College Rankings

Best Anthropology Schools

The top 25 of 178 U.S. colleges offering an undergraduate Anthropology degree, ranked by early-career earnings and return on investment — using each school's real, aid-adjusted net price rather than sticker tuition.

Is Anthropology worth it?

A bachelor’s in anthropology is a classic liberal arts wildcard: it doesn’t hand you a rigid, pre-defined career path, which means its financial worth relies heavily on keeping your student debt to an absolute minimum. The highest-value outcomes overwhelmingly belong to graduates of heavily subsidized public university systems in major metropolitan areas, where students can pivot their ethnographic and research skills into lucrative corporate roles—like user experience (UX) research, marketing, and human resources—without drowning in loan payments. If you treat the major as a versatile research credential and leverage it in a strong geographic market, it absolutely pays off. If you pay a premium private-school sticker price without a concrete corporate or medical pipeline in mind, the math gets incredibly grim.

Filter by state

#	School	State	Score	Median earnings	Net price / yr	10-yr net ROI
1	CUNY Lehman College	NY	57	$38,879	$3,148†	+$376K
2	Southern Methodist University	TX	48	$56,550	$40,892	+$402K
3	Emory University	GA	48	$36,700	$22,585	+$277K
4	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	48	$33,837	$15,678†	+$276K
5	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	48	$32,778	$14,091†	+$271K
6	University of Florida	FL	47	$29,036	$6,541†	+$264K
7	University of Florida-Online	FL	47	$29,036	$4,815†	+$271K
8	University of Houston	TX	46	$34,669	$14,276†	+$290K
9	University of Nevada-Las Vegas	NV	46	$33,787	$10,359†	+$296K
10	University of California-Berkeley	CA	46	$28,661	$13,481†	+$233K
11	Duke University	NC	45	$43,924	$29,612	+$321K
12	University of Massachusetts-Boston	MA	45	$36,565	$17,707†	+$295K
13	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus	CT	45	$33,758	$10,875†	+$294K
14	California State University-Sacramento	CA	45	$32,460	$9,338†	+$287K
15	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	45	$32,300	$12,548†	+$273K
16	CUNY Queens College	NY	45	$22,917	$4,195†	+$212K
17	Monmouth University	NJ	44	$46,302	$30,988	+$339K
18	University of California-Irvine	CA	44	$30,509	$14,251†	+$248K
19	California State University-Fullerton	CA	44	$26,794	$6,555†	+$242K
20	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	44	$24,079	$13,138†	+$188K
21	Portland State University	OR	43	$34,862	$9,552†	+$310K
22	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	43	$31,420	$16,109†	+$250K
23	California State University-Los Angeles	CA	43	$29,364	$3,967†	+$278K
24	California State University-Channel Islands	CA	43	$26,502	$9,849†	+$226K
25	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	42	$36,211	$11,655†	+$315K
26	University of Connecticut-Avery Point	CT	42	$33,758	$13,807†	+$282K
27	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	42	$31,640	$14,967†	+$257K
28	CUNY Hunter College	NY	42	$26,680	$2,984†	+$255K
29	Rutgers University-Newark	NJ	41	$36,978	$19,703†	+$291K
30	University of California-San Diego	CA	41	$28,543	$12,470†	+$236K
31	California State University-Northridge	CA	41	$26,278	$7,021†	+$235K
32	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus	OR	40	$32,573	$18,048†	+$254K
33	University of California-Davis	CA	40	$28,059	$14,741†	+$222K
34	University of Connecticut-Stamford	CT	39	$33,758	$16,798†	+$270K
35	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus	CT	39	$33,758	$16,403†	+$272K
36	Oregon State University	OR	39	$32,573	$19,604†	+$247K
37	San Francisco State University	CA	39	$28,314	$12,278†	+$234K
38	Ohio University-Eastern Campus	OH	39	$27,806	$3,925†	+$262K
39	California State University-San Bernardino	CA	39	$25,354	$4,564†	+$235K
40	Southern New Hampshire University	NH	38	$41,986	$36,708	+$273K
41	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	38	$36,978	$24,406†	+$272K
42	University of Illinois Chicago	IL	38	$30,648	$10,974†	+$263K
43	Ohio University-Chillicothe Campus	OH	38	$27,806	$5,755†	+$255K
44	Ohio University-Lancaster Campus	OH	38	$27,806	$5,650†	+$255K
45	Ohio University-Zanesville Campus	OH	38	$27,806	$5,746†	+$255K
