Bachelor's degree · Social sciences · CIP 45.10
Political Science and Government: earnings and debt by college
The College Scorecard lists 1,051 colleges that award bachelor's degrees in Political Science and Government, together awarding 39,668 of these degrees in the most recent year. At the median institution, graduates who received federal aid earn $43,190 one year after finishing and $68,029 five years after finishing (two separate graduating classes). The median institution's graduates leave with $20,750 in federal student loans.
Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Colleges
1,051
Degrees awarded per yeariBachelor's degrees the school awarded in this major in the most recent reported year.
39,668
Median earnings, 1 yriMedian earnings of graduates who received federal aid, 1 year after finishing, among those working and not enrolled. The figure here is the median across institutions; branch campuses share their institution's figure and count once.
$43,190
488 reporting
Median earnings, 5 yrsiMedian earnings of graduates who received federal aid, 5 years after finishing, among those working and not enrolled. The figure here is the median across institutions; branch campuses share their institution's figure and count once.
$68,029
535 reporting
Median debtiMedian federal student-loan balance of the program's graduates. Excludes Parent PLUS and private loans. The figure here is the median across institutions; branch campuses share their institution's figure and count once.
$20,750
477 reporting
Compare Political Science and Government programs on one chart
Pick any two measures. Hover a dot to see the college; click it to open the college's page.
Interactive chart loads in your browser.
Each dot is one institution's program; branch campuses share their institution's figures and appear as one dot. Dashed lines mark the median for all colleges. Showing 436 of 1,019; programs missing either value are left out (the Scorecard withholds figures for small programs).
Colleges with a bachelor's in Political Science and Government
| University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles · Public | CA | 723 | $44,791 | $83,679 | $12,499 |
| Florida State University Tallahassee · Public | FL | 498 | $39,575 | $77,318 | $14,000 |
| University of California-Berkeley Berkeley · Public | CA | 403 | $50,634 | $84,336 | $12,365 |
| University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill · Public | NC | 401 | $46,926 | $79,208 | $12,000 |
| University of Central Florida Orlando · Public | FL | 399 | $39,352 | $65,884 | $18,875 |
| Arizona State University Campus Immersion Tempe · Public | AZ | 375 | $47,377 | $70,944 | $19,602 |
| University of Washington-Seattle Campus Seattle · Public | WA | 361 | $48,220 | $76,435 | $13,000 |
| University of California-San Diego La Jolla · Public | CA | 353 | $40,228 | $75,717 | $12,000 |
| University of Florida Gainesville · Public | FL | 348 | $39,276 | $78,667 | $12,089 |
| University of Wisconsin-Madison Madison · Public | WI | 336 | $45,981 | $69,340 | $16,000 |
| University of California-Santa Barbara Santa Barbara · Public | CA | 319 | $43,555 | $80,172 | $11,963 |
| Florida International University Miami · Public | FL | 317 | $37,077 | $67,668 | $16,380 |
| The University of Texas at Austin Austin · Public | TX | 312 | $49,168 | $77,492 | $20,500 |
| Ohio State University-Main Campus Columbus · Public | OH | 303 | $44,134 | $73,707 | $18,921 |
| University of California-Davis Davis · Public | CA | 297 | $43,173 | $74,085 | $12,889 |
| George Washington University Washington · Private nonprofit | DC | 291 | $55,831 | $85,894 | $20,500 |
| Georgetown University Washington · Private nonprofit | DC | 278 | $60,775 | $91,274 | $13,500 |
| University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Ann Arbor · Public | MI | 277 | $48,925 | $92,077 | $20,500 |
| University of Maryland-College Park College Park · Public | MD | 276 | $45,714 | $84,994 | $18,500 |
| University of Georgia Athens · Public | GA | 273 | $49,540 | $74,993 | $16,663 |
| University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Champaign · Public | IL | 273 | $44,661 | $81,088 | $17,500 |
| University of California-Irvine Irvine · Public | CA | 267 | $40,159 | $72,430 | $14,226 |
| Texas A&M University-College Station College Station · Public | TX | 250 | $42,602 | $78,462 | $16,750 |
| University of California-Riverside Riverside · Public | CA | 232 | $38,295 | $64,590 | $18,000 |
| University of Colorado Boulder Boulder · Public | CO | 226 | $45,635 | $67,040 | $19,499 |
| Columbia University in the City of New York New York · Private nonprofit | NY | 225 | $72,705 | $97,859 | $21,500 |
| University of Oregon Eugene · Public | OR | 224 | $41,359 | $76,303 | $20,663 |
| New York University New York · Private nonprofit | NY | 221 | $44,298 | $86,042 | $21,126 |
