If you plan on majoring in legal studies, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #195 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
College Factual looked at 4 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Legal Studies Schools in California ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 650 degrees in legal studies annually.
The legal studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Legal Studies rankings. For our Best Overall Legal Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Legal Studies Schools in California list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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 legal studies degree levels they offer.
Every student pursuing a degree in legal studies needs to check out University of California - Berkeley. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were roughly 218 legal studies students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent year we have data available.
University of California - Santa Cruz is a good decision for students interested in a degree in legal studies. Located in the city of Santa Cruz, UC Santa Cruz is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #91 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UC Santa Cruz is a great university overall.
There were approximately 131 legal studies students who graduated with this degree at UC Santa Cruz in the most recent data year.
It is difficult to beat University of La Verne if you want to pursue a degree in legal studies. ULV is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of La Verne. This university ranks 78th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were roughly 14 legal studies students who graduated with this degree at ULV in the most recent year we have data available.
Every student pursuing a degree in legal studies has to look into Humphreys University - Stockton and Modesto Campuses. Located in the large city of Stockton, Humphreys University is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly small student population. This university ranks 150th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 5 legal studies students who graduated with this degree at Humphreys University in the most recent data year.
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).
Credit for the banner image above goes to The wub.
The legal studies program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Legal Studies rankings. For our Best Overall Legal Studies School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
