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.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 9 schools in Kentucky to determine which ones were the best for social work students pursuing a degree. Combined, these schools handed out 1,828 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 Kentucky.
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.
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.
University of Kentucky is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in social work. UK is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Lexington. A Best Colleges rank of #220 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UK is a great university overall.
There were about 629 social work students who graduated with this degree at UK in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the social work major at University of Kentucky earn $2,515 more than the standard college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
It's hard to beat University of Louisville if you wish to pursue a degree in social work. Located in the city of Louisville, UofL is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #421 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UofL is a great university overall.
There were about 246 social work students who graduated with this degree at UofL 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 $45,415.
Eastern Kentucky University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in social work. Eastern is a fairly large public university located in the town of Richmond. This university ranks 12th out of 39 schools for overall quality in the state of Kentucky.
There were approximately 117 social work students who graduated with this degree at Eastern in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the social work program make around $33,575 for their early career.
Western Kentucky University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a degree in social work. Located in the small city of Bowling Green, WKU is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #851 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means WKU is a great university overall.
There were about 136 social work students who graduated with this degree at WKU in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the social work program earn about $40,920 in their early career salary.
Located in the town of Murray, Murray State is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 16th out of 39 colleges for overall quality in the state of Kentucky.
There were roughly 55 social work students who graduated with this degree at Murray State in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program report average early career wages of $31,692.
NKU is a large public university located in the large suburb of Highland Heights. A Best Colleges rank of #842 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means NKU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 145 social work students who graduated with this degree at NKU in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program report average early career income of $43,047.
Brescia University is a small private not-for-profit university located in the small city of Owensboro. This university ranks 18th out of 39 colleges for overall quality in the state of Kentucky.
There were about 79 social work students who graduated with this degree at Brescia University in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, social work degree recipients typically earn about $40,770 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the distant town of Campbellsville, Campbellsville University is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. This university ranks 23rd out of 39 colleges for overall quality in the state of Kentucky.
There were roughly 285 social work students who graduated with this degree at Campbellsville University in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program report average early career wages of $44,197.
Located in the remote town of Morehead, Morehead State University is a public university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 27th out of 39 schools for overall quality in the state of Kentucky.
There were about 55 social work students who graduated with this degree at Morehead State University in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, social work degree recipients typically make about $35,300 at the beginning of their careers.
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.
