2025 Best Geography & Cartography Doctor's Degree Schools in California

Geography & Cartography is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #75 most popular doctor's degree program in the country. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for geography & cartography students pursuing a doctor's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 42 doctor's degrees in geography & cartography to qualified students.

What's on this page: * 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

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on geography & cartography students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of geography & cartography students who choose to seek a doctor'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 much debt geography & cartography students go into to obtain their doctor'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 geography & cartography related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for geography & cartography students working on their doctor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Geography & Cartography Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Geography & Cartography Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Geography & Cartography in California

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in geography & cartography.

Top California Schools for a Doctorate in Geography

1

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

11 Annual Graduates

University of California - Los Angeles is a wonderful option for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in geography & cartography. UCLA is a very large public university located in the large city of Los Angeles.More information about a doctorate in geography & cartography from University of California - Los Angeles

2

University of California - Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA

12 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in geography & cartography 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.More information about a doctorate in geography & cartography from University of California - Santa Barbara

Best Geography & Cartography Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Geography & Cartography Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Washington	122	6
Oregon	107	6
Nevada	84	2
Hawaii	53	2

View All Rankings >

Geography & Cartography Related Rankings by Major

One of 13 majors within the Social Sciences area of study, Geography & Cartography has other similar majors worth exploring.

Geography Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Geography	29
Geographic Information Science	13

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Economics	220
Political Science & Government	119
Sociology	94
Anthropology	54
Urban Studies	7
International Relations & National Security	6
General Social Sciences	4
Demography & Population Studies	3
Other Social Sciences	3
Archeology	2

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 Couleur. More about our data sources and methodologies.