2025 Best Social Work Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region
65Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region
11,461Social Work Degrees Awarded
$44,119Avg Early-Career Salary
If you pursue a degree in social work, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #13 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 65 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to determine which ones were the best for social work students pursuing a degree. Combined, these schools handed out 11,461 degrees in social work to qualified students.
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. For our Best Overall Social Work School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
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.
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 Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Best Schools for Social Work in the Middle Atlantic Region
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the social work degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
13 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools in Social Work
Any student pursuing a degree in social work has to take a look at New York University. NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of New York. A Best Colleges rank of #16 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means NYU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 570 social work students who graduated with this degree at NYU in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the social work program at New York University make $15,506 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
It is hard to beat Rutgers University - New Brunswick if you want to pursue a degree in social work. Located in the city of New Brunswick, Rutgers New Brunswick is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #74 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Rutgers New Brunswick is a great university overall.
There were roughly 765 social work students who graduated with this degree at Rutgers New Brunswick in the most recent data year. Social Work degree recipients from Rutgers University - New Brunswick receive an earnings boost of approximately $9,306 over the typical income of social work majors.
Fordham University is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in social work. Fordham U is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Bronx. A Best Colleges rank of #67 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Fordham U is a great university overall.
There were approximately 912 social work students who graduated with this degree at Fordham U in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social work program at Fordham University make $12,642 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Catholic University of America is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in social work. CUA is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Washington. This university ranks 4th out of 7 colleges for overall quality in the state of District of Columbia.
There were approximately 125 social work students who graduated with this degree at CUA in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social work degree program at Catholic University of America get $15,370 above the average graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Hunter is a fairly large public college located in the large city of New York. This college ranks 30th out of 136 colleges for overall quality in the state of New York.
There were about 644 social work students who graduated with this degree at Hunter in the most recent data year. Social Work degree recipients from Hunter College get an earnings boost of approximately $16,394 over the typical earnings of social work majors.
Adelphi is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Garden City. A Best Colleges rank of #183 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Adelphi is a great university overall.
There were roughly 269 social work students who graduated with this degree at Adelphi in the most recent year we have data available. Social Work degree recipients from Adelphi University receive an earnings boost of about $11,562 above the average income of social work graduates.
Rutgers Newark is a large public university located in the large city of Newark. A Best Colleges rank of #164 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Rutgers Newark is a great university overall.
There were approximately 88 social work students who graduated with this degree at Rutgers Newark in the most recent data year. Social Work degree recipients from Rutgers University - Newark receive an earnings boost of approximately $8,230 above the typical earnings of social work graduates.
SUNY Stony Brook is a very large public university located in the large suburb of Stony Brook. A Best Colleges rank of #153 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means SUNY Stony Brook is a great university overall.
There were approximately 348 social work students who graduated with this degree at SUNY Stony Brook in the most recent year we have data available. Those social work students who get their degree from Stony Brook University receive $7,632 more than the average social work graduate.
Pitt is a very large public university located in the city of Pittsburgh. A Best Colleges rank of #85 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Pitt is a great university overall.
There were approximately 265 social work students who graduated with this degree at Pitt in the most recent data year. Social Work degree recipients from University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus earn a boost of about $3,617 over the average earnings of social work majors.
Located in the large suburb of Montclair, Montclair State is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 10th out of 45 colleges for overall quality in the state of New Jersey.
There were about 135 social work students who graduated with this degree at Montclair State in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the social work program earn an average of $43,589 for their early career.
Salisbury is a medium-sized public university located in the small suburb of Salisbury. This university ranks 12th out of 35 schools for overall quality in the state of Maryland.
There were about 299 social work students who graduated with this degree at Salisbury in the most recent year we have data available. Social Work degree recipients from Salisbury University get an earnings boost of about $2,885 over the average income of social work graduates.
Located in the medium-sized city of Syracuse, Syracuse is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #62 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Syracuse is a great university overall.
There were about 82 social work students who graduated with this degree at Syracuse in the most recent year we have data available. Those social work students who get their degree from Syracuse University earn $9,227 more than the standard social work student.
Located in the city of Camden, Rutgers Camden is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #248 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Rutgers Camden is a great university overall.
There were approximately 62 social work students who graduated with this degree at Rutgers Camden in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the social work program at Rutgers University - Camden earn $8,230 more than the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Social Work Schools in the Middle Atlantic 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.
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. For our Best Overall Social Work School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
