Best Colleges For Anthropology

Anthropology Major - Vitruvian Man by Leondardo DaVinci

Here is the ranking of the best colleges for anthropology in 2021, taking into account the most important factors in finding a good program in the field, from academic excellence, to resume and career value.

Anthropology is a social science, that also overlaps with biology, history and other core science and social science disciplines. It is the study of humanity, from the past to the present. If you are interested in what makes people tick, this could be of interest to you. Archaeology is a branch of anthropology that studies the development of human culture based on the physical evidence of past civilizations. Many consider it a completely separate discipline, and we will be creating a separate ranking or archaeology programs, coming soon!

Economic Value of An Anthropology Degree

Anthropology careers include:

  • Teaching and academics.
  • Government Careers.
  • Non-Profits and NGOs.
  • Marketing.

Anthropology is a Relatively Low Paying Career

Anthropology is a relatively low paying career path for recent graduates, although it may be intellectually and professionally fulfilling for many people. Because of the comparatively low earnings potential for anthropologists, my recommendation is that you avoid incurring a lot of college debt, if anthropology is your passion. This is because it will be difficult to repay a lot of debt once you enter the professional world, and you do not want to feel burdened by debt like that.

Minimize Anthropology College Debt

In order to minimize your potential college debt in a lower paying career path like Anthro, my recommendation is that you select one of the outstanding anthropology schools from the list (scroll down below) that has a lower tuition cost and expense profile. You can determine that by looking at the tuition and cost estimators on the particular college website. If the college does not have such an estimator, a good rule of thumb is that excellent anthropology departments in state universities provide a better expense profile for students, while still providing real resume value and academics comparable to, if not better than, those in some of the more expensive universities.

20 Best Colleges for an Anthropology Major

This is our RealRank list of the best colleges for anthropology. If you want to visit any of the listed university’s websites, there are links on the list. You can search around those websites to find out more about their anthropology programs, and the fee/cost estimators, if they have one. (Independence Note: We do not earn any commissions from the links!)

RankCollegeCityState
1University of MichiganAnn ArborMI
2Stanford UniversityPalo AltoCA
3University of California - Los AngelesLos AngelesCA
4Duke UniversityDurhamNC
5University of FloridaGainesvilleFL
6Harvard UniversityCambridgeMA
7University of TexasAustinTX
8Columbia UniversityNew YorkNY
9University of ChicagoChicagoIL
10University of California - BerkeleyBerkeleyCA
11Yale UniversityNew HavenCT
12University of ArizonaTucsonAZ
13University of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaPA
14Arizona State UniversityTempeAZ
15University of North CarolinaChapel HillNC
16Princeton UniversityPrinceton NJ
17University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleVA
18New York University New YorkNY
19Texas A&M UniversityCollege StationTX
20Penn StateUniversity ParkPA
20The Ohio State UniversityColumbusOH

What do you think? Do you think we have missed any colleges that should be ranked, or would you change this ranking?

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