When it comes to popularity, a bachelor's degree in forestry sits in the middle of the road, ranking #157 out of 363 majors in the country. So, it might take a little more work to find colleges and universities that offer the degree program.
College Factual looked at 3 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Forestry Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 89 bachelor's degrees in forestry to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Forestry School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of forestry 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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on forestry students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of forestry students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt forestry 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 forestry related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for forestry students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Forestry Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Forestry in the Rocky Mountains Region
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in forestry.
Top Rocky Mountains Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Forestry
University of Idaho is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in forestry. U of I is a large public university located in the distant town of Moscow.
Those forestry students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Idaho receive $8,707 more than the average forestry student.
Colorado State University - Fort Collins is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in forestry. Colorado State is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Fort Collins.
After graduating, forestry bachelor's recipients typically earn around $37,539 in their early careers.
The University of Montana is a great option for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in forestry. Located in the small city of Missoula, UM is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the forestry program earn an average of $31,138 for their early career.
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).