Which Illinois sociology program has the lowest debt?

Northwestern University reports the lowest median federal debt, $14,567, with first-year pay of $38,402.

How much do sociology graduates earn in Illinois?

The median across 16 Illinois sociology bachelor's programs is $34,769 in the first year after graduating and $52,015 five years after.

How many sociology bachelor's programs are in Illinois?

16 Illinois programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 16 of them also report federal debt.

Sociology (Bachelor's) Programs in Illinois, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

16 programs report first-year pay
16 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Sociology

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Illinois sociology bachelor's program pays its graduates $34,769 in their first year, $670 more than the national median. Chicago State reports the highest first-year pay ($42,687), and Northwestern University the lowest median debt ($14,567).

Median first-year pay$34,769National $34,099

Median pay after 5 years$52,015National $50,382

Median federal debt$26,157National $25,000

Debt-to-earnings74%National 72%

All 16 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Chicago StateChicago · public	$42,687	$44,616	$38,087	89%
2	McKendree UniversityLebanon · private nonprofit	$40,015	$49,911	$27,000	67%
3	Eastern Illinois UniversityCharleston · public	$39,547	$49,650	$25,817	65%
4	Northwestern UniversityEvanston · private nonprofit	$38,402	$57,736	$14,567	38%
5	Northeastern Illinois UniversityChicago · public	$36,686	$46,230	$17,457	48%
6	Southern Illinois University EdwardsvilleEdwardsville · public	$35,415	$55,821	$26,500	75%
7	Northern Illinois UniversityDekalb · public	$35,150	$49,637	$27,000	77%
8	Saint Xavier UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$35,103	$51,583	$27,000	77%
9	UICChicago · public	$34,435	$52,284	$19,315	56%
10	Loyola ChicagoChicago · private nonprofit	$34,004	$61,830	$22,250	65%
11	DePaul UniversityChicago · private nonprofit	$33,644	$58,090	$24,500	73%
12	Illinois StateNormal · public	$33,636	$54,799	$25,000	74%
13	Dominican UniversityRiver Forest · private nonprofit	$31,657	$51,989	$27,000	85%
14	UIUCChampaign · public	$31,548	$61,548	$21,154	67%
15	Augustana CollegeRock Island · private nonprofit	$30,290	$47,770	$26,497	87%
16	North Central CollegeNaperville · private nonprofit	$29,714	$50,634	$27,000	91%

2 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois sociology 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 the 16 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to sociology, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Social Science Research Assistants

$64,890

Median pay in Illinois. 250 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $37,460Top 10%: $116,530

Sociologists

$140,770

Median pay in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 200 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.

Bottom 10%: $76,320Top 10%: $229,480

Common questions

Chicago State in Chicago reports the highest median first-year pay, $42,687. Its median federal debt is $38,087.

Sociology (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked397 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
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 rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the sociology bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024