2025 Best Urban Studies Master's Degree Schools in California

Urban Studies isn't the most popular master's program in the world, but it's not the least popular either. To be more precise it ranks #171 in popularity out of 343 majors in the country. So, you may have to do some digging around to find quality schools that offer the degree program. This list can help with that.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Urban Studies Master's Degree Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 45 master's degrees in urban studies to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * 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

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to urban studies students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of urban studies students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• 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 urban studies to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized urban studies related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for urban studies students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Urban Studies Master's Degree Schools in California list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Urban Studies in California

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in urban studies.

Top California Schools for a Master's in Urban Studies

1

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

28 Annual Graduates

University of Southern California is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in urban studies. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles.More information about a master’s in urban studies from University of Southern California

2

University of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

17 Annual Graduates

$74,045 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in urban studies has to take a look at University of San Francisco. USFCA is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of San Francisco.

Students who graduate with their master's from the urban studies program report average early career wages of $74,045.

More information about a master’s in urban studies from University of San Francisco

Best Urban Studies Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Urban Studies Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Washington	183	0
Oregon	158	3

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Urban Studies Related Rankings by Major

One of 13 majors within the Social Sciences area of study, Urban Studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Urban Studies Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Urban Studies/Affairs	45

Majors Similar to Urban Studies

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Economics	574
International Relations & National Security	438
Geography & Cartography	162
Sociology	152
Political Science & Government	117
Anthropology	98
General Social Sciences	41
Demography & Population Studies	29
Other Social Sciences	20
Archeology	6

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 Andrew Bossi. More about our data sources and methodologies.