College Rankings

Best Romance Languages Schools

The top 25 of 198 U.S. colleges offering an undergraduate Romance Languages degree, ranked by early-career earnings and return on investment — using each school's real, aid-adjusted net price rather than sticker tuition.

Is Romance Languages worth it?

It depends entirely on how you leverage it and what you pay for it. As a standalone humanities degree, it does not offer the immediate, guaranteed entry salaries of STEM fields, making it a dangerous major to finance with massive student loans. However, the financial payoff is incredibly strong when you execute one of two strategies. The first is attending a hyper-elite private university with a direct pipeline to multinational consulting firms and international NGOs. The second—and far more common—winning strategy is to secure the degree at a deeply subsidized public university where graduating debt-free makes even modest starting salaries in education or local government a massive financial win.

Filter by state

#	School	State	Score	Median earnings	Net price / yr	10-yr net ROI
1	Columbia University in the City of New York	NY	57	$54,327	$21,590	+$457K
2	Vanderbilt University	TN	56	$47,208	$15,846	+$409K
3	University of Rhode Island	RI	52	$59,220	$21,440†	+$506K
4	Colgate University	NY	52	$53,541	$28,786	+$420K
5	CUNY York College	NY	52	$46,882	$4,456†	+$451K
6	University of California-Berkeley	CA	52	$40,818	$13,481†	+$354K
7	Brigham Young University	UT	52	$40,002	$15,564	+$338K
8	CUNY Queens College	NY	52	$37,654	$4,195†	+$360K
9	University of Notre Dame	IN	50	$46,030	$26,780	+$353K
10	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign	IL	49	$38,942	$14,355†	+$332K
11	Emory University	GA	48	$40,019	$22,585	+$310K
12	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus	WA	48	$34,572	$10,163†	+$305K
13	Bucknell University	PA	47	$51,120	$40,766	+$348K
14	DePauw University	IN	47	$43,049	$22,264	+$341K
15	University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire	WI	47	$41,109	$16,550†	+$345K
16	CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice	NY	47	$37,442	$3,203†	+$362K
17	Southern Methodist University	TX	46	$57,858	$40,892	+$415K
18	College of the Holy Cross	MA	46	$52,210	$38,782	+$367K
19	University of Utah	UT	46	$45,868	$16,200†	+$394K
20	University of Wisconsin-Whitewater	WI	46	$42,722	$14,158†	+$371K
21	Northern Illinois University	IL	46	$40,586	$13,391†	+$352K
22	New Jersey City University	NJ	46	$39,714	$16,053†	+$333K
23	Sonoma State University	CA	46	$36,237	$12,885†	+$311K
24	CUNY Lehman College	NY	46	$35,941	$3,148†	+$347K
25	Texas A&M University-College Station	TX	45	$46,860	$21,315†	+$383K
26	University of Wisconsin-Green Bay	WI	45	$43,126	$13,369†	+$378K
27	Arizona State University Campus Immersion	AZ	45	$42,436	$14,967†	+$364K
28	University of Maryland-College Park	MD	45	$39,516	$15,678†	+$332K
29	Idaho State University	ID	45	$38,054	$12,193†	+$332K
30	Minnesota State University-Mankato	MN	45	$37,845	$19,139†	+$302K
31	University of Washington-Seattle Campus	WA	45	$34,572	$14,091†	+$289K
32	California State University-Sacramento	CA	45	$34,117	$9,338†	+$304K
33	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus	CT	45	$32,795	$10,875†	+$284K
34	CUNY Hunter College	NY	45	$30,534	$2,984†	+$293K
35	University of Florida	FL	45	$27,578	$6,541†	+$250K
36	Montclair State University	NJ	44	$47,487	$15,566†	+$413K
37	Villanova University	PA	44	$45,088	$43,756	+$276K
38	Kean University	NJ	44	$42,750	$12,447†	+$378K
39	University of California-Santa Barbara	CA	44	$35,635	$16,109†	+$292K
40	Weber State University	UT	44	$27,989	$10,258†	+$239K
41	Dickinson College	PA	43	$39,694	$37,607	+$247K
42	University of Virginia-Main Campus	VA	43	$38,269	$21,565†	+$296K
43	University of Wisconsin-Madison	WI	43	$35,720	$17,354†	+$288K
44	Indiana University-Bloomington	IN	43	$33,307	$16,264†	+$268K
45	University of Connecticut-Avery Point	CT	43	$32,795	$13,807†	+$273K
46	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	43	$32,508	$11,655†	+$278K
47	Utah State University	UT	43	$30,242	$14,936†	+$243K
48	CUNY City College	NY	43	$23,932	$3,776†	+$224K
49	Bentley University	MA	42	$66,917	$37,930	+$517K
50	University of the Pacific	CA	42	$43,472	$25,447	+$333K
51	University of Portland	OR	42	$41,018	$28,210	+$297K
52	William & Mary	VA	42	$40,260	$19,096†	+$326K
53	University of California-Irvine	CA	42	$36,692	$14,251†	+$310K
