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Best Schools for Area Studies in 2026

66 schools ranked by DegreeWorth Score · Updated 2026

These are the top schools offering Area Studies, ranked by DegreeWorth Score. The score combines graduate earnings, AI automation resilience, job market demand, and return on tuition investment. The average Area Studies graduate earns $35,678/yr across 66 schools.

Programs Ranked

Avg Earnings

$35,678/yr

Avg DW Score

30/100

AI Risk

Very High

56% task exposure

All Area Studies Programs Ranked

Click any row for full AI scenario analysis, earnings projections, and career path breakdown.

#	School	DW Score	Earnings	ROI
1	University of California-Berkeley Berkeley, CA · Public	58 53–59	$50,728/yr	14.6x
2	Brigham Young University Provo, UT · Private nonprofit	51 49–51	$37,019/yr	28.7x
3	Nevada State University Henderson, NV · Public	51 46–52	$54,607/yr	20.4x
4	William & Mary Williamsburg, VA · Public	49 44–50	$53,779/yr	6.5x
5	University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle, WA · Public	47 44–48	$43,668/yr	11.6x
6	University of Washington-Bothell Campus Bothell, WA · Public	47 44–48	$43,668/yr	11.7x
7	University of Washington-Tacoma Campus Tacoma, WA · Public	47 43–48	$43,668/yr	11.5x
8	University of Maryland Global Campus Adelphi, MD · Public	46 41–47	$48,650/yr	14.2x
9	Miami University-Oxford Oxford, OH · Public	46 41–47	$50,637/yr	7.7x
10	University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia, MO · Public	44 40–45	$44,096/yr	9.6x
11	Dartmouth College Hanover, NH · Private nonprofit	43 39–44	$48,565/yr	2.5x
12	Yale University New Haven, CT · Private nonprofit	42 38–43	$55,618/yr	2.2x
13	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC · Public	38 38–38	$31,955/yr	15.2x
14	Cornell University Ithaca, NY · Private nonprofit	37 34–38	$43,831/yr	2.1x
15	California State University-Fullerton Fullerton, CA · Public	36 37–36	$29,316/yr	18.7x
16	Williams College Williamstown, MA · Private nonprofit	36 34–36	$38,595/yr	2.4x
17	Millersville University of Pennsylvania Millersville, PA · Public	34 32–35	$39,814/yr	8.3x
18	Utah State University Logan, UT · Public	34 34–34	$31,894/yr	13.2x
19	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA · Public	33 34–33	$28,591/yr	17.3x
20	Amherst College Amherst, MA · Private nonprofit	33 29–34	$49,149/yr	0.8x
21	Columbia University in the City of New York New York, NY · Private nonprofit	33 30–34	$41,479/yr	1.8x
22	Fordham University Bronx, NY · Private nonprofit	33 30–33	$40,811/yr	2.0x
23	American University Washington, DC · Private nonprofit	32 29–33	$43,671/yr	2.0x
24	Colby College Waterville, ME · Private nonprofit	32 28–33	$45,686/yr	0.7x
25	University of Maryland-College Park College Park, MD · Public	32 33–33	$24,699/yr	13.0x
26	Bowdoin College Brunswick, ME · Private nonprofit	31 28–32	$45,315/yr	0.7x
27	Emory University Atlanta, GA · Private nonprofit	30 30–30	$33,549/yr	2.4x
28	Wellesley College Wellesley, MA · Private nonprofit	30 27–31	$43,231/yr	1.6x
29	Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, VA · Public	30 29–31	$35,557/yr	6.8x
30	University of Virginia-Main Campus Charlottesville, VA · Public	30 30–31	$34,280/yr	5.9x
31	University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, MI · Public	29 30–29	$28,261/yr	8.1x
32	The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX · Public	29 30–29	$29,746/yr	10.3x
33	University of Arizona Tucson, AZ · Public	28 29–29	$31,480/yr	8.6x
34	University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public	28 28–29	$23,819/yr	10.0x
35	Connecticut College New London, CT · Private nonprofit	28 24–29	$43,358/yr	1.4x
36	Brandeis University Waltham, MA · Private nonprofit	28 25–29	$43,748/yr	1.4x
37	Tufts University Medford, MA · Private nonprofit	28 25–29	$44,133/yr	1.3x
