Anthropology Schools and Programs in The United States

Anthropology Studies in The United States

Anthropology is the study of humans and their immediate ancestors: their cultures, languages, biology and material remains, past and present. Departments in the United States usually teach it as four connected subfields, namely archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistic anthropology and sociocultural anthropology. This means that archaeology is normally studied inside an anthropology degree and not as a separate one. SpainExchange lists 122 colleges and universities in the United States under anthropology.

How the degree is organised

• Associate degree: a two-year programme at a community college, used mainly for transfer. North Idaho College runs an anthropology transfer programme, and Seattle Central College has an anthropology pathway that leads to an Associate of Arts
• Bachelor's degree (BA or BS): usually four years of full-time study, with classes in a wide range of subjects in addition to the major
• Master's degree: usually two years, often with field or laboratory research
• Doctorate (PhD): additional years of study beyond the master's degree, normally ending with a dissertation

Many departments offer both a BA and a BS. At Binghamton University, the BA's general track covers the concerns and methods of each of the four subfields, while the BS adds training in quantitative methods and laboratory or field work and suits students interested in biological anthropology or archaeology, or in combining anthropology with a pre-health programme. The University of Washington lists BA options in Anthropology, Medical Anthropology and Global Health, Human Evolutionary Biology, Anthropology of Globalization, Archaeological Sciences and Indigenous Archaeology, and BS options in three of these areas. The University of California San Diego organises its major and minor around biological, archaeological, sociocultural and climate change/environmental anthropology.

Fieldwork is part of the training. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), students may attend archaeological field schools, which teach them how to excavate sites and how to record and interpret findings. Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, for example, runs an archaeological field school and an ethnographic field school.

At graduate level, Binghamton's Master of Arts is a four-field degree that normally takes two years. Students from any academic major can apply, GRE scores are not required, and applicants from countries where English is not the primary language must submit TOEFL scores. The department also offers a master's in Public Archaeology, an MS in Biomedical Anthropology and a PhD. UC San Diego offers doctoral training for careers in research and university teaching, and The University of Texas at Austin has a PhD programme and an applied archaeology BA/MA.

Admission and language

For a bachelor's degree, applicants must in general have completed high school and be at least 17 years old. Each college sets its own requirements, and EducationUSA, the advising network of the U.S. Department of State, recommends starting the search 12 to 18 months before the academic year of entry. Classes are taught in English and colleges ask international applicants for proof of their English level.

International students need a student visa. Once accepted by a school certified by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), the school's international student office issues the Form I-20 used in the visa application.

Costs

Fees are set by each institution. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), average tuition and fees for first-time, full-time undergraduates in 2022-23 were $9,800 at public four-year institutions, $40,700 at private nonprofit four-year institutions and $4,000 at public two-year institutions. Two years at a community college followed by two years at a university, the "2+2" route, can lower the total cost of a bachelor's degree.

Where to study anthropology

New York has three schools in this directory; most other cities have one or two. The list includes large universities such as the University of Washington, the University of California San Diego, The University of Texas at Austin, Binghamton University, the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Madison; private universities such as Columbia University, Stanford University, Yale University, The University of Chicago and Duke University; smaller colleges such as Fort Lewis College, Lawrence University and Wellesley College; and community colleges such as North Idaho College, Seattle Central College and Pasadena City College.

Recognition

Recognition of credits and degrees by other institutions and by employers is linked to the accreditation of the institution. Anthropology has no licence or professional register in the United States, so what counts abroad is the level of the degree and the accreditation of the university.

Careers

According to BLS, anthropologists and archaeologists typically need at least a master's degree, and some positions require a PhD. They held about 10,200 jobs in 2025. The largest employers were management, scientific and technical consulting services (28 percent), research and development in the social sciences and humanities (23 percent) and the federal government (19 percent). BLS projects that employment will grow 6 percent from 2025 to 2035, with about 800 openings a year. Graduates with a bachelor's degree may start as field or laboratory technicians or research assistants. Fort Lewis College notes that cultural resource management firms, museums, government agencies and tribes in its region regularly look for student interns.

Frequently asked questions

What are the four fields of anthropology?

Archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistic anthropology and sociocultural anthropology. Most U.S. departments teach all four.

Should I choose a BA or a BS in anthropology?

It depends on your interests. At Binghamton University, for example, the BS adds quantitative methods and laboratory or field training and suits biological anthropology, archaeology or pre-health plans, while the BA covers all four subfields.

Do I need a master's degree to work as an anthropologist?

Typically yes, according to BLS. Some people begin with a bachelor's degree as field or laboratory technicians or research assistants.