2025 Best Economics Bachelor's Degree Schools
If you pursue a bachelor's degree in
economics, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #15 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 384 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Economics Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 35,886 bachelor's degrees in economics to qualified students.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Economics School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of economics for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality economics program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor'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
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 - How many other economics students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
- 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 much debt economics 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 economics related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for economics students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Economics Schools
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Economics Bachelor's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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 Bachelor’s Students to Study Economics in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in economics. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
25 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in Economics
University of Chicago is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in economics. UChicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.
Economics bachelor's degree recipients from University of Chicago get an earnings boost of around $38,158 above the typical income of economics majors.
More information about a bachelor’s in economics from University of Chicago
Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in economics has to look into Northwestern University. Located in the city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the economics program at Northwestern University make $31,015 above the average college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
More information about a bachelor’s in economics from Northwestern University
Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in economics needs to look into University of Pennsylvania. UPenn is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.
Those economics students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Pennsylvania receive $35,180 more than the standard economics graduate.
More information about a bachelor’s in economics from University of Pennsylvania
Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in economics has to take a look at Columbia University in the City of New York. Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.
Those economics students who get their bachelor's degree from Columbia University in the City of New York receive $29,218 more than the standard economics grad.
More information about a bachelor’s in economics from Columbia University in the City of New York
Located in the city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Economics bachelor's degree recipients from Vanderbilt University get an earnings boost of around $30,394 over the typical earnings of economics graduates.
More information about a bachelor’s in economics from Vanderbilt University
Located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public university with a very large student population.
Economics bachelor's degree recipients from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor receive an earnings boost of approximately $14,499 over the typical earnings of economics majors.
More information about a bachelor’s in economics from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
UCSB is a very large public university located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara.
Bachelor's recipients from the economics program at University of California - Santa Barbara get $12,417 above the average graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
More information about a bachelor’s in economics from University of California - Santa Barbara
Located in the small city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the economics program at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill earn $11,427 above the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
More information about a bachelor’s in economics from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Located in the large suburb of Medford, Tufts is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the economics major at Tufts University earn $21,208 above the typical graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
More information about a bachelor’s in economics from Tufts University
Located in the city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Soon after graduation, economics bachelor's recipients typically earn about $55,733 in the first five years of their career.
More information about a bachelor’s in economics from Boston University