2025 Best Area Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region

If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in area studies, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #85 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.

For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 8 schools in the Southeast Region to determine which ones were the best for area studies students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 597 bachelor's degrees in area studies during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Area Studies School for Your Bachelor's Degree

The area studies bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality area studies program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on area studies students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other area studies students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for area studies to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized area studies related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for area studies students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Area Studies Schools

The area studies school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Area Studies Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region.

In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Area Studies in the Southeast Region

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in area studies.

Top Southeast Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Area Studies

1

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC

146 Annual Graduates

$31,955 Median Starting Salary

$28,162 Median Student Debt

Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in area studies needs to look into University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. UNC Chapel Hill is a very large public university located in the small city of Chapel Hill.

Soon after graduating, area studies bachelor's recipients usually make an average of $31,955 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2

Emory University
Atlanta, GA

37 Annual Graduates

$33,549 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in area studies needs to check out Emory University. Located in the large city of Atlanta, Emory is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the area studies program make around $33,549 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from Emory University

3

William & Mary
Williamsburg, VA

38 Annual Graduates

$53,779 Median Starting Salary

William & Mary is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in area studies. Located in the small suburb of Williamsburg, William & Mary is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

Area Studies bachelor's degree recipients from William & Mary receive an earnings boost of approximately $19,531 over the average income of area studies majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from William & Mary

4

University of Richmond
University of Richmond, VA

14 Annual Graduates

$33,340 Median Starting Salary

University of Richmond is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in area studies. URichmond is a small private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of University of Richmond.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the area studies program earn an average of $33,340 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from University of Richmond

5

University of South Carolina - Columbia
Columbia, SC

34 Annual Graduates

$32,064 Median Starting Salary

UofSC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Columbia.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the area studies program report average early career wages of $32,064.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from University of South Carolina - Columbia

6

Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, VA

27 Annual Graduates

$35,557 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Richmond, VCU is a public university with a very large student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the area studies program earn about $35,557 in their early career salary.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from Virginia Commonwealth University

7

Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL

12 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Tallahassee, Florida State is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from Florida State University

8

Florida International University
Miami, FL

30 Annual Graduates

$19,457 Median Starting Salary

FIU is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Miami.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the area studies program report average early career income of $19,457.

More information about a bachelor’s in area studies from Florida International University

Best Area Studies Colleges by State

Explore the best area studies schools for a specific state in the Southeast Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	225	73
Georgia	224	87
Tennessee	220	40
North Carolina	213	290
Virginia	213	156
South Carolina	195	84
Kentucky	187	45
Alabama	184	13
Louisiana	171	17
Mississippi	169	2
Arkansas	167	0
West Virginia	147	0

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Area Studies

Area Studies is one of 2 different types of Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies programs to choose from.

Area Studies Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Area Studies, Other	205
Asian Studies	118
American U.S. Studies	58
Latin American Studies	33
African Studies	29
Chinese Studies	26
French Studies	21
German Studies	19
Latin American & Caribbean Studies	17
Near & Middle Eastern Studies	14

Most Popular Majors Related to Area Studies

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Ethnic Studies	494

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Karl Udo Gerth. More about our data sources and methodologies.