2025 Best Social Work Bachelor's Degree Schools
Social Work is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #24 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 371 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Social Work Bachelor's Degree Schools ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 20,308 bachelor's degrees in social work to qualified students.
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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
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 bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
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
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Social Work Bachelor's Degree Schools list to help you make the college decision.
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 Bachelor’s Students to Study Social Work in the United States
Below you'll see a list of 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.
25 Top Schools for a Bachelor's in Social Work
University of California - Berkeley is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in social work. Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the social work major at University of California - Berkeley earn $8,309 more than the typical college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
More information about a bachelor’s in social work from University of California - Berkeley
It is difficult to beat University of Washington - Seattle Campus if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in social work. UW Seattle is a fairly large public university located in the city of Seattle.
Those social work students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Washington - Seattle Campus make $4,372 more than the standard social work student.
More information about a bachelor’s in social work from University of Washington - Seattle Campus
Arizona State University - Tempe is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in social work. Located in the midsize city of Tempe, ASU - Tempe is a public university with a very large student population.
Those social work students who get their bachelor's degree from Arizona State University - Tempe earn $3,245 more than the typical social work grad.
More information about a bachelor’s in social work from Arizona State University - Tempe
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in social work has to look into Rutgers University - New Brunswick. Located in the city of New Brunswick, Rutgers New Brunswick is a public university with a very large student population.
Social Work bachelor's degree recipients from Rutgers University - New Brunswick get an earnings boost of approximately $3,339 above the typical income of social work graduates.
More information about a bachelor’s in social work from Rutgers University - New Brunswick
NYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of New York.
After graduation, social work bachelor's recipients generally earn around $26,837 at the beginning of their careers.
More information about a bachelor’s in social work from New York University
