by our College Data Analytics TeamCarleton College is a private not-for-profit institution in Northfield, Minnesota enrolling 2,086 undergraduates. It accepts 20% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 90%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #126 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 2%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Carleton College ranks #126 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 2%.
In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.
Carleton College was awarded 247 badges in the 2027 rankings.
Carleton is ranked #126 out of 5,159 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation.
Carleton also holds the #4 spot on the Best Colleges in Minnesota ranking.
See all of the rankings for Carleton College.
With an acceptance rate of 20%, 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.
About 34% 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 720 and 770. Math scores were between 730 and 790.
Carleton received ACT scores from 25% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 32 and 34.
Learn more about Carleton College admissions.
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.
When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at Carleton College is 87%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 96% 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.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at Carleton for first-time, full-time students is 90%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Carleton College.
The current enrollment includes 2,086 undergraduates at Carleton.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Carleton College.
The overall average net price of Carleton is $17,140. 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.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $7,881 | $8,203 | $9,680 | $18,485 | $44,082 |
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 price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Carleton, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At Carleton, approximately 43% of students took out student loans averaging $5,045 a year. That adds up to $20,180 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 0.9%. 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.
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Carleton College with a bachelor’s degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $75,525 in their early years. This is good news for future Carleton College graduates since it is 53% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at Carleton College make the most money.
Carleton College is an private not-for-profit institution located in Northfield, Minnesota. The surrounding location of Northfield is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town. Get more details about the location of Carleton College.
Contact details for Carleton College are listed below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | One North College Street, Northfield, MN 55057 |
| Phone: | 5072224000 |
| Website: | www.carleton.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carleton_College |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/CarletonCollege |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/CarletonCollege |
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 16 majors graduated from Carleton College. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 609 | NA |
| Computer Science | 101 | $76,876 |
| General Biology | 62 | $28,526 |
| Chemistry | 43 | $30,227 |
| Mathematics | 41 | $46,952 |
| International Relations & Security | 40 | NA |
| Child Development & Psychology | 39 | NA |
| Economics | 30 | $60,032 |
| Statistics | 27 | NA |
| History | 25 | NA |
Curious how schools stack up against Carleton? Compare them side by side using College Combat, our free tool for head-to-head college comparisons.
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.
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