38	University of Maryland-Baltimore County Baltimore, MD · Public	27 27–27	$30,545/yr	8.7x
39	Hobart William Smith Colleges Geneva, NY · Private nonprofit	27 25–28	$39,939/yr	0.6x
40	University at Albany Albany, NY · Public	27 27–27	$32,808/yr	6.9x
41	Western Washington University Bellingham, WA · Public	27 27–28	$33,103/yr	10.0x
42	California State University-Chico Chico, CA · Public	26 26–27	$23,149/yr	13.5x
43	DePaul University Chicago, IL · Private nonprofit	26 23–26	$40,248/yr	1.9x
44	University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign, IL · Public	25 26–26	$24,332/yr	8.2x
45	Brown University Providence, RI · Private nonprofit	25 23–26	$39,165/yr	1.4x
46	University of South Carolina-Columbia Columbia, SC · Public	25 26–25	$32,064/yr	5.3x
47	Middlebury College Middlebury, VT · Private nonprofit	25 22–26	$40,467/yr	1.3x
48	Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ · Public	24 23–25	$21,409/yr	7.5x
49	University of Oregon Eugene, OR · Public	24 24–24	$31,427/yr	6.4x
50	California State University-Northridge Northridge, CA · Public	23 24–23	$26,793/yr	8.4x
51	University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA · Public	23 24–24	$30,897/yr	4.4x
52	University of Richmond University of Richmond, VA · Private nonprofit	23 23–24	$33,340/yr	1.8x
53	Barnard College New York, NY · Private nonprofit	22 21–22	$34,142/yr	0.3x
54	University of Notre Dame Notre Dame, IN · Private nonprofit	20 19–20	$35,304/yr	1.3x
55	Florida International University Miami, FL · Public	19 18–20	$19,457/yr	6.4x
56	University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, HI · Public	19 20–20	$26,020/yr	7.6x
57	Vassar College Poughkeepsie, NY · Private nonprofit	19 19–19	$22,741/yr	-0.2x
58	St Olaf College Northfield, MN · Private nonprofit	18 18–19	$35,569/yr	0.9x
59	Washington University in St Louis Saint Louis, MO · Private nonprofit	18 19–18	$30,716/yr	0.2x
60	CUNY Queens College Queens, NY · Public	18 17–19	$16,733/yr	4.5x
61	University of Iowa Iowa City, IA · Public	17 16–18	$19,426/yr	3.4x
62	Dickinson College Carlisle, PA · Private nonprofit	17 17–17	$32,722/yr	1.2x
63	University of Puget Sound Tacoma, WA · Private nonprofit	17 18–17	$29,232/yr	0.2x
64	University of California-Davis Davis, CA · Public	16 16–17	$21,527/yr	2.5x
65	Smith College Northampton, MA · Private nonprofit	13 14–14	$29,878/yr	1.1x
66	Oberlin College Oberlin, OH · Private nonprofit	8 8–9	$20,905/yr	0.8x

Methodology

Programs are ranked by DegreeWorth Score, which combines four equally weighted factors: graduate earnings (Year 1 after graduation), AI automation resilience (based on OpenAI and academic research), job market size (BLS annual openings), and earnings-to-tuition multiple (10-year projected earnings vs. 4-year tuition).

Earnings data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, which reports actual median earnings of graduates — not self-reported surveys.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best school for Area Studies?

Based on our DegreeWorth Score, University of California-Berkeley ranks #1 for Area Studies with a score of 58/100 and graduate earnings of $50,728/yr.

How much do Area Studies graduates earn?

Across 66 schools, Area Studies graduates earn an average of $35,678/yr in their first year. The highest-earning program reports $55,618/yr.

Is Area Studies a good major for AI resistance?

Area Studies has an average AI task exposure of 56%, rated "Very High". This field has significant AI exposure. Check individual program pages for scenario analysis.

Data: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (earnings, debt), Bureau of Labor Statistics 2024–2034 (employment projections), OpenAI GPTs-are-GPTs research (AI task exposure), Felten et al. AIOE. Last updated 2025.