2025 Best Social Work Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region
Ranked #24 in popularity,
social work is one of the most sought-after bachelor's 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 102 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Social Work Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 5,287 bachelor's degrees in social work during the 2022-2023 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Social Work School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of social work for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality social work program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How much a school focuses on social work students vs. other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of social work students who choose to seek a bachelor's degree at the school.
- Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
- Student Debt - How easy is it for social work to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor'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 schools for social work students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Social Work Schools
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Social Work Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Social Work in the Southeast Region
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in social work. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
20 Top Southeast Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Social Work
The University of Tennessee - Knoxville is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in social work. UT Knoxville is a fairly large public university located in the city of Knoxville.
Those social work students who get their bachelor's degree from The University of Tennessee - Knoxville earn $4,428 more than the typical social work student.
More information about a bachelor’s in social work from The University of Tennessee - Knoxville
Virginia Commonwealth University is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in social work. VCU is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Richmond.
Soon after graduation, social work bachelor's recipients generally make around $34,088 at the beginning of their careers.
More information about a bachelor’s in social work from Virginia Commonwealth University
University of Kentucky is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in social work. Located in the large city of Lexington, UK is a public university with a very large student population.
Those social work students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Kentucky make $3,010 more than the standard social work graduate.
More information about a bachelor’s in social work from University of Kentucky
It is difficult to beat University of Central Florida if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in social work. Located in the large suburb of Orlando, UCF is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the social work degree program at University of Central Florida make $2,056 more than the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
More information about a bachelor’s in social work from University of Central Florida
Florida State is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Tallahassee.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the social work program earn about $32,604 in their early career salary.
More information about a bachelor’s in social work from Florida State University
