2025 Best Religious Studies Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region

a doctor's degree in religious studies is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #80 out of 306 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Religious Studies Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 80 doctor's degrees in religious studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor'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

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to religious studies students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of religious studies students who choose to seek a doctor'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 religious studies students go into to obtain their doctor'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 religious studies related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Religious Studies Doctor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Religious Studies in the Southeast Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for religious studies students seeking a a doctor's degree.

Top Southeast Region Schools for a Doctorate in Religion

1

Emory University
Atlanta, GA

17 Annual Graduates

$58,984 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a doctor's degree in religious studies needs to look into Emory University. Located in the city of Atlanta, Emory is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Students who graduate with their doctorate from the religion program report average early career earnings of $58,984.

More information about a doctorate in religious studies from Emory University

2

Liberty University
Lynchburg, VA

15 Annual Graduates

Liberty University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in religious studies. Located in the small city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in religious studies from Liberty University

Best Religious Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best religious studies colleges for a specific state in the Southeast Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	138	8
Virginia	127	16
Georgia	126	18
North Carolina	115	10
Tennessee	102	5
South Carolina	91	3

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Religion

One of 3 majors within the Philosophy & Religious Studies area of study, Religious Studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Religion Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Religion/Religious Studies	76
Catholic Studies	4

Majors Similar to Religion

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Philosophy	60
General Philosophy & Religious Studies	2

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 Sowlos. More about our data sources and methodologies.