Ranked #13 in popularity, social work is one of the most sought-after degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 6 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Social Work Schools in Washington ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 727 degrees in social work annually.
The social work program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Social Work rankings. We derive our Best Overall Social Work School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
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.
The social work 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 Social Work Schools in Washington.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
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 social work degrees they offer, see the list below.
Every student pursuing a degree in social work needs to look into University of Washington - Seattle Campus. UW Seattle is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Seattle. A Best Colleges rank of #44 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UW Seattle is a great university overall.
There were roughly 200 social work students who graduated with this degree at UW Seattle in the most recent data year. Social Work degree recipients from University of Washington - Seattle Campus get an earnings boost of around $14,577 above the typical income of social work majors.
Eastern Washington University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in social work. EWU is a large public university located in the fringe town of Cheney. A Best Colleges rank of #904 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means EWU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 195 social work students who graduated with this degree at EWU in the most recent data year. Social Work degree recipients from Eastern Washington University earn a boost of approximately $9,427 above the average income of social work majors.
Any student who is interested in social work has to check out Pacific Lutheran University. PLU is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Tacoma. A Best Colleges rank of #568 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means PLU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 8 social work students who graduated with this degree at PLU in the most recent year we have data available.
Heritage University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in social work. Heritage University is a small private not-for-profit university located in the rural area of Toppenish. This university ranks 19th out of 50 colleges for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were about 61 social work students who graduated with this degree at Heritage University in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the social work program earn about $37,164 in the first couple years of their career.
Located in the small city of Lacey, Saint Martin's is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 40th out of 50 schools for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were roughly 9 social work students who graduated with this degree at Saint Martin's in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the medium-sized city of Tacoma, UW Tacoma is a public university with a small student population. This university ranks 49th out of 50 schools for overall quality in the state of Washington.
There were roughly 94 social work students who graduated with this degree at UW Tacoma in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the social work program at University of Washington - Tacoma Campus get $14,577 more than the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
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).
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