2025 Best Social Work Master's Degree Schools in Tennessee
Social Work is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #3 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual looked at 10 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Social Work Master's Degree Schools in Tennessee ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 589 master's degrees in social work during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Social Work School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of social work for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. 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 for a Master's Degree 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 master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master'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 master'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 much debt social work students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
- 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 master's degree.
One Size Does Not Fit All
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Social Work Master's Degree Schools in Tennessee ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Social Work in Tennessee
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in social work.
10 Top Tennessee Schools for a Master's in Social Work
The University of Tennessee - Knoxville is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in social work. Located in the medium-sized city of Knoxville, UT Knoxville is a public university with a very large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the social work program state that they receive average early career earnings of $46,667.
More information about a master’s in social work from The University of Tennessee - Knoxville
Southern Adventist University is a good option for individuals interested in a master's degree in social work. Southern Adventist is a small private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Collegedale.
Soon after graduating, social work master's recipients typically make around $47,542 at the beginning of their careers.
More information about a master’s in social work from Southern Adventist University
It is hard to beat University of Memphis if you wish to pursue a master's degree in social work. UofM is a very large public university located in the large city of Memphis.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the social work program make around $47,507 for their early career.
More information about a master’s in social work from University of Memphis
Any student who is interested in a master's degree in social work has to look into Union University. Union is a small private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Jackson.
Soon after graduating, social work master's recipients usually make around $44,041 at the beginning of their careers.
More information about a master’s in social work from Union University
Located in the small city of Johnson City, ETSU is a public university with a large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the social work program report average early career earnings of $43,035.
More information about a master’s in social work from East Tennessee State University
