Which Michigan sociology program has the lowest debt?

University of Michigan reports the lowest median federal debt, $18,568, with first-year pay of $33,832.

How much do sociology graduates earn in Michigan?

The median across 10 Michigan sociology bachelor's programs is $31,757 in the first year after graduating and $48,242 five years after.

How many sociology bachelor's programs are in Michigan?

10 Michigan programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 9 of them also report federal debt.

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

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

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Michigan sociology bachelor's program pays its graduates $31,757 in their first year, $2,343 less than the national median. UM-Flint reports the highest first-year pay ($41,460), and University of Michigan the lowest median debt ($18,568).

Median first-year pay$31,757National $34,099

Median pay after 5 years$48,242National $50,382

Median federal debt$26,493National $25,000

Debt-to-earnings84%National 72%

All 10 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	UM-FlintFlint · public	$41,460	$42,356	Not reported	Not reported
2	Western Michigan UniversityKalamazoo · public	$35,399	$58,151	$25,585	72%
3	Michigan StateEast Lansing · public	$35,055	$60,828	$26,985	77%
4	University of MichiganAnn Arbor · public	$33,832	$64,923	$18,568	55%
5	Grand Valley StateAllendale · public	$32,132	$47,684	$26,000	81%
6	Wayne StateDetroit · public	$31,381	$48,799	$30,422	97%
7	Eastern Michigan UniversityYpsilanti · public	$29,919	$46,350	$35,155	118%
8	Hope CollegeHolland · private nonprofit	$29,181	$51,986	$24,488	84%
9	Central Michigan UniversityMount Pleasant · public	$28,785	$47,455	$28,563	99%
10	Oakland UniversityRochester Hills · public	$20,126	$51,583	$20,500	102%

UM-Flint reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay. 3 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Michigan sociology program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Michigan medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 9 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

$60,210

Median pay in Michigan. 750 people work in this job in Michigan. 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%: $41,970Top 10%: $82,870

Sociologists

$88,040

Median pay in Michigan. 90 people work in this job in Michigan. 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%: $52,520Top 10%: $158,420

Common questions

UM-Flint in Flint reports the highest median first-year pay, $41,460.

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 Michigan 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