Ranked, compared, and filtered by real data: costs, outcomes, and admissions
Washington DC is arguably the best place in the country to study political science, international relations, law, and public policy. Georgetown, George Washington, American, and Howard all sit within a few miles of the institutions students are literally studying.
The internship and career networking access available to DC students is functionally impossible to replicate anywhere else, and Howard University's continued role as one of the most prominent HBCUs in the country gives the city a dual academic identity that most capitals lack.
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See how District of Columbia's colleges compare to the national average on the four measures most students and families weigh when deciding where to go: cost, acceptance rates, graduate earnings, and graduation rates.
The colleges in District of Columbia that rank highest by UCD Score, and those that deliver above-national graduate earnings at a below-average net price, two of the strongest signals when choosing a school.
Not every student is looking for the same thing. These six panels rank District of Columbia's colleges by the data that matters most for each path.
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by net price
Ranked by enrollment
Ranked by grad earnings
Which colleges give you the most for what you spend? These eight schools rank highest in District of Columbia by the ratio of 10-year graduate earnings to annual net price.
| # | College | Net Price / yr | Earnings (10yr) | Ratio | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trinity Washington University Washington | $9,302 | $53,804 | 5.8× | Excellent |
| 2 | University of the District of Columbia Washington | $10,648 | $44,236 | 4.2× | Excellent |
| 3 | Gallaudet University Washington | $15,845 | $43,101 | 2.7× | Good |
| 4 | Georgetown University Washington | $40,815 | $103,494 | 2.5× | Good |
| 5 | George Washington University Washington | $36,586 | $90,873 | 2.5× | Good |
| 6 | The Catholic University of America Washington | $29,561 | $73,250 | 2.5× | Good |
| 7 | Strayer University-Global Region Washington | $17,833 | $40,092 | 2.3× | Good |
| 8 | American University Washington | $41,943 | $77,370 | 1.8× | Average |
ROI Ratio = median earnings 10 years after enrollment ÷ annual net price. Higher is better.
The six fields of study with the most annual graduates across all colleges in District of Columbia, based on IPEDS completion data.
The specific degree programs producing the most graduates across District of Columbia's colleges. A more granular view than the Popular Majors above, useful when you already know roughly what you want to study and want to see where the volume is.
Careers with a strong employment footprint in District of Columbia. What graduates from local colleges actually go on to do. State-level employment is shown where the BLS publishes it; national wage + growth shown alongside.
The cities in District of Columbia with the most colleges, ranked by number of institutions.
Rank every state by the average 10-year earnings of its college graduates and the top of the list is the costly Northeast corridor plus DC, not the South.
Utah crowds 14,137 students into each of its colleges, four times the national norm. These are the states where college options are scarcest per student.
There are 170 colleges that operate a medical school, and they cluster hard. Texas leads with 14, three states hold a fifth of them, and four states have none.
Browse our full directory: every college, major, program, and career we track, all built from verified government data.
Scout uses AI and can make mistakes. Verify important numbers on the page.
