2025 Best Human Resource Management Master's Degree Schools in California
Ranked #22 in popularity,
human resource management is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 10 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for human resource management students pursuing a master's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 844 master's degrees in human resource management during the 2022-2023 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Human Resource Management School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of human resource management for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How much a school focuses on human resource management students vs. other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of human resource management students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
- Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
- Student Debt - How easy is it for human resource management to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized human resource management related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for human resource management students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Human Resource Management Schools
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Human Resource Management Master's Degree Schools in California list, to help you choose the best school for you.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Human Resource Management in California
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in human resource management.
10 Top California Schools for a Master's in HR
Any student who is interested in a master's degree in human resource management has to look into University of Southern California. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Those human resource management students who get their master's degree from University of Southern California earn $19,848 more than the standard hr grad.
More information about a master’s in human resource management from University of Southern California
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in human resource management needs to look into Pepperdine University. Pepperdine is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Malibu.
Master's recipients from the human resource management program at Pepperdine University earn $38,925 more than the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
More information about a master’s in human resource management from Pepperdine University
It's difficult to beat University of San Francisco if you wish to pursue a master's degree in human resource management. Located in the large city of San Francisco, USFCA is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.
Those human resource management students who get their master's degree from University of San Francisco receive $52,938 more than the standard hr student.
More information about a master’s in human resource management from University of San Francisco
Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in human resource management has to take a look at Golden Gate University - San Francisco. Golden Gate University - San Francisco is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of San Francisco.
Students who graduate with their master's from the hr program state that they receive average early career wages of $75,191.
More information about a master’s in human resource management from Golden Gate University - San Francisco
National University is a large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of San Diego.
Master's students who receive their degree from the hr program make around $73,848 in their early career salary.
More information about a master’s in human resource management from National University
