2025 Best Mathematics Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois

Mathematics is of the hottest doctor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #26 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

College Factual looked at 4 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Mathematics Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 87 doctor's degrees in mathematics during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Mathematics School for Your Doctor's Degree

The math doctor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. 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 account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Doctor's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

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 doctor's degree from the school. After all, your doctor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on mathematics students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of mathematics students who choose to seek a doctor's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for mathematics to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized mathematics related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for mathematics students working on their doctor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Mathematics Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Mathematics Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Mathematics in Illinois

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in mathematics.

Top Illinois Schools for a Doctorate in Math

1

University of Chicago
Chicago, IL

19 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat University of Chicago if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in mathematics. UChicago is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Chicago.More information about a doctorate in mathematics from University of Chicago

2

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

12 Annual Graduates

Northwestern University is a wonderful choice for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in mathematics. Located in the small city of Evanston, Northwestern is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in mathematics from Northwestern University

3

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL

26 Annual Graduates

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a doctor's degree in mathematics. UIUC is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Champaign.More information about a doctorate in mathematics from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

4

University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL

15 Annual Graduates

University of Illinois at Chicago is one of the best schools in the country for getting a doctor's degree in mathematics. Located in the city of Chicago, UIC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in mathematics from University of Illinois at Chicago

Best Mathematics Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Mathematics Schools in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Michigan	149	41
Ohio	144	28
Indiana	132	54
Wisconsin	108	30

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Math

Mathematics is one of 4 different types of Mathematics & Statistics programs to choose from.

Math Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
General Mathematics	87

Majors Similar to Math

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Applied Mathematics	21
Statistics	17

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). More about our data sources and methodologies.