Best Value / By Major

Best Value Colleges for Sociology

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

50

Schools Ranked

$31,633

Avg. Earnings

<1 yr

Best Payback

29,403

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	Harvard University Cambridge, MA · Private	$2,669	$56,641	<1 yr
2	McDaniel College Westminster, MD · Private	$729	$36,560	1.9 yrs
3	Princeton University Princeton, NJ · Private	$5,542	$44,942	2.2 yrs
4	University of Chicago Chicago, IL · Private	$8,375	$48,432	2.5 yrs
5	Duke University Durham, NC · Private	$7,160	$45,305	2.8 yrs
6	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private	$8,106	$44,170	3.5 yrs
7	Tufts University Medford, MA · Private	$19,827	$55,693	3.8 yrs
8	Northwestern University Evanston, IL · Private	$5,849	$39,927	4.7 yrs
9	Barnard College New York, NY · Private	$19,810	$50,856	5 yrs
10	Minnesota State University Moorhead Moorhead, MN · Public	$15,809	$45,500	6 yrs
11	Rice University Houston, TX · Private	$6,152	$39,009	6.1 yrs
12	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private	$9,785	$40,896	6.6 yrs
13	The University of Texas Permian Basin Odessa, TX · Public	$10,549	$41,007	7 yrs
14	Mount Holyoke College South Hadley, MA · Private	$16,248	$43,798	7.4 yrs
15	Texas Woman's University Denton, TX · Public	$10,508	$40,281	8 yrs
16	Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA · Private	$17,098	$43,426	8.1 yrs
17	Dickinson College Carlisle, PA · Private	$19,300	$44,356	8.3 yrs
18	Connecticut College New London, CT · Private	$16,044	$42,682	8.4 yrs
19	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	$13,423	$41,261	8.6 yrs
20	Middlebury College Middlebury, VT · Private	$13,580	$41,007	9 yrs
21	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN · Private	$7,694	$38,289	9.4 yrs
22	Boston University Boston, MA · Private	$18,458	$42,309	10.1 yrs
23	New York University New York, NY · Private	$31,355	$47,260	10.2 yrs
24	Bradley University Peoria, IL · Private	$23,286	$43,798	10.6 yrs
25	Georgetown University Washington, DC · Private	$12,505	$39,729	10.6 yrs
26	College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA · Private	$20,142	$42,458	10.8 yrs
27	Occidental College Los Angeles, CA · Private	$18,209	$41,565	11.1 yrs
28	California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo, CA · Public	$17,340	$41,193	11.2 yrs
29	CUNY York College Jamaica, NY · Public	$9,462	$38,289	11.5 yrs
30	The University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX · Public	$14,583	$39,741	12.3 yrs
31	Assumption University Worcester, MA · Private	$26,074	$43,426	12.4 yrs
32	Shepherd University Shepherdstown, WV · Public	$11,116	$38,289	13.5 yrs
33	Curry College Milton, MA · Private	$26,716	$42,682	13.9 yrs
34	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private	$14,020	$39,009	14 yrs
35	University of Houston Houston, TX · Public	$13,382	$38,829	14 yrs
36	University of Maryland-Baltimore County Baltimore, MD · Public	$20,879	$40,896	14.2 yrs
37	Hanover College Hanover, IN · Private	$17,891	$39,729	15.1 yrs
38	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	$8,393	$36,968	17.1 yrs
39	Santa Clara University Santa Clara, CA · Private	$29,618	$41,565	18 yrs
40	American University Washington, DC · Private	$27,374	$41,025	18.2 yrs
41	Providence College Providence, RI · Private	$26,014	$40,467	19 yrs
42	Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ · Private	$30,127	$41,342	19 yrs
43	Stonehill College Easton, MA · Private	$26,555	$40,461	19.5 yrs
44	Suffolk University Boston, MA · Private	$29,611	$41,007	19.7 yrs
45	The Catholic University of America Washington, DC · Private	$27,084	$40,467	19.8 yrs
46	Colorado Mesa University Grand Junction, CO · Public	$16,572	$38,289	20.2 yrs
47	Indiana University-Kokomo Kokomo, IN · Public	$11,393	$37,208	20.6 yrs
48	East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania East Stroudsburg, PA · Public	$20,726	$38,721	22.3 yrs
49	Concordia College at Moorhead Moorhead, MN · Private	$18,992	$38,289	23.1 yrs
50	Fort Hays State University Hays, KS · Public	$13,208	$37,208	23.9 yrs

Top Earners in Sociology

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.