2025 Best Social Work Schools in the Great Lakes Region
80Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
10,057Social Work Degrees Awarded
$44,119Avg Early-Career Salary
Social Work is of the hottest degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #13 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual looked at 80 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Social Work Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 10,057 degrees in social work to qualified students.
Your choice of social work school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for social work schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
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 the Great Lakes Region.
You can also filter this list by location to find schools closer to you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
Best Schools for Social Work in the Great Lakes Region
The schools below may not offer all types of social work degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Every student who is interested in social work has to look into University of Chicago. Located in the city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #3 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UChicago is a great university overall.
There were about 200 social work students who graduated with this degree at UChicago in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social work degree program at University of Chicago earn $8,432 more than the typical graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Loyola University Chicago is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in social work. Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #100 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Loyola Chicago is a great university overall.
There were about 346 social work students who graduated with this degree at Loyola Chicago in the most recent year we have data available. Social Work degree recipients from Loyola University Chicago receive an earnings boost of about $7,715 above the average earnings of social work graduates.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is a wonderful decision for students interested in a degree in social work. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #40 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were roughly 227 social work students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available. Those social work students who get their degree from University of Wisconsin - Madison make $10,429 more than the typical social work grad.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in social work. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor. A Best Colleges rank of #22 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were approximately 369 social work students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social work degree program at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor make $9,301 above the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Ohio State is a very large public university located in the large city of Columbus. A Best Colleges rank of #70 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Ohio State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 593 social work students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year. Social Work degree recipients from Ohio State University - Main Campus get an earnings boost of about $2,001 above the typical earnings of social work graduates.
Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #41 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were about 251 social work students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year. Those social work students who get their degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign earn $4,664 more than the typical social work grad.
Located in the large suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 11th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were roughly 766 social work students who graduated with this degree at Aurora in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the social work major at Aurora University make $5,581 above the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of Indianapolis, IUPUI is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #253 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means IUPUI is a great university overall.
There were roughly 613 social work students who graduated with this degree at IUPUI in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the social work degree program at Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis earn $4,143 above the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
UIC is a very large public university located in the large city of Chicago. This university ranks 10th out of 85 schools for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were approximately 229 social work students who graduated with this degree at UIC in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social work major at University of Illinois at Chicago make $7,608 more than the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Wayne State is a very large public university located in the city of Detroit. This university ranks 9th out of 56 schools for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were about 352 social work students who graduated with this degree at Wayne State in the most recent year we have data available. Social Work degree recipients from Wayne State University get an earnings boost of around $4,846 over the average income of social work graduates.
Located in the large city of Milwaukee, UWM is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 23rd out of 46 schools for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were approximately 216 social work students who graduated with this degree at UWM in the most recent year we have data available. Those social work students who get their degree from University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee make $2,839 more than the typical social work student.
Located in the city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #54 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.
There were approximately 78 social work students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the social work program earn about $43,143 in the first couple years of working.
Located in the rural area of Marion, IWU is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #224 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means IWU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 316 social work students who graduated with this degree at IWU in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program state that they receive average early career wages of $37,456.
Located in the fringe town of Allendale, GVSU is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 5th out of 56 colleges for overall quality in the state of Michigan.
There were approximately 237 social work students who graduated with this degree at GVSU in the most recent year we have data available. Those social work students who get their degree from Grand Valley State University receive $3,016 more than the typical social work grad.
UW - Whitewater is a large public university located in the distant town of Whitewater. This university ranks 10th out of 46 colleges for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were approximately 96 social work students who graduated with this degree at UW - Whitewater in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program state that they receive average early career earnings of $37,952.
UC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Cincinnati. A Best Colleges rank of #137 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 158 social work students who graduated with this degree at UC in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, social work degree recipients generally make an average of $46,093 in their early careers.
Rest of the Top Best Social Work Schools in the Great Lakes Region
Additional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional great schools for Social Work students in the Great Lakes Region that almost earned our Best Social Work Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.
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.
Your choice of social work school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for social work schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
