related Schools
How Well Is Carleton College Ranked?

2022 Rankings
College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.
Carleton College was awarded 318 badges in the 2022 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is computer and information sciences.
Overall Quality
According to College Factual's 2022 analysis, Carleton is ranked #82 out of 2,576 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This lands it a coveted spot in the top 5% of all colleges and universities in the country.
Out of the 63 colleges in Minnesota, Carleton is ranked at #1.
See all of the rankings for Carleton College.
Is It Hard to Get Into Carleton?
Acceptance Rate
With an acceptance rate of 21%, Carleton is one of the most selective schools in the country. Good grades and high test scores alone may not be enough to get you into the school, so do your best to submit a stellar application.
Average Test Scores
About 52% of students accepted to Carleton submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 660 and 750. Math scores were between 670 and 770.
Learn more about Carleton College admissions.
Carleton College Faculty
Student to Faculty Ratio
The student to faculty ratio at Carleton is an impressive 8 to 1. That's quite good when you compare it to the national average of 15 to 1. This is a good sign that students at the school will have more opportunities for one-on-one interactions with their professors.
Percent of Full-Time Faculty
Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.
The full-time faculty percentage at Carleton College is 86%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Retention and Graduation Rates at Carleton College
Freshmen Retention Rate
The freshmen retention rate of 94% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Carleton College enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.
Graduation Rate
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Carleton the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 88%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Carleton College.
Carleton College Undergraduate Student Diversity
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 1,940 undergraduates at Carleton with 1,918 being full-time and 22 being part-time.
How Much Does Carleton College Cost?
The overall average net price of Carleton is $31,133. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.Net Price by Income Group for Carleton
$0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
---|---|---|---|---|
$9,579 | $9,358 | $16,716 | $23,290 | $43,700 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Carleton, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Student Loan Debt
It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Carleton, approximately 38% of students took out student loans averaging $4,978 a year. That adds up to $19,912 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at Carleton is 1.3%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.
Get more details about paying for Carleton College.
How Much Money Do Carleton Graduates Make?
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Carleton with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $54,200 in their early years. That's great news for Carleton students since it is 36% more than the average college graduate's salary of $39,802 per year.
See which majors at Carleton College make the most money.
Location of Carleton College
Carleton College is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Northfield, Minnesota. The charming, small-town atmosphere of Northfield draws many to the area.Get more details about the location of Carleton College.

Contact details for Carleton are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | One North College Street, Northfield, MN 55057 |
Phone: | 507-222-4000 |
Website: | https://www.carleton.edu/ |
Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/CarletonCollege |
Twitter: | http://twitter.com/CarletonCollege |
Carleton College Majors
Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
---|---|---|
Computer Science | 71 | $74,576 |
General Biology | 61 | $25,194 |
International Relations & National Security | 48 | $39,927 |
Mathematics | 47 | $42,188 |
Economics | 45 | $58,943 |
Child Development & Psychology | 41 | NA |
General English Literature | 29 | $22,667 |
Film, Video & Photographic Arts | 28 | $23,456 |
Chemistry | 27 | NA |
History | 25 | $31,839 |
Learn more about online learning at Carleton College.
Find Out More About Carleton College
Related Schools
If you’re considering Carleton College, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
Curious on how these schools stack up against Carleton? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!
Notes and References
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References
- National Center for Education Statistics
- College Scorecard
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
- Image Credit: By Dogs1337 under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.