2025 Best Political Science & Government Schools in California
59Colleges in California
7,951Political Science Degrees Awarded
$37,575Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a degree in political science & government, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #20 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 59 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of political science & government. Combined, these schools handed out 7,951 degrees in political science & government to qualified students.
Gain a solid understanding of American political history, the current political landscape, and the major political parties with this online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Choosing a Great Political Science & Government School
Your choice of political science & government school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Political Science & Government School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
Political Science & Government Rankings by Degree Level
The political science 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 Political Science & Government Schools in California.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Gain a solid understanding of American political history, the current political landscape, and the major political parties with this online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Best Schools for Political Science & Government in California
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the political science degrees they offer, see the list below. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
University of California - Los Angeles is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in political science & government. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #28 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.
There were about 707 political science & government students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the political science program make around $34,392 in their early career salary.
Every student pursuing a degree in political science & government needs to take a look at University of California - Berkeley. UC Berkeley is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Berkeley. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were roughly 492 political science & government students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent data year. Those political science & government students who get their degree from University of California - Berkeley earn $7,843 more than the typical political science graduate.
Gain a solid understanding of American political history, the current political landscape, and the major political parties with this online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
Stanford University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in political science & government. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Stanford. A Best Colleges rank of #10 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Stanford is a great university overall.
There were about 99 political science & government students who graduated with this degree at Stanford in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the political science & government major at Stanford University make $21,722 above the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
University of Southern California is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in political science & government. 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 roughly 139 political science & government students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the political science program state that they receive average early career wages of $38,063.
Located in the suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UC Davis is a great university overall.
There were about 343 political science & government students who graduated with this degree at UC Davis in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the political science program report average early career earnings of $36,208.
Located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #47 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UCSB is a great university overall.
There were approximately 268 political science & government students who graduated with this degree at UCSB in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the political science program state that they receive average early career wages of $39,404.
UC Irvine is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Irvine. A Best Colleges rank of #73 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Irvine is a great university overall.
There were approximately 248 political science & government students who graduated with this degree at UC Irvine in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the political science program state that they receive average early career earnings of $31,976.
UCSD is a fairly large public university located in the city of La Jolla. A Best Colleges rank of #49 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UCSD is a great university overall.
There were roughly 380 political science & government students who graduated with this degree at UCSD in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the political science program earn an average of $33,345 in the first couple years of working.
Located in the city of Riverside, UCR is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 28th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 308 political science & government students who graduated with this degree at UCR in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the political science program make an average of $30,060 in the first couple years of their career.
UC Santa Cruz is a large public university located in the small city of Santa Cruz. A Best Colleges rank of #91 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UC Santa Cruz is a great university overall.
There were roughly 178 political science & government students who graduated with this degree at UC Santa Cruz in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, political science degree recipients usually make about $31,882 in their early careers.
Located in the city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #53 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means SCU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 72 political science & government students who graduated with this degree at SCU in the most recent year we have data available. Political Science & Government degree recipients from Santa Clara University get an earnings boost of around $19,536 over the typical earnings of political science & government graduates.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Political Science & Government Schools in California 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.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Your choice of political science & government school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Political Science & Government School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
