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2024 Best Urban Studies Schools

78 Colleges in the United States
1,507 Urban Studies Degrees Awarded
$39,193 Avg Early-Career Salary
Urban Studies isn't the most popular major in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #209 in popularity out of 395 majors in the country. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.

College Factual reviewed 78 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of urban studies. Combined, these schools handed out 1,507 degrees in urban studies to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Degree-Level Rankings

Choosing a Great Urban Studies School

Best Urban Studies Schools Your choice of urban studies school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Urban Studies School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.

You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.

Urban Studies Rankings by Degree Level

Bachelor's Degrees in Urban Studies
Master's Degrees in Urban Studies
Doctor's Degrees in Urban Studies

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Urban Studies 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.

Read more about College Factual's methodology.

Best Schools for Urban Studies in the United States

The schools below may not offer all types of urban studies degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

11 Top Schools in Urban Studies

1
UPenn crest
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
32 Urban Studies Degrees Awarded
$46,426 Median Starting Salary

It's difficult to beat University of Pennsylvania if you wish to pursue a degree in urban studies. Located in the city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #4 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UPenn is a great university overall.

There were roughly 32 urban studies students who graduated with this degree at UPenn in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the urban studies program at University of Pennsylvania get $7,233 above the standard college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a degree in urban studies from University of Pennsylvania

2
Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In CA
102 Urban Studies Degrees Awarded

University of Southern California is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in urban studies. USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means USC is a great university overall.

There were about 102 urban studies students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in urban studies from University of Southern California

3
Tufts crest
Tufts University
Medford, MA
Master's Degree Highest Degree Type
$61,600 Median Starting Salary

It's difficult to beat Tufts University if you wish to pursue a degree in urban studies. Tufts is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Medford. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Tufts is a great university overall.

There were approximately 26 urban studies students who graduated with this degree at Tufts in the most recent data year. Urban Studies degree recipients from Tufts University receive an earnings boost of about $22,407 over the average income of urban studies graduates.

More information about a degree in urban studies from Tufts University

4
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In MO
60.0% Growth in Graduates

Any student who is interested in urban studies needs to check out Washington University in St Louis. Located in the suburb of Saint Louis, WUSTL is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #17 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means WUSTL is a great university overall.

There were about 5 urban studies students who graduated with this degree at WUSTL in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in urban studies from Washington University in St Louis

5
NYU crest
New York University
New York, NY
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
4th Most Popular In NY
33 Urban Studies Degrees Awarded

Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #27 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means NYU is a great university overall.

There were roughly 33 urban studies students who graduated with this degree at NYU in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in urban studies from New York University

6
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
35 Urban Studies Degrees Awarded
2.9% Growth in Graduates

UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Berkeley. A Best Colleges rank of #18 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.

There were about 35 urban studies students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent data year. Urban Studies degree recipients from University of California - Berkeley get an earnings boost of about $11,145 over the typical earnings of urban studies graduates.

More information about a degree in urban studies from University of California - Berkeley

7
Stanford crest
Stanford University
Stanford, CA
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
7th Most Popular In CA
16.7% Growth in Graduates

Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Stanford. A Best Colleges rank of #3 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Stanford is a great university overall.

There were approximately 12 urban studies students who graduated with this degree at Stanford in the most recent data year.

More information about a degree in urban studies from Stanford University

8
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
38 Urban Studies Degrees Awarded
$41,393 Median Starting Salary

UCSD is a fairly large public university located in the city of La Jolla. A Best Colleges rank of #38 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UCSD is a great university overall.

There were approximately 38 urban studies students who graduated with this degree at UCSD in the most recent year we have data available. Urban Studies degree recipients from University of California - San Diego receive an earnings boost of approximately $2,200 over the typical income of urban studies graduates.

More information about a degree in urban studies from University of California - San Diego

9
Barnard crest
Barnard College
New York, NY
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
$47,271 Median Starting Salary
$18,650 Median Student Debt

Located in the large city of New York, Barnard is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 6th out of 142 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.

There were roughly 20 urban studies students who graduated with this degree at Barnard in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the urban studies degree program at Barnard College make $8,078 more than the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a degree in urban studies from Barnard College

10
Brown crest
Brown University
Providence, RI
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
$23,206 Median Starting Salary
$14,750 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #21 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Brown is a great university overall.

There were approximately 18 urban studies students who graduated with this degree at Brown in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the urban studies program make an average of $23,206 for their early career.

More information about a degree in urban studies from Brown University

11
Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type
1st Most Popular In TX
33.3% Growth in Graduates

Located in the city of Austin, UT Austin is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #36 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UT Austin is a great university overall.

There were roughly 30 urban studies students who graduated with this degree at UT Austin in the most recent year we have data available.

More information about a degree in urban studies from The University of Texas at Austin

Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional great schools for Urban Studies students that almost earned our Best Urban Studies Schools award.

Rank College Location
12 University of California - Irvine Irvine, CA
13 Trinity College Hartford, CT
14 Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY
15 Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA
16 University of Minnesota - Twin Cities Minneapolis, MN
17 The Graduate Center, CUNY New York, NY
18 Hunter College New York, NY
19 Haverford College Haverford, PA

Urban Studies by Region

View the Best Urban Studies 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

View All Rankings >

One of 13 majors within the Social Sciences area of study, Urban Studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Urban Studies Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
Urban Studies/Affairs 1,507

View All Urban Studies Focus Areas >

Majors Similar to Urban Studies

Related Major Annual Graduates
Political Science & Government 49,282
Economics 49,055
Sociology 38,475
General Social Sciences 18,997
International Relations & National Security 14,306
Anthropology 11,415
Geography & Cartography 8,526
Other Social Sciences 2,414
Sociology & Anthropology 541
Archeology 339

View All Urban Studies Related Majors >

Notes and References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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