Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Anthropology

Schools ranked by payback period — how quickly you recoup your investment through higher earnings.

50

Schools Ranked

$25,966

Avg. Earnings

2.2 yrs

Best Payback

6,354

Graduates

How we calculate value: Payback = (4 years of net price) / (major earnings - $35k baseline). A 2-year payback means you recoup your investment in 2 years through higher earnings vs. not attending college.

#	School	Net Price/yr	Major Earnings	Payback
1	Colby College Waterville, ME · Private	$5,536	$44,971	2.2 yrs
2	Duke University Durham, NC · Private	$7,160	$40,467	5.2 yrs
3	Monmouth University West Long Branch, NJ · Private	$28,313	$50,606	7.3 yrs
4	CUNY Lehman College Bronx, NY · Public	$8,084	$38,289	9.8 yrs
5	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private	$8,106	$38,289	9.9 yrs
6	George Washington University Washington, DC · Private	$21,174	$41,565	12.9 yrs
7	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	$17,360	$39,729	14.7 yrs
8	Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC · Private	$10,228	$36,668	24.5 yrs
9	University of Massachusetts-Boston Boston, MA · Public	$17,689	$37,208	32 yrs
10	Rhodes College Memphis, TN · Private	$21,919	$37,208	39.7 yrs
11	Temple University Philadelphia, PA · Public	$21,568	$36,308	66 yrs
12	Brown University Providence, RI · Private	$10,219	$35,060	681.3 yrs
13	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH · Private	$12,172	$35,060	811.5 yrs
14	Emory University Atlanta, GA · Private	$16,646	$21,964	N/A
15	Fordham University Bronx, NY · Private	$31,221	$24,035	N/A
16	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$28,598	N/A
17	Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, CA · Public	$17,985	$28,381	N/A
18	San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA · Public	$16,065	$31,762	N/A
19	James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA · Public	$19,216	$28,816	N/A
20	Stony Brook University Stony Brook, NY · Public	$19,344	$20,140	N/A
21	Brandeis University Waltham, MA · Private	$24,183	$32,925	N/A
22	University of California-San Diego La Jolla, CA · Public	$14,310	$24,421	N/A
23	Tulane University of Louisiana New Orleans, LA · Private	$25,322	$30,771	N/A
24	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	$14,193	$30,277	N/A
25	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC · Public	$11,619	$28,960	N/A
26	Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ · Public	$20,927	$24,035	N/A
27	Rutgers University-Newark Newark, NJ · Public	$18,648	$24,035	N/A
28	University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, CA · Public	$14,583	$27,639	N/A
29	Georgia Southern University Statesboro, GA · Public	$16,181	$17,489	N/A
30	University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus Norman, OK · Public	$21,725	$25,194	N/A
31	University of Colorado Boulder Boulder, CO · Public	$18,204	$24,615	N/A
32	University of Connecticut Storrs, CT · Public	$20,344	$22,420	N/A
33	University of Connecticut-Waterbury Campus Waterbury, CT · Public	$10,112	$22,420	N/A
34	University of Connecticut-Avery Point Groton, CT · Public	$9,414	$22,420	N/A
35	University of Connecticut-Stamford Stamford, CT · Public	$15,152	$22,420	N/A
36	University of Connecticut-Hartford Campus Hartford, CT · Public	$10,515	$22,420	N/A
37	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	$12,644	$30,520	N/A
38	Northern Illinois University Dekalb, IL · Public	$13,778	$25,938	N/A
39	University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison, WI · Public	$10,364	$23,456	N/A
40	San Diego State University San Diego, CA · Public	$14,698	$20,140	N/A
41	Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania Bloomsburg, PA · Public	$18,004	$28,055	N/A
42	Boston University Boston, MA · Private	$18,458	$24,615	N/A
43	College of Charleston Charleston, SC · Public	$20,142	$24,532	N/A
44	Binghamton University Vestal, NY · Public	$21,423	$26,353	N/A
45	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$31,278	N/A
46	Syracuse University Syracuse, NY · Private	$23,533	$33,993	N/A
47	Metropolitan State University of Denver Denver, CO · Public	$14,679	$28,816	N/A
48	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	$10,481	$20,140	N/A
49	American University Washington, DC · Private	$27,374	$26,933	N/A
50	University of California-Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA · Public	$15,567	$27,667	N/A

Top Earners in Anthropology

See schools ranked by earnings alone, without considering cost.

Best Value Rankings

Explore best value colleges across all majors and categories.

Payback uses earnings by major from the College Scorecard's field-of-study file, last updated June 2026, against net price from the June 2026 release. Scorecard publishes the two separately, so they are different vintages.