If you pursue a degree in sociology, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #25 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 483 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for sociology students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 35,816 degrees in sociology annually.
The sociology program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Sociology rankings. We derive our Best Overall Sociology School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Sociology Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the sociology degrees they offer, see the list below. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It is hard to beat University of California - Los Angeles if you want to pursue a degree in sociology. UCLA is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Los Angeles. This university ranks 4th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 713 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the sociology program state that they receive average early career wages of $34,121.
Every student who is interested in sociology needs to take a look at Stanford University. Located in the suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #10 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Stanford is a great university overall.
There were approximately 55 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Stanford in the most recent year we have data available.
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University of California - Berkeley is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in sociology. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were roughly 300 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent year we have data available. Sociology degree recipients from University of California - Berkeley receive an earnings boost of approximately $6,012 above the average earnings of sociology graduates.
It's difficult to beat Columbia University in the City of New York if you want to pursue a degree in sociology. Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were approximately 94 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the sociology program at Columbia University in the City of New York make $23,779 more than the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #4 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Harvard is a great university overall.
There were about 65 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Harvard in the most recent data year.
UChicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago. A Best Colleges rank of #3 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UChicago is a great university overall.
There were approximately 67 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UChicago in the most recent data year.
Duke is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Durham. A Best Colleges rank of #7 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Duke is a great university overall.
There were roughly 50 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Duke in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the sociology program at Duke University get $10,789 above the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were approximately 48 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent data year. Sociology degree recipients from Northwestern University get an earnings boost of approximately $3,640 above the average income of sociology graduates.
Notre Dame is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Notre Dame. This university ranks 1st out of 41 colleges for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were approximately 54 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Chestnut Hill, Boston College is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #17 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Boston College is a great college overall.
There were roughly 55 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Boston College in the most recent year we have data available. Sociology degree recipients from Boston College earn a boost of around $13,329 above the average earnings of sociology majors.
UCSB is a very large public university located in the suburb of Santa Barbara. This university ranks 7th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 684 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UCSB in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the sociology program state that they receive average early career wages of $34,372.
UW Seattle is a very large public university located in the large city of Seattle. This university ranks 1st out of 50 schools for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were roughly 253 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UW Seattle in the most recent data year. Sociology degree recipients from University of Washington - Seattle Campus receive an earnings boost of about $5,300 over the average earnings of sociology majors.
Yale is a large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of New Haven. This university ranks 1st out of 18 colleges for overall quality in the state of Connecticut.
There were about 40 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Yale in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #6 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Johns Hopkins is a great university overall.
There were approximately 27 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Johns Hopkins in the most recent data year.
Located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 56 colleges for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were approximately 146 sociology students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the sociology program report average early career wages of $33,832.
UW - Madison is a fairly large public university located in the city of Madison. This university ranks 1st out of 46 schools for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were approximately 119 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the sociology program report average early career wages of $35,889.
Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #9 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Cornell is a great university overall.
There were roughly 76 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Cornell in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the sociology program earn around $36,709 for their early career.
Located in the city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #18 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Vanderbilt is a great university overall.
There were about 48 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Vanderbilt in the most recent year we have data available.
Texas A&M College Station is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of College Station. This university ranks 1st out of 115 schools for overall quality in the state of Texas.
There were approximately 166 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Texas A&M College Station in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the sociology program earn around $35,848 in the first couple years of working.
UC Davis is a very large public university located in the small suburb of Davis. This university ranks 10th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 304 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UC Davis in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the sociology program earn around $32,137 for their early career.
Located in the town of Hanover, Dartmouth is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #12 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Dartmouth is a great college overall.
There were approximately 31 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Dartmouth in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the sociology degree program at Dartmouth College make $29,615 above the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 12th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 271 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UC Irvine in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the sociology program report average early career wages of $34,050.
University of Virginia is a very large public university located in the midsize suburb of Charlottesville. This university ranks 1st out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were approximately 99 sociology students who graduated with this degree at University of Virginia in the most recent data year. Sociology degree recipients from University of Virginia - Main Campus receive an earnings boost of approximately $11,024 above the average income of sociology majors.
Michigan State is a fairly large public university located in the city of East Lansing. This university ranks 2nd out of 56 colleges for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were roughly 124 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the sociology program earn about $35,055 in their early career salary.
WUSTL is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Saint Louis. This university ranks 1st out of 48 schools for overall quality in the state of Missouri.
There were approximately 23 sociology students who graduated with this degree at WUSTL in the most recent data year.
This section shows the rest of the schools awarded a Best Sociology Schools badge.
Showing in this list means the school was ranked in the top 20% of the 483 different United States sociology schools we analyzed.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Sociology Schools award.
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).
The sociology program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Sociology rankings. We derive our Best Overall Sociology School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
