2025 Best Social Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Region
88Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
21,181Social Sciences Degrees Awarded
$40,688Avg Early-Career Salary
A degree in social sciences is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #5 out of 38 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.
College Factual looked at 88 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Social Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 21,181 degrees in social sciences to qualified students.
Your choice of social sciences school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Social Sciences School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Social Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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.
Best Schools for Social Sciences in the Great Lakes Region
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 social sciences 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.
17 Top Great Lakes Region Schools in Social Sciences
It is difficult to beat Northwestern University if you want to pursue a degree in social sciences. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston. A Best Colleges rank of #5 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Northwestern is a great university overall.
There were roughly 651 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Northwestern in the most recent year we have data available. Social Sciences degree recipients from Northwestern University receive an earnings boost of around $31,824 over the average income of social sciences graduates.
University of Chicago is a good choice for students pursuing a degree in social sciences. Located in the large city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #3 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UChicago is a great university overall.
There were approximately 1458 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at UChicago in the most recent year we have data available. Social Sciences degree recipients from University of Chicago get an earnings boost of about $36,435 above the average earnings of social sciences graduates.
Every student who is interested in social sciences needs to take a look at University of Notre Dame. Located in the suburb of Notre Dame, Notre Dame is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #29 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Notre Dame is a great university overall.
There were approximately 537 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Notre Dame in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the social sciences degree program at University of Notre Dame earn $25,825 above the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in social sciences. U-M is a very large public university located in the city of Ann Arbor. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were about 1174 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year. Social Sciences degree recipients from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor receive an earnings boost of around $9,583 over the average income of social sciences graduates.
Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were about 1571 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available. Those social sciences students who get their degree from University of Wisconsin - Madison receive $6,536 more than the standard social sciences graduate.
Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #41 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 927 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available. Social Sciences degree recipients from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign get an earnings boost of approximately $6,345 over the average earnings of social sciences majors.
Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #54 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.
There were approximately 818 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent data year. Those social sciences students who get their degree from Michigan State University make $3,753 more than the standard social sciences student.
Ohio State is a very large public university located in the city of Columbus. A Best Colleges rank of #70 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Ohio State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 1209 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the social sciences program state that they receive average early career wages of $40,195.
Purdue is a very large public university located in the city of West Lafayette. A Best Colleges rank of #65 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Purdue is a great university overall.
There were about 511 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Purdue in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, social sciences degree recipients typically make an average of $42,043 in the first five years of their career.
IU Bloomington is a fairly large public university located in the city of Bloomington. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means IU Bloomington is a great university overall.
There were roughly 435 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at IU Bloomington in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, social sciences degree recipients usually make about $38,450 in their early careers.
Miami University - Oxford is a fairly large public university located in the fringe town of Oxford. This university ranks 5th out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were approximately 480 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Miami University - Oxford in the most recent year we have data available. Social Sciences degree recipients from Miami University - Oxford earn a boost of about $5,890 above the typical income of social sciences graduates.
Located in the city of Milwaukee, Marquette is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #114 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Marquette is a great university overall.
There were about 278 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Marquette in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the social sciences program make an average of $38,554 in their early career salary.
Denison is a small private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Granville. This university ranks 12th out of 91 colleges for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were approximately 146 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Denison in the most recent data year. Social Sciences degree recipients from Denison University get an earnings boost of about $3,241 over the average earnings of social sciences majors.
Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #100 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Loyola Chicago is a great university overall.
There were about 316 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Loyola Chicago in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, social sciences degree recipients typically make an average of $34,170 in their early careers.
Xavier is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cincinnati. This university ranks 10th out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 73 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Xavier in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the social sciences program state that they receive average early career income of $41,710.
DePauw is a small private not-for-profit university located in the distant town of Greencastle. This university ranks 11th out of 41 schools for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were about 101 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at DePauw in the most recent year we have data available. Social Sciences degree recipients from DePauw University receive an earnings boost of approximately $18,025 over the average earnings of social sciences majors.
Case Western is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Cleveland. This university ranks 3rd out of 91 schools for overall quality in the state of Ohio.
There were roughly 162 social sciences students who graduated with this degree at Case Western in the most recent year we have data available. Social Sciences degree recipients from Case Western Reserve University receive an earnings boost of about $12,460 over the average earnings of social sciences graduates.
Rest of the Top Best Social Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Region
Additional Noteworthy Schools
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Social Sciences Schools in the Great Lakes Region 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).
Your choice of social sciences school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Social Sciences School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
