2025 Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

Social Work is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #42 most popular doctor's degree program in the country. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.

College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 97 doctor's degrees in social work to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of doctorate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their doctor'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 many resources a school devotes to social work students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other social work students want to attend this school to pursue a doctor'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 social work to pay back their student loans after receiving their doctor's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized social work related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for social work students working on their doctor'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 Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Social Work in the Far Western US Region

Explore the top ranked colleges and universities for social work students seeking a a doctor's degree.

Top Far Western US Region Schools for a Doctorate in Social Work

1

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

26 Annual Graduates

$95,093 Median Starting Salary

University of Southern California is a great option for students pursuing a doctor's degree in social work. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Los Angeles.

Doctorate graduates who receive their degree from the social work program earn around $95,093 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a doctorate in social work from University of Southern California

2

California Baptist University
Riverside, CA

30 Annual Graduates

California Baptist University is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a doctor's degree in social work. Located in the city of Riverside, Cal Baptist is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a doctorate in social work from California Baptist University

Best Social Work Colleges by State

Explore the best social work schools for a specific state in the Far Western US Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
California	180	203
Washington	122	5
Oregon	107	2
Nevada	84	0
Hawaii	53	2

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Social Work Related Rankings by Major

One of 0 majors within the <nil> area of study, Social Work has other similar majors worth exploring.

Social Work Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Social Work	97

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 Army Medicine. More about our data sources and methodologies.