54	University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee	WI	42	$33,705	$15,014†	+$277K
55	Cornell University	NY	42	$33,419	$28,690	+$219K
56	University of Georgia	GA	42	$33,169	$13,936†	+$276K
57	Binghamton University	NY	42	$32,718	$21,620†	+$241K
58	The University of Texas at El Paso	TX	42	$30,291	$9,403†	+$265K
59	The University of Texas at Austin	TX	41	$34,929	$19,857†	+$270K
60	Amherst College	MA	40	$49,322	$23,367	+$400K
61	Wofford College	SC	40	$39,499	$18,732	+$320K
62	Elmhurst University	IL	40	$35,767	$24,185	+$261K
63	Oakland University	MI	40	$35,411	$9,120†	+$318K
64	University of Connecticut-Stamford	CT	40	$32,795	$16,798†	+$261K
65	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus	CT	40	$32,795	$16,403†	+$262K
66	California State University-Channel Islands	CA	40	$30,502	$9,849†	+$266K
67	University of California-Los Angeles	CA	40	$26,966	$12,548†	+$219K
68	Illinois State University	IL	39	$49,448	$19,398†	+$417K
69	Georgetown University	DC	39	$46,190	$40,815	+$299K
70	Sam Houston State University	TX	39	$40,562	$16,404†	+$340K
71	University of Nebraska-Lincoln	NE	39	$38,478	$17,747†	+$314K
72	University of Wisconsin-La Crosse	WI	39	$37,018	$16,210†	+$305K
73	Northern Arizona University	AZ	39	$33,901	$14,158†	+$282K
74	Butler University	IN	38	$43,678	$36,041	+$293K
75	Colby College	ME	38	$42,326	$17,180	+$355K
76	Winona State University	MN	38	$41,866	$17,503†	+$349K
77	University of Northern Iowa	IA	38	$34,702	$15,901†	+$283K
78	University of New Mexico-Main Campus	NM	38	$32,236	$15,489†	+$260K
79	University of Minnesota-Twin Cities	MN	38	$31,622	$16,778†	+$249K
80	The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley	TX	38	$27,138	$4,831†	+$252K
81	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor	MI	38	$22,803	$13,138†	+$175K
82	California State University-Fresno	CA	38	$20,070	$7,000†	+$173K
83	Tufts University	MA	37	$49,164	$39,998	+$332K
84	Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus	PA	37	$45,050	$32,875†	+$319K
85	Hamilton College	NY	37	$41,946	$28,985	+$304K
86	Westfield State University	MA	37	$40,405	$16,721†	+$337K
87	Texas State University	TX	37	$35,781	$16,805†	+$291K
88	Michigan State University	MI	37	$35,658	$19,680†	+$278K
89	Indiana University-Indianapolis	IN	37	$32,084	$11,668†	+$274K
90	California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt	CA	36	$36,444	$13,171†	+$312K
91	University of North Carolina at Greensboro	NC	36	$35,191	$10,965†	+$308K
92	University of Houston-Downtown	TX	36	$34,003	$10,542†	+$298K
93	The University of Texas at Arlington	TX	36	$30,505	$13,951†	+$249K
94	University of California-Davis	CA	36	$29,330	$14,741†	+$234K
95	California State University-San Marcos	CA	36	$29,329	$10,229†	+$252K
96	Grinnell College	IA	36	$28,691	$17,648	+$216K
97	California State University-San Bernardino	CA	36	$18,490	$4,564†	+$167K
98	Franklin and Marshall College	PA	35	$45,300	$36,425	+$307K
99	Gettysburg College	PA	35	$44,068	$31,490	+$315K
100	Stony Brook University	NY	35	$43,821	$18,784†	+$363K
101	Marquette University	WI	35	$41,033	$31,487	+$284K
102	Wellesley College	MA	35	$36,776	$25,496	+$266K
103	Western Carolina University	NC	35	$36,179	$13,315†	+$309K
104	University of Nevada-Reno	NV	35	$35,591	$15,927†	+$292K
105	Western Michigan University	MI	35	$32,630	$15,273†	+$265K
106	State University of New York at New Paltz	NY	35	$28,681	$18,809†	+$212K
107	Ohio State University-Main Campus	OH	35	$27,815	$17,339†	+$209K
108	Williams College	MA	34	$37,968	$17,716	+$309K
109	Iowa State University	IA	34	$37,909	$18,589†	+$305K
110	Ball State University	IN	34	$37,553	$14,940†	+$316K
111	Indiana University of Pennsylvania	PA	34	$37,374	$16,804†	+$307K
112	University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point	WI	34	$36,411	$14,559†	+$306K
113	University of Idaho	ID	34	$36,200	$14,831†	+$303K
114	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	NC	34	$35,208	$15,435†	+$290K
115	University of California-Santa Cruz	CA	34	$32,934	$17,890†	+$258K
116	College of Charleston	SC	34	$32,503	$18,960†	+$249K
117	Rutgers University-Camden	NJ	34	$31,335	$18,745†	+$238K
118	Rutgers University-Newark	NJ	34	$31,335	$19,703†	+$235K
119	Florida State University	FL	34	$28,603	$11,297†	+$241K
120	Bates College	ME	33	$40,395	$29,351	+$287K
121	Concordia College at Moorhead	MN	33	$40,212	$24,902	+$303K
122	Clemson University	SC	33	$39,209	$22,253†	+$303K
123	DePaul University	IL	33	$39,207	$30,902	+$268K