46	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	38	$27,750	$11,531†	+$231K
47	Dartmouth College	NH	37	$40,071	$29,519	+$283K
48	George Mason University	VA	37	$37,081	$17,915†	+$299K
49	Wichita State University	KS	37	$34,275	$13,194†	+$290K
50	SUNY Oneonta	NY	37	$32,493	$19,158†	+$248K
51	University of North Florida	FL	37	$32,477	$10,154†	+$284K
52	Ohio University-Southern Campus	OH	37	$27,806	$5,993†	+$254K
53	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	36	$31,219	$16,778†	+$245K
54	Michigan State University	MI	36	$28,617	$19,680†	+$207K
55	Wayne State University	MI	36	$26,858	$12,766†	+$218K
56	University of Colorado Boulder	CO	35	$36,822	$25,346†	+$267K
57	Miami University-Oxford	OH	35	$34,701	$28,384†	+$233K
58	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee	WI	35	$33,261	$15,014†	+$273K
59	University of Arizona	AZ	35	$33,094	$16,674†	+$264K
60	Binghamton University	NY	35	$30,978	$21,620†	+$223K
61	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	35	$30,609	$21,565†	+$220K
62	Weber State University	UT	35	$30,139	$10,258†	+$260K
63	California State University-Chico	CA	35	$27,856	$14,480†	+$221K
64	University of North Carolina at Greensboro	NC	35	$25,901	$10,965†	+$215K
65	The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	TX	35	$21,213	$4,831†	+$193K
66	Fordham University	NY	34	$40,384	$44,338	+$226K
67	Brandeis University	MA	34	$35,390	$35,736	+$211K
68	Sonoma State University	CA	34	$31,744	$12,885†	+$266K
69	University of West Georgia	GA	34	$31,619	$12,786†	+$265K
70	University of Nevada-Reno	NV	34	$27,907	$15,927†	+$215K
71	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus	OK	34	$27,704	$15,300†	+$216K
72	University of South Florida	FL	34	$24,331	$9,812†	+$204K
73	Washington University in St Louis	MO	33	$34,489	$21,786	+$258K
74	James Madison University	VA	33	$30,686	$23,322†	+$214K
75	Florida Atlantic University	FL	33	$26,418	$8,752†	+$229K
76	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	33	$16,197	$14,355†	+$105K
77	University of Connecticut	CT	32	$33,758	$25,097†	+$237K
78	Montclair State University	NJ	32	$31,018	$15,566†	+$248K
79	Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania	PA	32	$29,813	$15,699†	+$235K
80	University of North Texas	TX	32	$28,160	$15,649†	+$219K
81	The University of Texas at San Antonio	TX	32	$26,735	$10,836†	+$224K
82	Northwestern University	IL	31	$33,208	$29,167	+$215K
83	Hamline University	MN	31	$32,498	$20,744	+$242K
84	University of Missouri-Columbia	MO	31	$31,926	$20,268†	+$238K
85	University of Vermont	VT	31	$31,717	$19,343†	+$240K
86	Kennesaw State University	GA	31	$30,544	$15,048†	+$245K
87	University of Central Florida	FL	31	$26,922	$10,411†	+$228K
88	University of California-Riverside	CA	31	$26,178	$14,304†	+$205K
89	Illinois State University	IL	31	$25,913	$19,398†	+$182K
90	University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg	PA	31	$25,742	$17,945†	+$186K
91	George Washington University	DC	31	$22,614	$36,586	+$80K
92	California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt	CA	31	$19,868	$13,171†	+$146K
93	University of Northern Colorado	CO	30	$35,432	$17,760†	+$283K
94	Wellesley College	MA	30	$31,973	$25,496	+$218K
95	Texas State University	TX	30	$30,108	$16,805†	+$234K
96	University at Albany	NY	30	$29,900	$17,167†	+$230K
97	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	NC	30	$27,805	$15,435†	+$216K
98	Colorado State University-Fort Collins	CO	30	$27,178	$21,279†	+$187K
99	California State University-Long Beach	CA	30	$22,351	$10,440†	+$182K
100	California State University-Fresno	CA	30	$20,949	$7,000†	+$181K
101	University of Georgia	GA	30	$20,396	$13,936†	+$148K
102	University of New Mexico-Main Campus	NM	29	$31,729	$15,489†	+$255K
103	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	29	$31,369	$19,857†	+$234K
104	Texas Tech University	TX	29	$30,385	$19,070†	+$228K
105	University of New Hampshire-Main Campus	NH	29	$30,380	$23,805†	+$209K
106	North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	29	$29,518	$17,303†	+$226K
107	University of Kansas	KS	29	$29,376	$18,059†	+$222K
108	Purdue University-Main Campus	IN	29	$28,587	$14,600†	+$227K
109	Western Carolina University	NC	29	$28,262	$13,315†	+$229K
110	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	29	$28,172	$17,339†	+$212K
111	University of Utah	UT	29	$27,844	$16,200†	+$214K
