2025 Best Sociology Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

Sociology is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #94 most popular master's degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 2 schools in Illinois to determine which ones were the best for sociology students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 66 master's degrees in sociology during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

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 sociology students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other sociology students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• 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 easy is it for sociology to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized sociology related body.

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

More Ways to Rank Sociology Schools

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

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Sociology in Illinois

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

Top Illinois Schools for a Master's in Sociology

1

University of Chicago
Chicago, IL

10 Annual Graduates

University of Chicago is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in sociology. UChicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.More information about a master’s in sociology from University of Chicago

2

Loyola University Chicago
Chicago, IL

12 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat Loyola University Chicago if you wish to pursue a master's degree in sociology. Loyola Chicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Chicago.More information about a master’s in sociology from Loyola University Chicago

Best Sociology Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	211	23
Ohio	207	41
Indiana	191	34
Wisconsin	173	19

View All Rankings >

Sociology Related Rankings by Major

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

Sociology Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Sociology	66

Most Popular Majors Related to Sociology

Related Major	Annual Graduates
General Social Sciences	706
Economics	315
Political Science & Government	113
International Relations & National Security	97
Geography & Cartography	39
Anthropology	27
Other Social Sciences	9
Urban Studies	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 Kontos. More about our data sources and methodologies.