2025 Best Economics Master's Degree Schools

a master's degree in economics is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #41 out of 343 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual reviewed 113 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for master's degree seekers in the field of economics. Combined, these schools handed out 5,317 master's degrees in economics to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Economics School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of economics for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality economics program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a master'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 for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

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 economics students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of economics students who choose to seek a master'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 easy is it for economics to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized economics related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for economics students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Economics Schools

The economics school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Economics Master's Degree Schools.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Economics in the United States

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for economics students seeking a a master's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

22 Top Schools for a Master's in Economics

1

Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD

393 Annual Graduates

$100,054 Median Starting Salary

Johns Hopkins University is a wonderful decision for students interested in a master's degree in economics. Located in the large city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.

Economics master's degree recipients from Johns Hopkins University earn a boost of around $25,978 above the average income of economics graduates.

More information about a master’s in economics from Johns Hopkins University

2

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

64 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in economics has to look into Northwestern University. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in economics from Northwestern University

3

Cornell University
Ithaca, NY

67 Annual Graduates

It is difficult to beat Cornell University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in economics. Located in the small city of Ithaca, Cornell is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in economics from Cornell University

4

Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY

179 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat Columbia University in the City of New York if you want to pursue a master's degree in economics. Columbia is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.More information about a master’s in economics from Columbia University in the City of New York

5

Harvard University
Cambridge, MA

111 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in economics from Harvard University

6

University of Chicago
Chicago, IL

78 Annual Graduates

UChicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.More information about a master’s in economics from University of Chicago

7

Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN

42 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in economics from Vanderbilt University

8

Duke University
Durham, NC

87 Annual Graduates

Duke is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Durham.More information about a master’s in economics from Duke University

9

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

32 Annual Graduates

UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Philadelphia.More information about a master’s in economics from University of Pennsylvania

10

Georgetown University
Washington, DC

64 Annual Graduates

$79,324 Median Starting Salary

Georgetown is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Washington.

Master's recipients from the economics degree program at Georgetown University make $5,248 above the standard college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in economics from Georgetown University

11

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

115 Annual Graduates

UCLA is a very large public university located in the large city of Los Angeles.More information about a master’s in economics from University of California - Los Angeles

12

Brown University
Providence, RI

17 Annual Graduates

Brown is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Providence.More information about a master’s in economics from Brown University

13

Yale University
New Haven, CT

72 Annual Graduates

Yale is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New Haven.More information about a master’s in economics from Yale University

14

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI

80 Annual Graduates

Located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in economics from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

15

Boston University
Boston, MA

155 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in economics from Boston University

16

New York University
New York, NY

190 Annual Graduates

NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York.More information about a master’s in economics from New York University

17

George Washington University
Washington, DC

62 Annual Graduates

$82,787 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Master's recipients from the economics program at George Washington University make $8,711 more than the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in economics from George Washington University

18

University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN

11 Annual Graduates

Notre Dame is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Notre Dame.More information about a master’s in economics from University of Notre Dame

19

Rice University
Houston, TX

24 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Houston, Rice is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a master’s in economics from Rice University

20

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

161 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in economics from University of Southern California

21

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

104 Annual Graduates

UIUC is a very large public university located in the city of Champaign.More information about a master’s in economics from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

22

Williams College
Williamstown, MA

26 Annual Graduates

Williams is a small private not-for-profit college located in the fringe town of Williamstown.More information about a master’s in economics from Williams College

Rest of the Top Best Economics Master's Degree Schools

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for Economics students that almost earned our Best Economics Master's Degree Schools award.

Rank	College	Location
23	Princeton University	Princeton, NJ
24	University of Minnesota - Twin Cities	Minneapolis, MN
25	Tufts University	Medford, MA
26	Boston College	Chestnut Hill, MA
27	Northeastern University	Boston, MA
28	American University	Washington, DC
29	University of Delaware	Newark, DE
30	Washington University in St Louis	Saint Louis, MO
31	Southern Methodist University	Dallas, TX
32	University of Wisconsin - Madison	Madison, WI
33	Texas A&M University - College Station	College Station, TX
34	University of Massachusetts Amherst	Amherst, MA
35	University of California - Santa Barbara	Santa Barbara, CA
36	University of Maryland - College Park	College Park, MD
37	University of California - Davis	Davis, CA

Economics by Region

View the Best Economics Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Economics

Economics is one of 13 different types of Social Sciences programs to choose from.

Economics Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Econometrics & Quantitative Economics	4,337
General Economics	553
Development Economics & International Development	206
Applied Economics	138
Other Economics	49
International Economics	34

Most Popular Majors Related to Economics

Related Major	Annual Graduates
International Relations & National Security	5,262
Political Science & Government	2,000
General Social Sciences	1,618
Sociology	1,358
Geography & Cartography	1,193
Anthropology	1,028
Urban Studies	327
Other Social Sciences	315
Archeology	52
Demography & Population Studies	46

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 pixabay. More about our data sources and methodologies.