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.
College Factual looked at 70 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Area Studies Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 6,257 degrees in area studies to qualified students.
Explore societal similarities and differences as seen through cultural, biological, archaeological and linguistic lenses when you earn one of your degrees in anthropology from Southern New Hampshire University.
The area studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Area Studies rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for area studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Area Studies Schools list to help you make the college 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.
Explore societal similarities and differences as seen through cultural, biological, archaeological and linguistic lenses when you earn one of your degrees in anthropology from Southern New Hampshire University.
Best Schools for Area Studies in the United States
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. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It's hard to beat Dartmouth College if you want to pursue a degree in area studies. Dartmouth is a medium-sized private not-for-profit college located in the town of Hanover. A Best Colleges rank of #12 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Dartmouth is a great college overall.
There were approximately 32 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Dartmouth in the most recent year we have data available. Those area studies students who get their degree from Dartmouth College make $11,852 more than the standard area studies student.
It is difficult to beat University of California - Berkeley if you wish to pursue a degree in area studies. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were about 65 area studies students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the area studies program at University of California - Berkeley make $14,015 above the average college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Explore societal similarities and differences as seen through cultural, biological, archaeological and linguistic lenses when you earn one of your degrees in anthropology from Southern New Hampshire University.
Wellesley College is a good decision for students pursuing a degree in area studies. Located in the large suburb of Wellesley, Wellesley is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 14th out of 63 schools for overall quality in the state of Massachusetts.
There were roughly 28 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Wellesley in the most recent data year. Those area studies students who get their degree from Wellesley College receive $6,518 more than the typical area studies graduate.
Brown University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in area studies. Located in the midsize city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #26 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Brown is a great university overall.
There were approximately 113 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Brown in the most recent data year. Those area studies students who get their degree from Brown University earn $2,452 more than the average area studies student.
Located in the city of New Haven, Yale is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #20 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Yale is a great university overall.
There were roughly 88 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Yale in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the area studies program at Yale University earn $18,905 more than the standard college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the large city of Washington, Georgetown is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Georgetown is a great university overall.
There were about 124 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Georgetown in the most recent year we have data available. Area Studies degree recipients from Georgetown University get an earnings boost of around $28,138 above the typical income of area studies graduates.
UNC Chapel Hill is a fairly large public university located in the city of Chapel Hill. This university ranks 2nd out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were roughly 184 area studies students who graduated with this degree at UNC Chapel Hill in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the area studies program earn around $31,955 in the first couple years of working.
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Located in the large city of Atlanta, Emory is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 68 schools for overall quality in the state of Georgia.
There were approximately 34 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Emory in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the area studies program state that they receive average early career wages of $33,549.
Located in the large city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #15 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Columbia is a great university overall.
There were approximately 107 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Columbia in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the area studies degree program at Columbia University in the City of New York earn $5,438 more than the typical college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
U-M is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were about 46 area studies students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the area studies program earn about $30,213 in their early career salary.
Located in the city of Waltham, Brandeis is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 15th out of 63 colleges for overall quality in the state of Massachusetts.
There were about 41 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Brandeis in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the area studies major at Brandeis University get $7,035 above the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the suburb of Saint Louis, WUSTL is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #21 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means WUSTL is a great university overall.
There were about 33 area studies students who graduated with this degree at WUSTL in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 50 colleges for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were about 200.00000000000003 area studies students who graduated with this degree at UW Seattle in the most recent year we have data available. Those area studies students who get their degree from University of Washington - Seattle Campus make $7,089 more than the average area studies student.
Bowdoin is a small private not-for-profit college located in the fringe town of Brunswick. This college ranks 1st out of 19 colleges for overall quality in the state of Maine.
There were about 47 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Bowdoin in the most recent data year. Area Studies degree recipients from Bowdoin College earn a boost of about $8,602 above the average earnings of area studies graduates.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Area Studies 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).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Karl Udo Gerth.
The area studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Area Studies rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for area studies schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
