Best Online Bachelor’s in Sociology Degree Programs Ranked for 2023

Best Online Bachelor’s in Sociology Degree Programs Ranked for 2023

By James Barham

Published: Jul 7, 2021
Updated: Mar 13, 2023

Find top-ranked online bachelor’s in sociology degree programs for students who are interested in pursuing careers in the fields of human services, public policy, and public polling.

Top 10 Online Sociology Bachelor's Degrees

University of Missouri

61%

University of South Carolina

56%

University of Louisville

54%

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

52%

Texas Tech University

50%

Florida International University

49%

University of Central Florida

48%

University of Memphis

47%

University of Akron

46%

California State University, Fullerton

43%

New England College

100%

Western Kentucky University

98%

Old Dominion University

96%

University of Southern Mississippi

96%

University of Memphis

95%

Missouri State University

94%

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

92%

Lamar University

88%

University of Akron

85%

California State University, Chico

85%

University of Central Florida

31 to 1

California State University, Fullerton

27 to 1

Florida International University

25 to 1

California State University, Chico

25 to 1

Missouri State University

20 to 1

Texas Tech University

19 to 1

University of Missouri–St. Louis

19 to 1

University of Louisville

19 to 1

Western Kentucky University

19 to 1

Lamar University

19 to 1

New England College

$40,642

McKendree University

$33,050

LaGrange College

$32,840

Drury University

$32,430

Saint Leo University

$26,050

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

$13,833

University of South Carolina

$12,288

University of Louisville

$12,174

University of Missouri–St. Louis

$12,015

University of Akron

$11,880

LaGrange College

$21,430

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

$16,390

Saint Leo University

$15,218

New England College

$14,568

University of South Carolina

$13,734

University of Louisville

$13,524

University of Missouri–St. Louis

$12,528

Western Kentucky University

$12,140

University of Akron

$10,610

Old Dominion University

$10,207

LaGrange College

20%

Charter Oak State College

20%

Drury University

25%

New England College

28%

McKendree University

29%

University of Missouri–St. Louis

29%

Saint Leo University

29%

Missouri State University

35%

Lamar University

35%

California State University, Chico

36%

University of Central Florida

36%

University of Missouri–St. Louis

57%

California State University, Fullerton

59%

University of South Carolina

62%

Florida International University

64%

Drury University

65%

Texas Tech University

68%

Saint Leo University

71%

LaGrange College

75%

University of Louisville

75%

LaGrange College

10 to 1

Tennessee State University

12 to 1

New England College

13 to 1

Drury University

13 to 1

Charter Oak State College

13 to 1

McKendree University

14 to 1

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

15 to 1

University of Memphis

16 to 1

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

16 to 1

University of Akron

16 to 1

University of Central Florida

$4,478

Florida International University

$4,721

California State University, Fullerton

$5,742

California State University, Chico

$5,742

Lamar University

$6,228

Old Dominion University

$7,029

Tennessee State University

$7,128

Missouri State University

$7,196

Charter Oak State College

$7,656

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

$7,770

Missouri State University

$5,760

University of Nebraska–Lincoln

$6,138

Lamar University

$6,471

University of Central Florida

$6,916

Texas Tech University

$6,956

California State University, Fullerton

$7,176

California State University, Chico

$7,176

Drury University

$7,587

Florida International University

$8,912

University of Southern Mississippi

$9,094

Key Takeaways

Earning an online bachelor’s degree in sociology gives you a deeper understanding of society, human behaviors, and social groups.
A sociology degree online helps you develop skills in quantitative reasoning, statistical analysis, and complex problem-solving so you can work in sociology-related fields that heavily rely on this versatile skill set.
Sociology students learn about the history and evolution of civilizations, how social conflict and revolutions alter interaction, and the impact of armed conflicts, economic inequality, and criminal eccentricity.

Featured Programs

Are You A Great Fit for an Online Bachelor’s in Sociology Program?

Just like a psychology degree, a bachelor of arts (BA) or a bachelor of science (BS) in sociology is a very versatile degree, providing a student with all the necessary skills and knowledge to pursue their professional endeavors in education, crime and law, non-profit organizations, medicine and health, and many more.

An online bachelor’s in sociology introduces students to the history, development, and modern-day expressions of the field. Students receive broad-based instructions in the liberal arts field, with a strong emphasis on the norms, values, and social factors that affect collective human behaviors over time.

Most sociology programs also explore assessing individual instances of human behavior and applying those findings to larger issues like gender, race, family structure, and national identity.

Online Bachelor’s in Sociology Core Curricula

Sociological Theory: This course will cover the philosophical roots of social theories and how they have developed over time. This course also covers topics like approaches to human nature, conflict, the structure and functioning of social groups, cohesion and social control, and articulation of the society and of an individual.

