UIUC Anthropology (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Anthropology
- Public university
- Champaign, IL
- About 40 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
UIUC anthropology graduates earn less than graduates of most anthropology programs nationally, $16,197 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $21,650 in federal loans, close to the national median of $22,962. Several Illinois programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Illinois and national columns are the medians across all anthropology bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, UIUC graduates earn more than the national figure and about $2,092 more than the Illinois median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois anthropology program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 223% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $230 a month, or 17.0% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
75% of graduates (24 of 32) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Champaign area are about 7% below the national average, so a $16,197 salary here buys what about $17,472 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to anthropology, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Medical Scientists, Except Epidemiologists
$82,330Median pay in Illinois. 4,700 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 13% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: doctoral or professional degree.
Forensic Science Technicians
$124,790Median pay in Illinois. 370 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 13% from 2025 to 2035, with about 2,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Anthropologists and Archeologists
$59,560Median pay in Illinois. 140 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 800 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About UIUC
Anthropology ranks 70th of 71 bachelor's programs at UIUC by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($124,530), Computer and Information Science ($113,503), and Mathematics and Computer Science ($109,843).
Other anthropology bachelor's programs near Champaign
Common questions
The median graduate earns $16,197 one year after graduating and $52,379 five years after. The median across anthropology bachelor's programs in Illinois is $25,913.
The median federal loan balance is $21,650, which ranks the lowest of 5 anthropology bachelor's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $230 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 134% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 81%. Compare the cost with other Illinois programs before deciding.
Most do. 75% (24 of 32) were working in Illinois one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Illinois comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the anthropology program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024