2025 Best Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Master's Degree Schools in California

You'll be studying one of the lesser sought-after majors if you pursue a Master's Degree in liberal arts / sciences & humanities. It is ranked #29 out of 37 major degree programs in terms of popularity. While this may limit the number of schools that offer the degree program, there are still top-quality ones to be found.

College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Master's Degree Schools in California ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 110 master's degrees in liberal arts / sciences & humanities during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

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 liberal arts / sciences & humanities students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of liberal arts / sciences & humanities 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 much debt liberal arts / sciences & humanities students go into to obtain their master'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 liberal arts / sciences & humanities related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for liberal arts / sciences & humanities students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Master's Degree Schools in California list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities in California

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for liberal arts / sciences & humanities students seeking a a master's degree.

Top California Schools for a Master's in Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities

1

San Diego State University
San Diego, CA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

16 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in liberal arts / sciences & humanities has to take a look at San Diego State University. Located in the city of San Diego, SDSU is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in liberal arts / sciences & humanities from San Diego State University

2

California State University - Northridge
Northridge, CA

Master's Degree Highest Degree Type

23 Annual Graduates

California State University - Northridge is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in liberal arts / sciences & humanities. CSUN is a very large public university located in the city of Northridge.More information about a master’s in liberal arts / sciences & humanities from California State University - Northridge

Best Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Oregon	29	4
Alaska	21	7

View All Rankings >

Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Majors to Study

Major	Annual Graduates
Liberal Arts General Studies	110

Most Popular Majors Related to Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Social Sciences	1,775
Communication & Journalism	1,236
Theology & Religious Vocations	1,179
English Language & Literature	895
Foreign Languages & Linguistics	332
History	239
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies	238
Philosophy & Religious Studies	215
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences	156

Notes and References

• 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 Jacques Sablet (Switzerland, Morges, 1749-1803). More about our data sources and methodologies.