124	University of Arizona	AZ	33	$34,484	$16,674†	+$278K
125	University of Connecticut	CT	33	$32,795	$25,097†	+$228K
126	Grand Valley State University	MI	33	$31,569	$16,317†	+$250K
127	University of California-Riverside	CA	33	$24,453	$14,304†	+$187K
128	California State University-Chico	CA	33	$22,917	$14,480†	+$171K
129	Skidmore College	NY	32	$40,204	$32,297	+$273K
130	Syracuse University	NY	32	$39,825	$38,793	+$243K
131	Calvin University	MI	32	$38,068	$22,992	+$289K
132	University of Delaware	DE	32	$36,297	$17,799†	+$292K
133	Hope College	MI	32	$35,992	$27,182	+$251K
134	Valparaiso University	IN	32	$31,752	$18,578	+$243K
135	California State University-Long Beach	CA	32	$21,609	$10,440†	+$174K
136	Fordham University	NY	31	$44,073	$44,338	+$263K
137	Miami University-Oxford	OH	31	$39,220	$28,384†	+$279K
138	University of Minnesota-Duluth	MN	31	$31,174	$18,743†	+$237K
139	University of Pittsburgh-Greensburg	PA	31	$29,617	$17,945†	+$224K
140	Portland State University	OR	31	$27,500	$9,552†	+$237K
141	Western Washington University	WA	31	$26,557	$21,193†	+$181K
142	California State University-Los Angeles	CA	31	$20,433	$3,967†	+$188K
143	Denison University	OH	30	$42,992	$40,007	+$270K
144	Wheaton College	IL	30	$37,025	$26,975	+$262K
145	Smith College	MA	30	$35,407	$27,579	+$244K
146	Oregon State University	OR	30	$34,510	$19,604†	+$267K
147	Oregon State University-Cascades Campus	OR	30	$34,510	$18,048†	+$273K
148	Rutgers University-New Brunswick	NJ	30	$31,335	$24,406†	+$216K
149	University of Redlands	CA	30	$27,731	$30,031	+$157K
150	Texas Tech University	TX	30	$25,814	$19,070†	+$182K
151	University of Denver	CO	29	$41,865	$36,131	+$274K
152	Chapman University	CA	29	$36,546	$46,555	+$179K
153	University of North Texas	TX	29	$24,880	$15,649†	+$186K
154	University of Arkansas	AR	29	$19,519	$18,209†	+$122K
155	Lake Forest College	IL	28	$35,622	$28,673	+$242K
156	Baylor University	TX	28	$34,649	$41,104	+$182K
157	Tulane University of Louisiana	LA	28	$32,356	$39,949	+$164K
158	Monmouth College	IL	28	$32,036	$17,133	+$252K
159	University of Oregon	OR	28	$29,765	$22,182†	+$209K
160	Dominican University	IL	28	$29,102	$11,745	+$244K
161	Georgia State University	GA	28	$26,232	$15,931†	+$199K
162	Western Kentucky University	KY	28	$24,967	$10,990†	+$206K
163	St Olaf College	MN	27	$32,094	$23,874	+$225K
164	Temple University	PA	27	$30,970	$28,198†	+$197K
165	University at Albany	NY	27	$30,810	$17,167†	+$239K
166	San Diego State University	CA	27	$28,182	$15,364†	+$220K
167	California State Polytechnic University-Pomona	CA	27	$27,657	$11,531†	+$230K
168	University of South Carolina-Columbia	SC	27	$21,411	$22,811†	+$123K
169	University of Iowa	IA	26	$28,746	$22,531†	+$197K
170	Drew University	NJ	26	$27,823	$24,280	+$181K
171	Eastern Washington University	WA	26	$27,427	$13,886†	+$219K
172	Augustana College	IL	26	$24,208	$22,736	+$151K
173	Rowan University	NJ	25	$33,081	$22,408†	+$241K
174	University of Cincinnati-Main Campus	OH	25	$30,504	$25,648†	+$202K
175	Central College	IA	25	$30,211	$23,377	+$209K
176	Central Michigan University	MI	25	$28,231	$17,597†	+$212K
177	Allegheny College	PA	25	$21,822	$22,940	+$126K
178	Gonzaga University	WA	24	$29,859	$35,119	+$158K
179	University of New Hampshire-Main Campus	NH	24	$27,312	$23,805†	+$178K
180	University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh	WI	24	$26,584	$14,305†	+$209K
181	Boise State University	ID	24	$26,579	$21,610†	+$179K
182	Mount Holyoke College	MA	24	$26,013	$26,441	+$154K
183	San Francisco State University	CA	24	$25,242	$12,278†	+$203K
184	University of Puget Sound	WA	24	$25,035	$38,394	+$97K
185	University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus	PA	23	$29,617	$30,434†	+$174K
186	University of North Carolina Wilmington	NC	23	$25,426	$20,109†	+$174K
187	Wright State University-Main Campus	OH	23	$23,739	$15,415†	+$176K
188	Vassar College	NY	22	$28,999	$39,343	+$133K
189	Mercer University	GA	22	$26,952	$23,847	+$174K
190	Nazareth University	NY	21	$25,979	$29,357	+$142K
191	Pacific Lutheran University	WA	21	$24,773	$19,589	+$169K
192	Ohio Wesleyan University	OH	20	$23,537	$20,897	+$152K
193	Seattle University	WA	19	$28,082	$34,662	+$142K
194	Willamette University	OR	19	$27,044	$25,121	+$170K
195	Susquehanna University	PA	19	$23,699	$28,819	+$122K
196	Washington & Jefferson College	PA	18	$19,700	$25,002	+$97K
197	Centre College	KY	18	$19,503	$20,781	+$112K
198	Bowling Green State University-Main Campus	OH	16	$22,734	$24,022†	+$131K

