2025 Best Area Studies Schools in Maryland

Area Studies is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #115 most popular degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Area Studies Schools in Maryland ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 143 degrees in area studies annually.

What's on this page: * Degree-Level Rankings

• Best Overall Area Studies Schools List

Area Studies Rankings by Degree Level

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Area Studies Schools in Maryland ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision. If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

If you want to learn more about how we derive our rankings, see College Factual's Methodology.

Best Schools for Area Studies in Maryland

Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the area studies degree levels they offer.

Top Maryland Schools in Area Studies

1

University of Maryland Global Campus
Adelphi, MD

Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type

42 Area Studies Degrees Awarded

$48,650 Median Starting Salary

It is difficult to beat University of Maryland Global Campus if you want to pursue a degree in area studies. Located in the large suburb of Adelphi, UMGC is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Degree recipients from the area studies major at University of Maryland Global Campus get $11,937 more than the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a degree in area studies from University of Maryland Global Campus

2

Towson University
Towson, MD

Bachelor's Degree Highest Degree Type

45.8% Growth in Graduates

Towson University is a good option for students interested in a degree in area studies. Towson is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Towson.More information about a degree in area studies from Towson University

Best Area Studies Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region

Explore all the Best Area Studies Schools in the Middle Atlantic Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Pennsylvania	334	202
New York	333	666
New Jersey	273	75
District of Columbia	188	205
Delaware	175	13

View All Rankings >

Area Studies Related Rankings by Major

One of 2 majors within the Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies area of study, Area Studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Area Studies Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Asian Studies	60
American U.S. Studies	56
Near & Middle Eastern Studies	12
East Asian Studies	11
Latin American Studies	2
Latin American & Caribbean Studies	2

View All Area Studies Focus Areas >

Majors Similar to Area Studies

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Ethnic Studies	99

View All Area Studies Related Majors >

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 Karl Udo Gerth.

More about our data sources and methodologies.