A degree in dentistry is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #105 out of 395 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 4 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for dentistry students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 775 degrees in dentistry annually.
The dentistry program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Dentistry rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for dentistry schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
The dentistry school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Dentistry Schools in California.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
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.
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the dentistry degree levels they offer.
Every student pursuing a degree in dentistry has to look into University of Southern California. USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were about 169 dentistry students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the dentistry program state that they receive average early career wages of $79,887.
Every student pursuing a degree in dentistry has to take a look at Loma Linda University. Located in the large suburb of Loma Linda, Loma Linda University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.
There were about 131 dentistry students who graduated with this degree at Loma Linda University in the most recent data year. Those dentistry students who get their degree from Loma Linda University receive $10,596 more than the typical dentistry grad.
It's hard to beat University of California - Los Angeles if you wish to pursue a degree in dentistry. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 4th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 105 dentistry students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the dentistry program report average early career wages of $78,035.
It is difficult to beat University of the Pacific if you wish to pursue a degree in dentistry. Pacific is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Stockton. This university ranks 43rd out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 168 dentistry students who graduated with this degree at Pacific in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, dentistry degree recipients typically earn an average of $102,531 in their early careers.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
The dentistry program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Dentistry rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for dentistry schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
