a bachelor's degree in child development & psychology is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #37 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 115 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Child Development & Psychology Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 16,579 bachelor's degrees in child development & psychology to qualified students.
Choosing a Great Child Development & Psychology School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of child development & psychology for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality child development 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
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on child development & psychology students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other child development & psychology students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for child development & psychology to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized child development & psychology related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for child development & psychology students working on their bachelor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Child Development & Psychology Bachelor's Degree Schools list, to help you choose the best school for 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.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Child Development & Psychology in the United States
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in child development & psychology. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
23 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in Child Development
Columbia University in the City of New York is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in child development & psychology. Located in the city of New York, Columbia is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Those child development & psychology students who get their bachelor's degree from Columbia University in the City of New York earn $17,989 more than the typical child development graduate.
It is hard to beat University of California - Irvine if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in child development & psychology. UC Irvine is a very large public university located in the city of Irvine.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the child development program report average early career income of $29,830.
It's difficult to beat New York University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in child development & psychology. Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Child Development & Psychology bachelor's degree recipients from New York University receive an earnings boost of around $2,345 over the typical earnings of child development & psychology graduates.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in child development & psychology. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor.
Soon after graduation, child development bachelor's recipients usually earn around $31,568 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the large city of Philadelphia, UPenn is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Child Development & Psychology bachelor's degree recipients from University of Pennsylvania get an earnings boost of about $9,375 above the typical income of child development & psychology graduates.
Located in the city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Those child development & psychology students who get their bachelor's degree from Duke University earn $4,192 more than the average child development grad.
Located in the midsize city of Rochester, University of Rochester is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Those child development & psychology students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Rochester make $4,565 more than the typical child development grad.
Located in the midsize city of Providence, Brown is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Child Development & Psychology bachelor's degree recipients from Brown University get an earnings boost of approximately $4,326 over the average income of child development & psychology graduates.
Northeastern is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Boston.
Those child development & psychology students who get their bachelor's degree from Northeastern University earn $3,296 more than the standard child development grad.
Tufts is a large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Medford.
Those child development & psychology students who get their bachelor's degree from Tufts University make $21,337 more than the standard child development graduate.
Located in the suburb of Saint Louis, WUSTL is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Those child development & psychology students who get their bachelor's degree from Washington University in St Louis make $2,210 more than the average child development graduate.
Rest of the Top Best Child Development & Psychology Bachelor's Degree Schools
Additional Noteworthy Schools
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Child Development & Psychology Bachelor's Degree Schools award.
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.
Your choice of child development & psychology for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality child development program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
