2024 Best General Psychology Schools in California
77Colleges in California
30,073Psychology Degrees Awarded
$33,509Avg Early-Career Salary
General Psychology is of the hottest degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #4 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2024, College Factual analyzed 77 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best General Psychology Schools in California ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 30,073 degrees in general psychology during the 2021-2022 academic year.
The psychology program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Psychology rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for general psychology schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each 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 picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best General Psychology Schools in California ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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.
Our Master of Science in Psychology program is designed to extend your knowledge and discipline in psychology, preparing you for a wide variety of professions and contexts.
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the psychology degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Any student who is interested in general psychology has to look into University of California - Los Angeles. UCLA is a fairly large public university located in the city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #26 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.
There were roughly 720 general psychology students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the general psychology major at University of California - Los Angeles get $10,612 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
University of Southern California is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in general psychology. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #11 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 198 general psychology students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, psychology degree recipients typically earn about $34,924 in their early careers.
University of California - Irvine is a great option for students pursuing a degree in general psychology. Located in the city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #61 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UC Irvine is a great university overall.
There were approximately 391 general psychology students who graduated with this degree at UC Irvine in the most recent data year. After graduating, psychology degree recipients typically make around $28,714 in the first five years of their career.
Santa Clara University is a wonderful decision for students interested in a degree in general psychology. SCU is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Santa Clara. A Best Colleges rank of #50 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means SCU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 122 general psychology students who graduated with this degree at SCU in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general psychology major at Santa Clara University get $16,572 above the typical college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
The Chicago School Los Angeles Campus is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Los Angeles.
There were roughly 133 general psychology students who graduated with this degree at The Chicago School Los Angeles Campus in the most recent year we have data available. General Psychology degree recipients from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles receive an earnings boost of about $7,867 above the typical income of general psychology graduates.
Located in the large city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #38 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UCSD is a great university overall.
There were about 320 general psychology students who graduated with this degree at UCSD in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, psychology degree recipients generally earn around $28,185 in the first five years of their career.
Claremont Graduate University is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Claremont. This university ranks 27th out of 168 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 20 general psychology students who graduated with this degree at Claremont Graduate University in the most recent year we have data available. Those general psychology students who get their degree from Claremont Graduate University receive $27,912 more than the standard psychology grad.
Located in the city of Santa Cruz, UC Santa Cruz is a public university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #102 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UC Santa Cruz is a great university overall.
There were about 446 general psychology students who graduated with this degree at UC Santa Cruz in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the psychology program earn an average of $27,446 in the first couple years of working.
Located in the city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #161 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means San Jose State is a great university overall.
There were approximately 597 general psychology students who graduated with this degree at San Jose State in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the psychology program make about $33,851 in their early career salary.
Located in the city of San Diego, SDSU is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #141 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means SDSU is a great university overall.
There were about 724 general psychology students who graduated with this degree at SDSU in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the general psychology program at San Diego State University get $5,878 more than the average college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 28th out of 168 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 565 general psychology students who graduated with this degree at CSULB in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, psychology degree recipients usually earn an average of $26,891 at the beginning of their careers.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best General Psychology Schools in California 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 BruceBlaus.
The psychology program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for General Psychology rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for general psychology schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
