Ranked #15 in popularity, economics is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 55 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Economics Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 7,112 bachelor's degrees in economics during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Economics School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The economics 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. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
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.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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 economics students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - The number of economics students who choose to seek a bachelor's 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 economics 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 economics related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for economics students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Economics Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
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ADBLOCK #171
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Economics in the Far Western US Region
Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for economics students seeking a a bachelor's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
11 Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Economics
University of California - Berkeley is a good option for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in economics. UC Berkeley is a very large public university located in the city of Berkeley.
Those economics students who get their bachelor's degree from University of California - Berkeley earn $29,417 more than the average economics graduate.
Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in economics needs to look into Stanford University. Stanford is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Stanford.
Economics bachelor's degree recipients from Stanford University receive an earnings boost of around $47,075 above the typical earnings of economics majors.
University of California - Los Angeles is a great option for students interested in a bachelor's degree in economics. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a very large student population.
Those economics students who get their bachelor's degree from University of California - Los Angeles receive $11,062 more than the average economics student.
University of California - Santa Barbara is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in economics. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Economics bachelor's degree recipients from University of California - Santa Barbara get an earnings boost of around $15,305 above the average earnings of economics majors.
USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles.
Economics bachelor's degree recipients from University of Southern California earn a boost of around $6,031 above the typical income of economics graduates.
Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the economics program at University of Washington - Seattle Campus make $2,905 more than the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the midsize city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.
Economics bachelor's degree recipients from Santa Clara University get an earnings boost of about $25,577 over the typical earnings of economics graduates.
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Additional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional great schools for Economics students in the Far Western US Region that almost earned our Best Economics Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region award.
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).