A degree in geography is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #159 out of 1506 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 92 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for geography students pursuing a degree. Combined, these schools handed out 4,439 degrees in geography to qualified students.
Your choice of geography school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Geography School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Geography Schools list to help you make the college decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
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.
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the geography degrees they offer, see the list below. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
It's hard to beat University of California - Los Angeles if you wish to pursue a degree in geography. UCLA is a very large public university located in the city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #28 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.
There were approximately 75 geography students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent year we have data available.
It's difficult to beat University of Wisconsin - Madison if you wish to pursue a degree in geography. UW - Madison is a very large public university located in the city of Madison. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were approximately 35 geography students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available.
Every student pursuing a degree in geography has to look into University of California - Santa Barbara. UCSB is a very large public university located in the medium-sized suburb of Santa Barbara. A Best Colleges rank of #47 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UCSB is a great university overall.
There were about 37 geography students who graduated with this degree at UCSB in the most recent year we have data available.
George Washington University is a great decision for students pursuing a degree in geography. Located in the large city of Washington, GWU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #25 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means GWU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 28 geography students who graduated with this degree at GWU in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 1st out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were approximately 37 geography students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year.
Located in the midsize city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 26 colleges for overall quality in the state of Arizona.
There were roughly 41 geography students who graduated with this degree at ASU - Tempe in the most recent year we have data available.
UMN Twin Cities is a very large public university located in the large city of Minneapolis. A Best Colleges rank of #45 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UMN Twin Cities is a great university overall.
There were roughly 40 geography students who graduated with this degree at UMN Twin Cities in the most recent data year.
Michigan State is a very large public university located in the city of East Lansing. A Best Colleges rank of #54 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 23 geography students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent year we have data available.
Texas A&M College Station is a very large public university located in the city of College Station. A Best Colleges rank of #42 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Texas A&M College Station is a great university overall.
There were roughly 27 geography students who graduated with this degree at Texas A&M College Station in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the rural area of Hamilton, Colgate is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 11th out of 136 schools for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were approximately 20 geography students who graduated with this degree at Colgate in the most recent data year.
UT Austin is a fairly large public university located in the city of Austin. A Best Colleges rank of #46 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UT Austin is a great university overall.
There were approximately 50 geography students who graduated with this degree at UT Austin in the most recent data year.
Virginia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Blacksburg. A Best Colleges rank of #58 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Virginia Tech is a great school overall.
There were roughly 48 geography students who graduated with this degree at Virginia Tech in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #38 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UNC Chapel Hill is a great university overall.
There were about 30 geography students who graduated with this degree at UNC Chapel Hill in the most recent year we have data available.
UGA is a fairly large public university located in the city of Athens. This university ranks 3rd out of 68 colleges for overall quality in the state of Georgia.
There were approximately 40 geography students who graduated with this degree at UGA in the most recent data year.
Villanova is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Villanova. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Villanova is a great university overall.
There were approximately 16 geography students who graduated with this degree at Villanova in the most recent year we have data available.
University of Arizona is a fairly large public university located in the city of Tucson. This university ranks 3rd out of 26 colleges for overall quality in the state of Arizona.
There were about 34 geography students who graduated with this degree at University of Arizona in the most recent data year.
UMass Amherst is a very large public university located in the small city of Amherst. A Best Colleges rank of #60 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UMass Amherst is a great university overall.
There were about 38 geography students who graduated with this degree at UMass Amherst in the most recent data year.
Florida State is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Tallahassee. This university ranks 2nd out of 70 schools for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were roughly 31 geography students who graduated with this degree at Florida State in the most recent data year.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Geography Schools award.
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 Couleur.
Your choice of geography school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Geography School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