112	Missouri State University-Springfield	MO	29	$27,283	$17,613†	+$202K
113	Western Kentucky University	KY	29	$19,495	$10,990†	+$151K
114	The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	29	$17,229	$13,951†	+$116K
115	The University of Montana	MT	28	$30,011	$16,784†	+$233K
116	University of Louisville	KY	28	$29,966	$17,988†	+$228K
117	University at Buffalo	NY	28	$29,460	$20,995†	+$211K
118	Ball State University	IN	28	$24,452	$14,940†	+$185K
119	Temple University	PA	27	$30,261	$28,198†	+$190K
120	Western Washington University	WA	27	$27,851	$21,193†	+$194K
121	Grand Valley State University	MI	27	$27,350	$16,317†	+$208K
122	University of Kentucky	KY	27	$25,668	$18,851†	+$181K
123	Washington State University	WA	27	$25,519	$14,971†	+$195K
124	University of North Carolina Asheville	NC	27	$24,639	$12,250†	+$197K
125	University of California-Santa Cruz	CA	27	$23,152	$17,890†	+$160K
126	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	26	$28,202	$21,315†	+$197K
127	University of Oregon	OR	26	$27,775	$22,182†	+$189K
128	Boston University	MA	26	$26,934	$24,402	+$172K
129	University of Arkansas	AR	26	$26,878	$18,209†	+$196K
130	Mississippi State University	MS	26	$26,836	$17,595†	+$198K
131	Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	26	$26,476	$16,264†	+$200K
132	SUNY College at Geneseo	NY	26	$26,218	$18,211†	+$189K
133	San Diego State University	CA	26	$25,553	$15,364†	+$194K
134	Central Michigan University	MI	26	$25,264	$17,597†	+$182K
135	Iowa State University	IA	26	$25,014	$18,589†	+$176K
136	The University of Tennessee-Knoxville	TN	26	$24,772	$18,976†	+$172K
137	East Carolina University	NC	26	$24,228	$15,739†	+$179K
138	Loyola University Chicago	IL	25	$26,977	$36,079	+$125K
139	College of Charleston	SC	25	$26,842	$18,960†	+$193K
140	Fort Lewis College	CO	25	$25,891	$17,296†	+$190K
141	Stony Brook University	NY	25	$23,845	$18,784†	+$163K
142	University of Memphis	TN	25	$23,112	$12,397†	+$182K
143	Metropolitan State University of Denver	CO	25	$21,930	$15,327†	+$158K
144	Northern Arizona University	AZ	25	$20,144	$14,158†	+$145K
145	Utah State University	UT	24	$27,831	$14,936†	+$219K
146	University of Iowa	IA	24	$27,221	$22,531†	+$182K
147	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	PA	24	$25,742	$30,434†	+$136K
148	University of Mary Washington	VA	24	$24,534	$20,667†	+$163K
149	University of Massachusetts-Amherst	MA	24	$24,120	$22,383†	+$152K
150	Southern Illinois University Edwardsville	IL	24	$23,379	$14,889†	+$174K
151	University of Maine	ME	24	$23,341	$17,510†	+$163K
152	University of Missouri-St Louis	MO	24	$22,687	$15,071†	+$167K
153	Western Michigan University	MI	24	$22,670	$15,273†	+$166K
154	Middle Tennessee State University	TN	24	$21,878	$13,359†	+$165K
155	Baylor University	TX	23	$28,369	$41,104	+$119K
156	Ohio University-Main Campus	OH	23	$27,806	$21,637†	+$192K
157	Appalachian State University	NC	23	$19,624	$16,836†	+$129K
158	University of North Carolina Wilmington	NC	22	$25,198	$20,109†	+$172K
159	Kent State University at Kent	OH	22	$24,434	$20,787†	+$161K
160	University of South Carolina-Columbia	SC	22	$23,785	$22,811†	+$147K
161	Beloit College	WI	22	$21,949	$21,526	+$133K
162	Georgia State University	GA	22	$21,157	$15,931†	+$148K
163	Eckerd College	FL	22	$20,191	$38,071	+$50K
164	Mount Holyoke College	MA	22	$19,655	$26,441	+$91K
165	DePaul University	IL	22	$18,950	$30,902	+$66K
166	Kansas State University	KS	22	$18,567	$19,406†	+$108K
167	SUNY at Purchase College	NY	22	$18,085	$18,913†	+$105K
168	State University of New York at Oswego	NY	22	$17,595	$16,236†	+$111K
169	New Mexico State University-Main Campus	NM	22	$12,059	$8,889†	+$85K
170	Virginia Commonwealth University	VA	21	$22,732	$23,433†	+$134K
171	Syracuse University	NY	21	$16,844	$38,793	+$13K
172	Central Washington University	WA	20	$20,318	$18,476†	+$129K
173	Cleveland State University	OH	20	$14,647	$14,764†	+$87K
174	Tulane University of Louisiana	LA	19	$24,042	$39,949	+$81K
175	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	PA	19	$23,716	$32,875†	+$106K
176	Millersville University of Pennsylvania	PA	19	$22,326	$20,787†	+$140K
177	Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College	LA	19	$21,787	$19,151†	+$141K
178	State University of New York at New Paltz	NY	16	$17,288	$18,809†	+$98K

