2024 Best Geography & Cartography Master's Degree Schools

Geography & Cartography is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #111 most popular master's degree program in the country. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

College Factual looked at 127 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Geography & Cartography Master's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,076 master's degrees in geography & cartography during the 2020-2021 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Geography & Cartography School for Your Master's Degree

The geography master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to geography & cartography students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of geography & cartography students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for geography & cartography 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 geography & cartography related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for geography & cartography students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Geography & Cartography Master's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Geography & Cartography in the United States

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in geography & cartography. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

19 Top Schools for a Master's in Geography

1

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

43 Annual Graduates

$65,686 Median Starting Salary

It's hard to beat University of Southern California if you want to pursue a master's degree in geography & cartography. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Los Angeles.

Those geography & cartography students who get their master's degree from University of Southern California earn $4,409 more than the standard geography grad.

More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of Southern California

2

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

13 Annual Graduates

University of Pennsylvania is a wonderful decision for students interested in a master's degree in geography & cartography. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of Pennsylvania

3

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

1 Annual Graduates

University of California - Los Angeles is a wonderful option for students interested in a master's degree in geography & cartography. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of California - Los Angeles

4

University of Maryland - College Park
College Park, MD

30 Annual Graduates

University of Maryland - College Park is a wonderful choice for individuals pursuing a master's degree in geography & cartography. UMCP is a very large public university located in the suburb of College Park.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of Maryland - College Park

5

University of Wisconsin - Madison
Madison, WI

58 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of Wisconsin - Madison

6

Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD

8 Annual Graduates

$72,514 Median Starting Salary

Johns Hopkins is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Baltimore.

Those geography & cartography students who get their master's degree from Johns Hopkins University make $11,237 more than the average geography graduate.

More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from Johns Hopkins University

7

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

11 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

8

George Washington University
Washington, DC

6 Annual Graduates

GWU is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from George Washington University

9

Texas A&M University - College Station
College Station, TX

4 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of College Station, Texas A&M College Station is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from Texas A&M University - College Station

10

University of Denver
Denver, CO

13 Annual Graduates

$67,222 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Denver, DU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Master's recipients from the geography & cartography program at University of Denver make $5,945 more than the standard graduate in this field shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of Denver

11

Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA

7 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech is a public school with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from Virginia Tech

12

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN

12 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

13

University of Florida
Gainesville, FL

1 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Gainesville, UF is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of Florida

14

University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ

37 Annual Graduates

$49,420 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Tucson, University of Arizona is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Soon after graduating, geography master's recipients typically make around $49,420 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of Arizona

15

University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst, MA

11 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Amherst, UMass Amherst is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of Massachusetts Amherst

16

University of Washington - Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA

3 Annual Graduates

$58,813 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a very large student population.

After graduation, geography master's recipients typically make around $58,813 in their early careers.

More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of Washington - Seattle Campus

17

University of California - Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA

5 Annual Graduates

Located in the suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from University of California - Santa Barbara

18

George Mason University
Fairfax, VA

5 Annual Graduates

$79,656 Median Starting Salary

GMU is a very large public university located in the large suburb of Fairfax.

Those geography & cartography students who get their master's degree from George Mason University receive $18,379 more than the standard geography student.

More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from George Mason University

19

Ohio State University - Main Campus
Columbus, OH

2 Annual Graduates

Ohio State is a very large public university located in the city of Columbus.More information about a master’s in geography & cartography from Ohio State University - Main Campus

Rest of the Top Best Geography & Cartography Master's Degree Schools

Additional Noteworthy Schools

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Geography & Cartography Master's Degree Schools award.

Rank	College	Location
20	University of Utah	Salt Lake City, UT
21	University of Georgia	Athens, GA
22	University of Missouri - Columbia	Columbia, MO
23	University of Kansas	Lawrence, KS
24	California State University - Long Beach	Long Beach, CA
25	Binghamton University	Vestal, NY

Geography & Cartography by Region

View the Best Geography & Cartography Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

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Rankings in Majors Related to Geography

One of 13 majors within the Social Sciences area of study, Geography & Cartography has other similar majors worth exploring.

Geography Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Geographic Information Science	601
Geography	414
Other Geography	61

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Economics	4,803
International Relations & National Security	4,426
Political Science & Government	1,936
Sociology	1,298
Anthropology	941
General Social Sciences	596
Other Social Sciences	378
Urban Studies	351
Demography & Population Studies	51
Archeology	48

Notes and References

• 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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Couleur. More about our data sources and methodologies.