2025 Best Economics Doctor's Degree Schools

If you pursue a doctor's degree in economics, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #24 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 49 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Economics Doctor's Degree Schools ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,385 doctor's degrees in economics during the <nil> academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Economics School for Your Doctor's Degree

The economics 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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a doctor's 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 for a Doctor's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their doctor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. That is, everyone wants their doctor'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 doctor'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 doctor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized economics related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

The economics 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 Economics Doctor's Degree Schools.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Economics in the United States

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for economics students seeking a a doctor's degree.

10 Top Schools for a Doctorate in Economics

1

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

27 Annual Graduates

Northwestern University is a wonderful option for students pursuing a doctor's degree in economics. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston.More information about a doctorate in economics from Northwestern University

2

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

25 Annual Graduates

University of Pennsylvania is a great option for individuals pursuing a doctor's degree in economics. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in economics from University of Pennsylvania

3

Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY

38 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat Columbia University in the City of New York if you wish to pursue a doctor's degree in economics. Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in economics from Columbia University in the City of New York

4

University of Chicago
Chicago, IL

41 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in economics has to check out University of Chicago. Located in the large city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in economics from University of Chicago

5

Cornell University
Ithaca, NY

21 Annual Graduates

Cornell is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Ithaca.More information about a doctorate in economics from Cornell University

6

Harvard University
Cambridge, MA

52 Annual Graduates

Harvard is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the medium-sized city of Cambridge.More information about a doctorate in economics from Harvard University

7

Stanford University
Stanford, CA

22 Annual Graduates

Stanford is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Stanford.More information about a doctorate in economics from Stanford University

8

Duke University
Durham, NC

18 Annual Graduates

Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in economics from Duke University

9

University of California - Berkeley
Berkeley, CA

33 Annual Graduates

UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the city of Berkeley.More information about a doctorate in economics from University of California - Berkeley

10

Brown University
Providence, RI

18 Annual Graduates

Located in the medium-sized city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a doctorate in economics from Brown University

Additional Noteworthy Schools

Here are some additional great schools for Economics students that almost earned our Best Economics Doctor's Degree Schools award.

Rank	College	Location
11	Georgetown University	Washington, DC
12	Yale University	New Haven, CT
13	Boston College	Chestnut Hill, MA
14	Princeton University	Princeton, NJ
15	University of Michigan - Ann Arbor	Ann Arbor, MI
16	New York University	New York, NY

Economics by Region

View the Best Economics Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Other U.S. Territories
Great Lakes

View All Rankings >

Economics Related Rankings by Major

Economics is one of 13 different types of Social Sciences programs to choose from.

Economics Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Econometrics & Quantitative Economics	1,203
General Economics	161
Applied Economics	13
Development Economics & International Development	4
Other Economics	4

Majors Similar to Economics

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Political Science & Government	737
Sociology	602
Anthropology	472
Geography & Cartography	199
International Relations & National Security	94
Other Social Sciences	83
Urban Studies	44
General Social Sciences	26
Demography & Population Studies	15
Archeology	9

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 pixabay. More about our data sources and methodologies.