All of the major academic quality rankings of American Ph.D.-granting geography departments during 1925-80 are examined, and trends in the universities and regions in which the best Ph.D.-granting geography departments have been located are analyzed. Seven major ratings of geography departments are considered. Reputational rankings were conducted by Raymond M. Hughes (1925, 1934), Hayward Keniston (1959), Allan Cartter (1966), and Roose and Andersen (1970). Studies based on more objective criteria were conducted by Peter Beaumont (1971), David E. Sopher and James S. Duncan (1975), and Richard L. Morrill (1980). Based on these seven quality rankings of geography departments, the following have been rated among the discipline's best departments: University of California at Berkeley, University of Chicago, University of Michigan, and University of Wisconsin. In 1925, the nation's highest-ranked departments were located mostly in the Northeast and upper Midwest. By 1966, many of the best departments in the Northeast had declined or disappeared, and of the nine highest-rated schools in the Cartter survey, six were in the upper Midwest and three on the west coast. Recently, as illustrated by the three geography department rankings done since 1971, the nation's best geography departments have become relatively decentralized. A list of the ratings for each study and references are included. (SW)