2025 Best Area Studies Schools in District of Columbia
3Colleges in District of Columbia
186Area Studies Degrees Awarded
$36,713Avg Early-Career Salary
If you plan on majoring in area studies, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #115 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 3 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Area Studies Schools in District of Columbia ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 186 degrees in area studies annually.
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.
Your choice of area studies school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Area Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
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 in District of Columbia list to help you make the college decision.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
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 District of Columbia
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the area studies degrees they offer, see the list below.
Georgetown University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in area studies. Georgetown is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Washington. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Georgetown is a great university overall.
There were approximately 124 area studies students who graduated with this degree at Georgetown in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the area studies major at Georgetown University make $28,138 more than the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
It is hard to beat George Washington University if you wish to pursue a degree in area studies. Located in the city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 7 colleges for overall quality in the state of District of Columbia.
There were roughly 42 area studies students who graduated with this degree at GWU in the most recent year we have data available.
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.
Any student who is interested in area studies needs to take a look at American University. Located in the large city of Washington, The American University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 3rd out of 7 schools for overall quality in the state of District of Columbia.
There were roughly 17 area studies students who graduated with this degree at The American University in the most recent data year. Those area studies students who get their degree from American University earn $6,958 more than the standard area studies grad.
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.
Your choice of area studies school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Area Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