Research Methods in Sociology: This is an introduction to research design and measurement techniques. Students assess existing research, create a research project, and study the data using SPSS statistics.

Social Inequality: This course looks at major theoretical approaches to the study of empirical research on income, wealth, race, gender gratification, and social inequality. Assignments and lectures will mostly cover contemporary and classical sociological theories, the US class structure, comparative analyses of the structure, and the global outlook on poverty, social mobility, and wealth.

Common Careers in Sociology Degree Holders

Sociologists: These professionals use their research skills and behavioral analysis in addressing pressing social issues. In most cases, they generate research projects to gauge theories, using inductive and deductive reasoning techniques in interpreting data and drawing conclusions.

Sociologists usually collaborate with other scientists, policy experts, and researchers to come up with solutions that will improve social and cultural institutions. They usually work full-time within colleges and universities, nonprofits, and other socially minded organizations.

Training and Development Specialists: Training and development specialists create and implement programs that are designed to boost the efficiency and productivity of an employee. These professionals usually assess needs using targeted surveys, and evaluate current programs based on the organization’s needs and preferred outcomes.

Normally, training specialists work full-time during regular business and working hours. At times, they travel to meet with potential clients or to go to training sites. Most of these professionals are found in larger organizations and businesses, although there are also some that practice independently as consultants.

Survey Researchers: These professionals are usually employed in businesses, social services, or the government. Their primary job is to conduct surveys and use statistical software in analyzing data, including public opinion polls and demographic information.

Market Research Analysts: These professionals use their skills in data analysis, collection, and forecasting of market conditions to predict how a specific product or service might do with consumers. They make sales and marketing forecasts, create surveys and questionnaires, measure marketing effectiveness, and collect primary data from customers.

Human Resource Managers: HR managers manage an organization’s administrative functions to guarantee that it runs smoothly. These professionals often work on staffing management and operations, posting job listings, interviewing potential new employees, and making decisions around hiring. They can also coordinate employee benefits and check disciplinary procedures.

Social and Community Service Managers: Whether for a government or nonprofit entity, social and community service managers make and manage programs supporting local communities and providing these communities with all the services they need. They will look for ways to enhance offerings by collecting data and conducting surveys from participants.

Public Relations Specialists: PR specialists are usually seen working with organizations or individuals in making, maintaining, and improving the public images of the latter. They frequently create press releases and other promotional materials, coach their clients on public speaking, manage social media outreach, and other means to improve their client’s public image.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sociology Degrees

Earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology can help prepare you for careers in an array of fields including human services, public policy, and public polling.

Students will explore topics like critical social theory, society and political systems, and research methods. Many programs offer concentration options, such as urban sociology or sociology of the law, so that students can tailor their education to their specific career goals and interests.

The bachelor’s degree in sociology usually takes about four years to complete and consists of about 120 credits. Students typically have the option to pursue this degree either online or on campus.

Graduates will qualify to pursue careers as public relations specialists, human resources managers, social workers, and market research analysts.

Learn more about how to major in sociology.

Best Online Bachelor's in Sociology

How do we determine the best online sociology bachelor's degree programs?

Pursuing your degree online doesn’t mean you need to settle for an inferior school. Today, most universities and colleges offer online degrees, and many respected schools are seeing significant growth in their numbers of online students.

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why influence — i.e., the academic impact of faculty and alumni associated with a school — gets at the heart of what is truly best in education. The combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers is the best indicator of academic excellence. For our online degree rankings, we focus on the academic influence of faculty and alumni in the specific disciplines we’re ranking.

If you are serious about finding the best online colleges, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching, and whether their graduates themselves are advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence. Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Influence, as measured by our InfluenceRanking engine, provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

Ranking the Top Online Undergraduate Degree in Sociology Programs

The online sociology degree program options provided on this list are aimed to produce competent graduates, which is why all these schools maintain stringent requirements for admission, graduation, and retention.

Aside from the online programs and core courses of these online sociology degree programs, these schools offer extensive curricula and rigorous coursework. This results in producing competent sociology majors and professionals that are experts in the research methods, human behavior, and human resources principles that enable them to thrive in the field.

Each school and sociology program in this list of the best online bachelor’s in sociology also feature top-notch instructors and experienced specialists in the field. Other crucial data in the listing is the school’s tuition rates and student aid options.

Best Online Bachelor’s in Sociology Degree Programs

Online Sociology Programs Looking for You

Online Degree Frequently Asked Questions

If this is your first time taking an online course, the experience may require a time of adjustment. Although you’ll typically learn the same material and take the same exams as your on-campus peers, going online will require greater independence and responsibility than going in person. You’ll be accountable for your own time management, for harnessing the online educational technology that you’ll need to use, and for completing the course requirements, such as listening to lectures, learning lessons, reading texts, and handing in assignments. This means you’ll need to create a suitable workspace for yourself, maintain a realistic schedule, and take the initiative in building relationships with your instructors and classmates. With online college, your goal is to find a balance between independence and engagement.

