If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in anthropology, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #59 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 20 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Anthropology Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 497 bachelor's degrees in anthropology to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Anthropology School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The anthropology bachelor'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 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 anthropology students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other anthropology 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 anthropology 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 anthropology related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for anthropology students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Anthropology Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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.
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Washington University in St Louis is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in anthropology. Located in the large suburb of Saint Louis, WUSTL is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Anthropology bachelor's degree recipients from Washington University in St Louis receive an earnings boost of around $5,893 above the typical earnings of anthropology majors.
University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is one of the best schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in anthropology. Located in the city of Minneapolis, UMN Twin Cities is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the anthropology major at University of Minnesota - Twin Cities get $2,623 above the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
University of Iowa is a wonderful decision for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in anthropology. Iowa is a very large public university located in the city of Iowa City.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the anthropology program state that they receive average early career wages of $27,221.
Mizzou is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Columbia.
Anthropology bachelor's degree recipients from University of Missouri - Columbia receive an earnings boost of about $3,330 over the typical earnings of anthropology graduates.
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).
The anthropology bachelor'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:
