a master's degree in economics is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #41 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual reviewed 113 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of economics. Combined, these schools handed out 5,317 master's degrees in economics to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Economics School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of economics for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality economics program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to economics students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of economics students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
Student Debt - How easy is it for economics to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized economics related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for economics students working on their master's degree.
The economics school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Economics Master's Degree Schools.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Economics in the United States
Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for economics students seeking a a master's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Johns Hopkins University is a wonderful decision for students interested in a master's degree in economics. Located in the large city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Economics master's degree recipients from Johns Hopkins University earn a boost of around $25,978 above the average income of economics graduates.
Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in economics has to look into Northwestern University. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in economics from Northwestern University
It is difficult to beat Cornell University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in economics. Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in economics from Cornell University
Georgetown is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington.
Master's recipients from the economics degree program at Georgetown University make $5,248 above the standard college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the economics program at George Washington University make $8,711 more than the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Your choice of economics for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality economics program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