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

Columbia University takes the top spot because its location is arguably the best in the world for this specific discipline. Studying French, Spanish, or Italian in New York City gives Columbia students immediate internship access to the United Nations, international consulates, and the headquarters of global NGOs and multinational banks. These graduates aren't just parsing literature; they are stepping straight into high-end international relations and global finance pipelines.

But the most fascinating story on this list is the University of Rhode Island at number three, beating out prestige powerhouses like Berkeley and Notre Dame. URI is famous in higher education for its dual-degree International Engineering and International Business programs. Students simultaneously earn a degree in a Romance language and a STEM or business field, spending a full year abroad studying and interning for global corporate giants. Because they graduate as fully bilingual engineers and corporate strategists, their earning power skyrockets.

Further down the list, you will notice a massive cluster of City University of New York (CUNY) campuses, including York, Queens, John Jay, and Lehman. These schools dominate the value rankings for a completely different reason: unbeatable cost. They offer a remarkably cheap route to a bachelor's degree in a city with a massive, constant demand for bilingual educators, social workers, and civil servants. Similarly, Brigham Young University and the University of Utah punch well above their weight because their student populations often arrive with near-native fluency from overseas religious missions, allowing their academic programs to skip the basics and focus intensely on high-level professional translation and international diplomacy.

What is Romance Languages?

A degree in Romance Languages goes far beyond basic conversational fluency in Spanish, French, Italian, or Portuguese to deeply analyze the literature, linguistics, and cultural mechanics of the regions that speak them. Day-to-day, graduates leverage this cross-cultural expertise as international business liaisons, foreign service officers, educators, and localization specialists, acting as the critical bridge for organizations operating on a global scale.

Frequently asked questions

Should I double major if I study Romance Languages?

Almost always, yes. While a standalone language degree is great for future educators or translators, pairing a Romance language with nursing, supply chain management, engineering, or political science turns you into a highly recruited candidate. Employers are desperate for technical experts who can flawlessly negotiate contracts or manage teams in Latin America or Europe.

What is the difference between this and a standard Spanish or French major?

A Romance Languages major is typically broader. While a Spanish major focuses exclusively on the Hispanophone world, a Romance Languages degree often requires or encourages the study of two or more languages derived from Latin—such as pairing Italian with Portuguese. It provides a comparative look at linguistics and European history rather than isolating a single culture.

Is studying abroad mandatory to get a good job?

While your specific college might not strictly require it for graduation, the job market essentially does. Classroom learning rarely provides the colloquial, rapid-fire fluency required to conduct a business meeting in Bogota or Paris. Employers hiring for bilingual roles will look for the cultural competence and true conversational agility that generally only comes from living in a target country.