2025 Best Economics Doctor's Degree Schools in Michigan

Economics is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #24 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in Michigan to determine which ones were the best for economics students pursuing a doctor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 61 doctor's degrees in economics 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 much a school focuses on economics students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of economics 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 easy is it for economics to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor'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 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 Economics Doctor's Degree Schools in Michigan list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Economics in Michigan

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in economics.

Top Michigan Schools for a Doctorate in Economics

1

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI

22 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat University of Michigan - Ann Arbor if you want to pursue a doctor's degree in economics. U-M is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor.More information about a doctorate in economics from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

2

Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI

30 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat Michigan State University if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in economics. Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in economics from Michigan State University

Best Economics Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Economics Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Illinois	153	101
Ohio	144	12
Indiana	132	17
Wisconsin	108	34

View All Rankings >

Economics Related Rankings by Major

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

Economics Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Econometrics & Quantitative Economics	56
General Economics	5

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Anthropology	23
Political Science & Government	20
Sociology	13
Archeology	1

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.