Which Pennsylvania sociology program has the lowest debt?

Franklin and Marshall College reports the lowest median federal debt, $19,000, with first-year pay of $31,444.

How much do sociology graduates earn in Pennsylvania?

The median across 20 Pennsylvania sociology bachelor's programs is $34,014 in the first year after graduating and $49,071 five years after.

How many sociology bachelor's programs are in Pennsylvania?

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

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

20 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 Pennsylvania sociology bachelor's program pays its graduates $34,014 in their first year, $86 less than the national median. King's College reports the highest first-year pay ($48,529), and Franklin and Marshall College the lowest median debt ($19,000).

Median first-year pay$34,014National $34,099

Median pay after 5 years$49,071National $50,382

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

Debt-to-earnings78%National 72%

All 20 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	King's CollegeWilkes-Barre · private nonprofit	$48,529	$52,876	Not reported	Not reported
2	Commonwealth University of PennsylvaniaBloomsburg · public	$37,461	$48,773	$29,119	78%
3	Arcadia UniversityGlenside · private nonprofit	$36,919	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
4	Wilkes UniversityWilkes-Barre · private nonprofit	$36,814	$47,908	$26,000	71%
5	Gettysburg CollegeGettysburg · private nonprofit	$36,396	Not reported	$22,747	62%
6	La Salle UniversityPhiladelphia · private nonprofit	$36,319	Not reported	$27,500	76%
7	East Stroudsburg University of PennsylvaniaEast Stroudsburg · public	$35,932	$62,726	$27,000	75%
8	Penn StateUniversity Park · public	$35,016	$56,535	$26,000	74%
9	Millersville University of PennsylvaniaMillersville · public	$34,883	$52,356	$26,000	75%
10	Kutztown University of PennsylvaniaKutztown · public	$34,490	$44,129	$28,000	81%
11	Rosemont CollegeRosemont · private nonprofit	$33,537	Not reported	$28,125	84%
12	Temple UniversityPhiladelphia · public	$33,427	$48,805	$26,000	78%
13	Pennsylvania Western UniversityCalifornia · public	$32,325	$46,240	Not reported	Not reported
14	Indiana University of PennsylvaniaIndiana · public	$32,323	$39,930	$27,000	84%
15	Franklin and Marshall CollegeLancaster · private nonprofit	$31,444	Not reported	$19,000	60%
16	University of PittsburghPittsburgh · public	$30,274	$48,866	$25,000	83%
17	Duquesne UniversityPittsburgh · private nonprofit	$29,661	$55,087	$26,983	91%
18	Cheyney University of PennsylvaniaCheyney · public	$28,128	$43,236	Not reported	Not reported
19	Moravian UniversityBethlehem · private nonprofit	$26,583	Not reported	$27,000	102%
20	Albright CollegeReading · private nonprofit	$24,310	$57,087	$25,500	105%

King's College, Arcadia University, Pennsylvania Western University, and Cheyney University of Pennsylvania report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. 3 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Pennsylvania sociology program

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

King's College$48,529
Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania$37,461
Arcadia University$36,919
Wilkes University$36,814
Gettysburg College$36,396

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

$54,610

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 860 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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%: $44,710Top 10%: $81,640

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

King's College in Wilkes-Barre reports the highest median first-year pay, $48,529.

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 Pennsylvania 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