2025 Best Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Schools in Illinois
50Colleges in Illinois
24,928Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Degrees Awarded
$31,562Avg Early-Career Salary
Ranked #3 in popularity, liberal arts / sciences & humanities is one of the most sought-after degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 50 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for liberal arts / sciences & humanities students pursuing a degree. Combined, these schools handed out 24,928 degrees in liberal arts / sciences & humanities to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities School
The liberal arts / sciences & humanities program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for liberal arts / sciences & humanities schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each 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.
Pick Your Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Degree Level
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Schools in Illinois ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
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 Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities in Illinois
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the liberal arts / sciences & humanities 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.
10 Top Illinois Schools in Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities
DePaul University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in liberal arts / sciences & humanities. DePaul is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago. A Best Colleges rank of #135 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means DePaul is a great university overall.
There were approximately 90 liberal arts / sciences & humanities students who graduated with this degree at DePaul in the most recent data year. Those liberal arts / sciences & humanities students who get their degree from DePaul University earn $50,241 more than the typical liberal arts / sciences & humanities grad.
Lincoln Land Community College is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in liberal arts / sciences & humanities. LLCC is a moderately-sized public college located in the rural area of Springfield. A Best Colleges rank of #437 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means LLCC is a great college overall.
There were roughly 471 liberal arts / sciences & humanities students who graduated with this degree at LLCC in the most recent year we have data available. Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities degree recipients from Lincoln Land Community College get an earnings boost of about $2,602 above the typical income of liberal arts / sciences & humanities majors.
It is hard to beat Waubonsee Community College if you want to pursue a degree in liberal arts / sciences & humanities. Waubonsee is a medium-sized public college located in the rural area of Sugar Grove. A Best Colleges rank of #590 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Waubonsee is a great college overall.
There were approximately 510 liberal arts / sciences & humanities students who graduated with this degree at Waubonsee in the most recent data year. After graduating, liberal arts / sciences & humanities degree recipients generally make around $27,597 in their early careers.
William Rainey Harper College is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in liberal arts / sciences & humanities. Located in the suburb of Palatine, Harper College is a public college with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #640 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Harper College is a great college overall.
There were roughly 1837 liberal arts / sciences & humanities students who graduated with this degree at Harper College in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the liberal arts / sciences & humanities program earn about $27,619 for their early career.
Illinois State is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Normal. A Best Colleges rank of #210 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Illinois State is a great university overall.
There were approximately 91 liberal arts / sciences & humanities students who graduated with this degree at Illinois State in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, liberal arts / sciences & humanities degree recipients typically earn about $31,745 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the town of Macomb, WIU is a public university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #939 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means WIU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 133 liberal arts / sciences & humanities students who graduated with this degree at WIU in the most recent year we have data available. Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities degree recipients from Western Illinois University receive an earnings boost of approximately $6,634 above the typical earnings of liberal arts / sciences & humanities graduates.
Located in the suburb of Grayslake, College of Lake County is a public college with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #504 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means College of Lake County is a great college overall.
There were approximately 1893 liberal arts / sciences & humanities students who graduated with this degree at College of Lake County in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the liberal arts / sciences & humanities program earn an average of $33,413 in their early career salary.
ECC is a moderately-sized public college located in the city of Elgin. A Best Colleges rank of #671 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means ECC is a great college overall.
There were roughly 1019 liberal arts / sciences & humanities students who graduated with this degree at ECC in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, liberal arts / sciences & humanities degree recipients generally earn about $25,377 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the large suburb of South Holland, SSC is a public college with a small student population. A Best Colleges rank of #718 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means SSC is a great college overall.
There were about 288 liberal arts / sciences & humanities students who graduated with this degree at SSC in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the liberal arts / sciences & humanities program state that they receive average early career income of $28,465.
Located in the suburb of Glen Ellyn, COD is a public college with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #731 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means COD is a great college overall.
There were roughly 821 liberal arts / sciences & humanities students who graduated with this degree at COD in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, liberal arts / sciences & humanities degree recipients generally earn around $28,678 in their early careers.
Here are some additional great schools for Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities students in the state of Illinois that almost earned our Best Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Schools in Illinois 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).
The liberal arts / sciences & humanities program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for liberal arts / sciences & humanities schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
