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.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 4 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Geography Schools in Illinois ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 121 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.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Geography Schools in Illinois ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that 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.
It's difficult to beat Illinois State University if you want to pursue a degree in geography. Illinois State is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized suburb of Normal. A Best Colleges rank of #210 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Illinois State is a great university overall.
There were about 14 geography students who graduated with this degree at Illinois State in the most recent year we have data available.
Any student who is interested in geography has to take a look at Northern Illinois University. Located in the suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #529 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means NIU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 18 geography students who graduated with this degree at NIU in the most recent data year.
Augustana College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in geography. Located in the small city of Rock Island, Augustana is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population. This college ranks 21st out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were about 7 geography students who graduated with this degree at Augustana in the most recent year we have data available.
Any student pursuing a degree in geography has to check out Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. SIUE is a large public university located in the suburb of Edwardsville. This university ranks 31st out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were about 30 geography students who graduated with this degree at SIUE in the most recent year we have data available.
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.
