2025 Best Journalism Bachelor's Degree Schools in California
a bachelor's degree in
journalism is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #46 out of 363 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 18 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Journalism Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 973 bachelor's degrees in journalism during the 2022-2023 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Journalism School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of journalism for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality journalism program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a bachelor'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 consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection 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 bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor'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 many resources a school devotes to journalism students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - How many other journalism students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
- 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 much debt journalism students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized journalism related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for journalism students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Journalism Schools
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Journalism Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Journalism in California
Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for journalism students seeking a a bachelor's degree.
10 Top California Schools for a Bachelor's in Journalism
It's difficult to beat University of Southern California if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in journalism. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Journalism bachelor's degree recipients from University of Southern California get an earnings boost of approximately $9,550 above the average income of journalism graduates.
More information about a bachelor’s in journalism from University of Southern California
Loyola Marymount University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in journalism. Located in the city of Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in journalism from Loyola Marymount University
California State University - Long Beach is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in journalism. Located in the city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the journalism program make around $28,844 in their early career salary.
More information about a bachelor’s in journalism from California State University - Long Beach
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in journalism needs to take a look at San Diego State University. Located in the large city of San Diego, SDSU is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the journalism program report average early career wages of $30,269.
More information about a bachelor’s in journalism from San Diego State University
Located in the midsize city of Orange, Chapman is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.
Journalism bachelor's degree recipients from Chapman University get an earnings boost of approximately $6,544 over the average income of journalism graduates.
More information about a bachelor’s in journalism from Chapman University