No. The only part of online education that’s easier than campus-based education is ease of access: all you need is a computer and an internet connection for online education. But even this seeming advantage of online education can be misleading: what’s easier, studying online with your computer and internet connection from your home where you need to cook, clean, pay rent, and maintain a job? Or studying on campus in a dorm where all your living needs are handled by the school, and college staff are there to help you every step of the way?

If you take the commute to campus out of the equation, campus-based education is easier. All the support structures available on campus for students, especially with real people to help you in person, are not there online. The demands on you as an online student will largely be the same as for your campus-based counterpart, but without the same helps.

In general, your online courses will present the same material and test you in the same way as traditional in-person courses. In many cases, you’ll even have the same instructors as your on-campus counterparts. In fact, if you are adjusting to the experience of independent learning with remote educational technology for the first time, online college may be considerably more challenging than campus-based college. For a few insights on how to manage this new online experience, check out our 10 Tips for Adjusting to School Online.

Accreditation is especially important when it comes to online college. This is because the online education landscape is a mix of highly-reputable non-profit institutions on the one end and less-than-reputable for-profit institutions on the other end. Accreditation gives you the power to identify the more reputable actors in online education. Accreditation is a stamp of approval from an independent accrediting agency indicating that a college or university is meeting standards of quality and credibility. School-wide accreditation falls into two major categories: regional and national accreditation. Regional accreditors generally hold jurisdiction only over schools in the states comprising their region, whereas national accreditors hold jurisdiction over schools in all states. Regional accreditation is widely regarded as a more rigorous standard of quality and credibility than national accreditation.

Attending a college or university that is not regionally accredited could limit your opportunities. For students seeking an online education, we strongly recommend that they opt for regionally accredited schools. Regional accreditation ensures eligibility for federal loans and grants, ensures your college credits can be transferred between schools, and ensures that your degree credits can be accepted if you wish to earn an advanced degree. For more on this important topic, check out our What is Accreditation and Why Does It Matter? College & University Accreditation Guide.

As long as your online college degree is regionally accredited (see the previous point), you should have little difficulty transferring most of your credits or credentials to another regionally accredited undergraduate school. Every school carries its own standards and procedures for granting a transfer of credits. In many cases, you will encounter some bureaucratic haggling in which some of your credits will be transferred and others may be refused. However, provided that you have attended an online school with recognized regional accreditation, you should be in good shape in transferring your credits earned online.

In most cases, as long you graduate from a well-regarded, regionally-accredited online college, prospective employers won’t look sideways at your degree. In fact, unless you attend an exclusively online college or university, there will likely be no specific indicator on your degree, transcript, or resumé differentiating your school from its brick-and-mortar counterpart. This means that your employer will likely only differentiate between an online and in-person degree if you mention this distinction.

Some employers may express the concern that because you did your degree online, you may need to transition from an online education experience to in-person workplace experience. But in an age of Covid, that concern seems much diminished. The fact is that much employment these days is remote. And collaboration increasingly happens online over Zoom. Many employers will therefore view your online degree as evidence of valuable 21st century professional skills such as independence, self-motivation, time management, and tech savvy.

If you are a student who thrives on the dynamic energy of in-person discussion, who requires the physical surroundings of a classroom to feel engaged, or who considers the social aspects of education to be of equal importance to the actual content of your courses, online education will be less than ideal for you (though depending on your circumstances, it may also be the only viable option).

While there is much in traditional campus-based education that can be substituted or simulated through the online medium, some students may find that there is nothing that can replace the conversation, collaboration, and motivation that occur in an actual in-person classroom setting. As you transition to online education, one of the biggest challenges you will likely face in getting the most out of your online classes is overcoming this difference between “real reality” and “virtual reality.” Fortunately, we’ve got some great Tips for Online Education Beginners.

The advantages of online classes are many. Above all, online courses give you the freedom and flexibility to attend class from anywhere that works for you, whether you’re at home, in a coffee shop, or in a quiet conference room at work. In many cases, you’ll also enjoy the convenience of asynchronous learning opportunities-educational experiences that you can complete at your own pace and on your own schedule. This may include pre-taped lectures, ongoing chat-board discussions, and 24/7 access to digital materials. And of course, just as there are some learners who prefer the energy of a live classroom, there are those who learn best when working in their own personal space, free from distractions. If this sounds like you, you might find the solitude of online learning to be a major advantage.

Whether you’re just getting started on your college search, you’re looking for survival tips on your way to a bachelor’s degree, or you’re preparing for the transition into grad school, we’ve got guides, how to’s and tons of other valuable resources to keep you moving forward in your educational journey.