US College Programs

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

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

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Missouri sociology bachelor's program pays its graduates $34,164 in their first year, $65 more than the national median. Columbia College (Missouri) reports the highest first-year pay ($37,758), and UMKC the lowest median debt ($20,799).

Median first-year pay$34,164National $34,099
Median pay after 5 years$45,553National $50,382
Median federal debt$25,191National $25,000
Debt-to-earnings82%National 72%

All 8 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.

One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Missouri sociology program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 8 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

  1. Columbia College (Missouri)$37,758
  2. UMKC$36,810
  3. Drury University$35,881
  4. UMSL$34,942
  5. University of Missouri$33,386

Lowest median debt

  1. UMKC$20,799
  2. University of Missouri$22,500
  3. University of Central Missouri$24,100
  4. Missouri State$25,191
  5. Harris-Stowe State$25,750

Lowest debt for the pay

  1. UMKC57%
  2. University of Missouri67%
  3. UMSL76%
  4. Missouri State79%
  5. University of Central Missouri85%

"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

$65,940

Median pay in Missouri. 750 people work in this job in Missouri. 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%: $39,250Top 10%: $79,860

Sociologists

$106,030

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

Common questions

Columbia College (Missouri) in Columbia reports the highest median first-year pay, $37,758. Its median federal debt is $32,276.

Related pages

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 Missouri 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

  1. U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
  2. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
  3. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
  4. NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024