2025 Best Area Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

a bachelor's degree in area studies is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #85 out of 363 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.

College Factual reviewed 14 schools in the Far Western US Region to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of area studies. Combined, these schools handed out 705 bachelor's degrees in area studies to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Area Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Your choice of area studies for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to area studies students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of area studies students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt area studies students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized area studies related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for area studies students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list to help you make the college decision.

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.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Area Studies in the Far Western US Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in area studies.

10 Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Area Studies

1

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

57 Annual Graduates

$50,728 Median Starting Salary

University of California - Berkeley is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in area studies. Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the area studies degree program at University of California - Berkeley earn $16,965 above the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from University of California - Berkeley

2

University of Washington - Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA

153 Annual Graduates

$43,668 Median Starting Salary

$22,482 Median Student Debt

University of Washington - Seattle Campus is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in area studies. UW Seattle is a fairly large public university located in the city of Seattle.

Area Studies bachelor's degree recipients from University of Washington - Seattle Campus receive an earnings boost of approximately $9,905 above the typical income of area studies graduates.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from University of Washington - Seattle Campus

3

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

41 Annual Graduates

$23,819 Median Starting Salary

University of California - Los Angeles is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in area studies. UCLA is a very large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.

Soon after graduating, area studies bachelor's recipients generally make around $23,819 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from University of California - Los Angeles

4

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

12 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat University of Southern California if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in area studies. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from University of Southern California

5

University of California - Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA

27 Annual Graduates

UCSB is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Santa Barbara.More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from University of California - Santa Barbara

6

University of California - Davis
Davis, CA

25 Annual Graduates

$21,527 Median Starting Salary

UC Davis is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Davis.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the area studies program earn about $21,527 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from University of California - Davis

7

California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA

51 Annual Graduates

$28,591 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the area studies program earn around $28,591 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from California State University - Long Beach

8

University of California - Irvine
Irvine, CA

22 Annual Graduates

$30,897 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public university with a very large student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the area studies program state that they receive average early career income of $30,897.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from University of California - Irvine

9

University of California - San Diego
La Jolla, CA

19 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from University of California - San Diego

10

University of Oregon
Eugene, OR

18 Annual Graduates

$31,427 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Eugene, UO is a public university with a very large student population.

Soon after graduating, area studies bachelor's recipients typically make around $31,427 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from University of Oregon

Best Area Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best area studies colleges for a specific state in the Far Western US Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
California	262	568
Washington	226	203
Oregon	185	44
Nevada	129	4
Hawaii	112	39
Alaska	75	0

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
Area Studies, Other	170
American U.S. Studies	164
Asian Studies	148
Latin American Studies	49
East Asian Studies	37
Japanese Studies	22
Near & Middle Eastern Studies	18
Russian Studies	17
Pacific Area/Pacific Rim Studies	16
Chinese Studies	15

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Ethnic Studies	2,056

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.