Top 10 programs by 10-year net ROI

How to read this: Median earnings = typical pay one year after graduation. Net price = average annual cost after grant aid, incl. living costs — not sticker tuition. 10-yr net ROI = ten years of earnings minus four years of net price. Score = the CollegeRanked Score (0–100) that sets the order — it blends ROI with longer-run earnings, job demand and automation resilience, so a school can outrank one with a slightly higher 10-yr ROI. † = public university — net price shown is the in-state cost; out-of-state students pay more. See the full methodology.

Why these schools rank where they do

CUNY Lehman College takes the #1 spot by executing a flawless value proposition: rock-bottom tuition combined with direct access to the New York City job market. Lehman grads aren't just reading theory; they are feeding straight into the city's massive ecosystem of market research firms, media conglomerates, and international nonprofits that desperately need trained cultural analysts.

The biggest surprises on this list are the expensive private institutions sitting right at the top—Southern Methodist University (#2) and Emory University (#3)—which routinely beat out cheaper public options. SMU wins because of its deep integration with the booming Dallas corporate sector. Anthropology grads there frequently double-major or cross-pollinate with the business school, using their behavioral science background to enter high-paying management consulting and corporate strategy roles. Emory, meanwhile, benefits immensely from its geographic and institutional ties to the CDC in Atlanta, creating an elite, highly compensated pipeline for students specializing in medical anthropology and global public health.

Further down the list, you’ll notice a massive wall of West Coast public schools, from the University of Washington-Seattle (#5) to a slew of UCs and CSUs. This isn't a coincidence. The Pacific Northwest and California tech industries have realized that anthropologists make exceptional UX researchers. Programs like UW, UC Berkeley, and San Jose State thrive here because their graduates can walk straight out of a low-cost public education into Silicon Valley and Seattle tech hubs, applying ethnographic methods to software design and consumer behavior.

What is Anthropology?

Anthropology is the study of human behavior, culture, and evolution, blending deep qualitative fieldwork with rigorous data analysis. Day-to-day, graduates might be found conducting ethnographic interviews for tech companies to improve user experience, managing cultural resource compliance for construction firms, or analyzing community health trends for public policy NGOs.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between cultural and biological anthropology?

Cultural anthropology focuses on human societies, behaviors, and social structures, often leading to careers in market research, UX, or public policy. Biological (or physical) anthropology studies human evolution, genetics, and primatology, which often serves as a springboard for epidemiology, forensic science, or public health.

Do I need a master's degree to get a job?

Not necessarily, though it depends entirely on your niche. A bachelor's is perfectly sufficient for corporate roles like HR, UX research, or marketing. However, if you want to be a Principal Investigator in Cultural Resource Management (CRM) directing archaeological digs, or if you want to work in high-level international development, a master's is usually the standard barrier to entry.

How do anthropology majors break into the tech industry?

Tech companies hire anthropologists to understand how humans interact with technology. You break in by building a portfolio of qualitative research—learning how to conduct user interviews, run focus groups, and translate human friction into actionable data for software engineers and product managers. Taking a few supplemental courses in human-computer interaction (HCI) or data analytics makes you highly competitive.