If you plan on getting your associate degree in anthropology, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #92 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 9 schools in the United States to determine which ones were the best for anthropology students pursuing a associate degree. Combined, these schools handed out 843 associate degrees in anthropology to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Anthropology School for Your Associate Degree
Your choice of anthropology for getting your associate degree school matters. 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
The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. 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
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of associate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their associate 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 - The number of anthropology students who choose to seek a associate degree at the school.
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 associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized anthropology related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for anthropology students working on their associate degree.
The anthropology 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 Anthropology Associate Degree Schools.
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Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in anthropology needs to check out Merced College. Located in the city of Merced, Merced Community College District is a public college with a large student population.More information about a associate in anthropology from Merced College
Any student who is interested in an associate degree in anthropology has to take a look at Sierra College. Located in the suburb of Rocklin, Sierra College is a public college with a fairly large student population.More information about a associate in anthropology from Sierra College
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).
by our College Data Analytics Team
Your choice of anthropology for getting your associate degree school matters. 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:
