2024 Best Social Work Schools in the Great Lakes Region
83Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
10,057Social Work Degrees Awarded
$35,369Avg 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 83 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Social Work Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 10,057 degrees in social work during the 2021-2022 academic year.
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.
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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 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Any 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 fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #2 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UChicago is a great university overall.
There were roughly 200 social work students who graduated with this degree at UChicago in the most recent year we have data available. Social Work degree recipients from University of Chicago receive an earnings boost of about $9,450 above the average earnings of social work graduates.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in social work. U-M is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor. A Best Colleges rank of #29 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means U-M is a great university overall.
There were about 369 social work students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent year we have data available. Those social work students who get their degree from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor make $9,937 more than the average social work grad.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is a great option for students pursuing a degree in social work. Located in the city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were approximately 227 social work students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, social work degree recipients usually make around $36,000 at the beginning of their careers.
Ohio State University - Main Campus is a wonderful decision for students pursuing a degree in social work. Ohio State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Columbus. A Best Colleges rank of #69 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Ohio State is a great university overall.
There were about 593 social work students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social work program at Ohio State University - Main Campus earn $2,381 above the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #34 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were approximately 251 social work students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent year we have data available. Those social work students who get their degree from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign earn $5,132 more than the standard social work student.
Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #137 out of 2,217 schools 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 data year. Degree recipients from the social work degree program at Loyola University Chicago get $7,474 more than the standard graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
Located in the large city of Indianapolis, IUPUI is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 7th out of 42 colleges for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were approximately 613 social work students who graduated with this degree at IUPUI in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social work major at Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis get $3,370 more than the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Case Western is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cleveland. A Best Colleges rank of #63 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Case Western is a great university overall.
There were about 162 social work students who graduated with this degree at Case Western in the most recent data year. Social Work degree recipients from Case Western Reserve University earn a boost of about $8,920 over the average earnings of social work graduates.
Located in the suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 15th out of 85 colleges for overall quality in the state of Illinois.
There were approximately 766 social work students who graduated with this degree at Aurora 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 $37,201.
UIC is a fairly large public university located in the city of Chicago. A Best Colleges rank of #192 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UIC is a great university overall.
There were about 229 social work students who graduated with this degree at UIC in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the social work program at University of Illinois at Chicago earn $9,165 more than the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Located in the city of Eau Claire, UW - Eau Claire is a public university with a large student population. This university ranks 5th out of 46 colleges for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were approximately 101 social work students who graduated with this degree at UW - Eau Claire in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program report average early career earnings of $37,242.
Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #74 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 78 social work students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the social work program make an average of $34,809 in their early career salary.
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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.
