The University of Maryland Sociology Graduate Program is ranked 24th among all sociology departments nationally by the U.S. News and World Report's annual rating system. The graduate program is organized into four specialty areas:

1. Demography
2. Social Movements & the State
3. Social Psychology
4. Social Inequality & Mobility
5. Gender, Work & Family

Within these areas, faculty research specialties include the following: 

Aging and the Life Course ~ Culture and Ideology ~ Crime and Violence ~ Critical Race Theory ~ Education ~ Environmental Sociology ~ Gender, Work, and Family ~ Global Inequalities ~ Health Inequalities ~ Immigration ~ Intergenerational Relationships ~ Military Sociology ~ Power, Status, and Leadership ~ Occupational Inequalities ~ Race and Ethnicity ~ Residential Segregation ~ Revolution and Social Change ~ Time Use and Inequality 

In addition to these programs, the department is closely involved with the following research centers:

• India Human Development Survey (IHDS)
• The Maryland Population Research Center (MPRC)
• The Center for Innovation
• The Program for Society and the Environment
• Lab for Applied Social Science Research (LASSR)
• Group Processes Lab
• Critical Race Initiative
• The Center for Research on Military Organization

Collectively, these centers account for over five million dollars in annual research funding. The Department is also affiliated with an interdisciplinary Joint Program on Survey Methods (JPSM), founded by Sociology professor Stanley Presser and his colleagues at the University of Michigan and Westat. This program, which is funded by the Federal Statistical System, provides additional resources to faculty and students interested in survey research.