MAJOR GUIDE · 2026
Best Colleges for History: Ranked by Graduate Salary, Not Prestige
— ranked by salary, not prestige.
We rank by what graduates actually earn — not by reputation surveys.
01
The ranking
sortable · by salary outcomes| Rank | School | Salary | Accept | ROI | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ① | Amherst College | $62,000 | 9.8% | REACH | |
| ② | Barnard College | $62,000 | 8.0% | REACH | |
| ③ | Bowdoin College | $62,000 | 8.0% | REACH | |
| 04 | Brown University | $62,000 | 5.2% | REACH | |
| 05 | Colby College | $62,000 | 6.8% | REACH | |
| 06 | Columbia University | $62,000 | 4.2% | REACH | |
| 07 | Cornell University | $62,000 | 8.2% | REACH | |
| 08 | Dartmouth College | $62,000 | 6.2% | REACH | |
| 09 | Duke University | $62,000 | 6.8% | REACH | |
| 10 | Harvard University | $62,000 | 3.5% | REACH | |
| 11 | Johns Hopkins University | $62,000 | 7.6% | REACH | |
| 12 | New York University (NYU) | $62,000 | 9.4% | REACH | |
| 13 | Northeastern University | $62,000 | 5.7% | REACH | |
| 14 | Northwestern University | $62,000 | 7.1% | REACH | |
| 15 | Pomona College | $62,000 | 6.8% | REACH | |
| 16 | Princeton University | $62,000 | 4.5% | REACH | |
| 17 | Rice University | $62,000 | 7.9% | REACH | |
| 18 | Stanford University | $62,000 | 3.9% | REACH | |
| 19 | Swarthmore College | $62,000 | 6.9% | REACH | |
| 20 | UCLA | $62,000 | 9.0% | REACH | |
| 21 | University of Chicago | $62,000 | 4.8% | REACH | |
| 22 | University of Pennsylvania | $62,000 | 5.9% | REACH | |
| 23 | Vanderbilt University | $62,000 | 6.3% | REACH | |
| 24 | Williams College | $62,000 | 10.0% | REACH | |
| 25 | Yale University | $62,000 | 4.5% | REACH | |
| 26 | Boston University | $58,000 | 10.8% | REACH | |
| 27 | Claremont McKenna College | $58,000 | 11.1% | REACH | |
| 28 | Colgate University | $58,000 | 11.9% | REACH | |
| 29 | Davidson College | $58,000 | 14.5% | REACH | |
| 30 | Emory University | $58,000 | 11.1% | REACH |
History Major FAQs
Data source: IPEDS, College Scorecard.