| The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa · Public | AL | 220 | $43,972 | $69,260 | $22,375 |
| Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Baton Rouge · Public | LA | 215 | $36,289 | $67,759 | $19,882 |
| University of South Carolina-Columbia Columbia · Public | SC | 212 | $42,727 | $72,626 | $21,500 |
| American University Washington · Private nonprofit | DC | 208 | $56,964 | $84,669 | $19,875 |
| University of Connecticut Storrs · Public | CT | 204 | $39,933 | $71,611 | $20,000 |
| Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick · Public | NJ | 202 | $44,063 | $69,133 | $19,350 |
| University of Houston Houston · Public | TX | 202 | $38,066 | $62,081 | $19,000 |
| The University of Tennessee-Knoxville Knoxville · Public | TN | 195 | $38,467 | $63,304 | $19,500 |
| Howard University Washington · Private nonprofit | DC | 194 | $44,912 | $74,196 | $22,925 |
| University of South Florida Tampa · Public | FL | 194 | $44,140 | $63,845 | $18,442 |
| Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus University Park · Public | PA | 190 | $46,124 | $72,401 | $25,000 |
| University of Pittsburgh-Pittsburgh Campus Pittsburgh · Public | PA | 182 | $36,267 | $67,205 | $23,250 |
| Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg · Public | VA | 181 | $44,976 | $77,494 | $20,500 |
| University of Missouri-Columbia Columbia · Public | MO | 179 | $45,345 | $73,611 | $20,000 |
| University of Notre Dame Notre Dame · Private nonprofit | IN | 177 | $64,041 | $104,418 | $19,000 |
| California State University-Northridge Northridge · Public | CA | 176 | $38,484 | $60,182 | $18,500 |
| California State University-Sacramento Sacramento · Public | CA | 175 | $43,054 | $64,958 | $15,000 |
| Boston College Chestnut Hill · Private nonprofit | MA | 173 | $54,705 | $96,054 | $19,000 |
| California State University-Long Beach Long Beach · Public | CA | 173 | $38,812 | $61,931 | $15,000 |
| Georgia State University Atlanta · Public | GA | 172 | $41,815 | $66,299 | $23,250 |
| University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte · Public | NC | 172 | $40,011 | $61,816 | $21,500 |
| Arizona State University Digital Immersion Scottsdale · Public | AZ | 170 | $47,377 | $70,944 | $19,602 |
Showing 50 of 1,051. Starts sorted by degrees awarded; select a column to sort.
Quick facts: Political Science and Government
- How many colleges offer a bachelor's degree in Political Science and Government?
- The College Scorecard lists 1,051 colleges that award bachelor's degrees in Political Science and Government.
- How much do Political Science and Government graduates earn?
- Across institutions, the median of graduates' median earnings is $43,190 one year after graduation (488 institutions reporting) and $68,029 five years after graduation (535 institutions reporting). These figures cover graduates who received federal aid and are working and not enrolled in school. Branch campuses share their institution's figures, so each institution counts once.
- Where do Political Science and Government graduates earn the most five years after graduation?
- By reported median earnings five years after graduation: Yale University ($131,489), Princeton University ($117,522), Dartmouth College ($114,671), Washington and Lee University ($114,224), and University of Chicago ($112,771).
- How much student debt do Political Science and Government graduates have?
- The median institution's Political Science and Government graduates leave with $20,750 in federal student loans (477 institutions reporting). Parent PLUS and private loans are not included.
- Which colleges award the most Political Science and Government degrees?
- By bachelor's degrees awarded in the most recent year: University of California-Los Angeles (723), Florida State University (498), University of California-Berkeley (403), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (401), and University of Central Florida (399).
Related majors in social sciences
How these numbers work
Figures cover bachelor's degree programs in Political Science and Government (CIP code 45.10), as reported in the College Scorecard. Earnings are medians for graduates who received federal aid, measured one and five years after they finished, among those working and not enrolled in school; the one-year and five-year figures describe different graduating classes. Debt is the median federal loan balance at graduation. The Scorecard withholds figures for programs with few graduates, so many smaller programs show n/a. Summary figures are medians across institutions: the Scorecard reports program earnings and debt for a whole institution, so branch campuses share one figure and count once. All figures are from the Scorecard's most recent field-of-study release. More on the data.