2025 Best History Bachelor's Degree Schools in California
History is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #20 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.
College Factual reviewed 34 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of history. Combined, these schools handed out 2,905 bachelor's degrees in history to qualified students.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great History School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Your choice of history for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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 take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to history students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of history 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 much debt history students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized history related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for history students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank History Schools
The history 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 History Bachelor's Degree Schools in California.
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 Bachelor’s Students to Study History in California
Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for history students seeking a a bachelor's degree.
10 Top California Schools for a Bachelor's in History
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in history has to look into University of California - Santa Barbara. UCSB is a very large public university located in the suburb of Santa Barbara.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the history program make about $29,749 for their early career.
More information about a bachelor’s in history from University of California - Santa Barbara
It's hard to beat University of California - Los Angeles if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in history. UCLA is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Los Angeles.
After graduating, history bachelor's recipients generally earn around $28,116 in their early careers.
More information about a bachelor’s in history from University of California - Los Angeles
University of Southern California is a great decision for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in history. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Those history students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Southern California earn $7,992 more than the standard history graduate.
More information about a bachelor’s in history from University of Southern California
University of California - Berkeley is a great choice for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in history. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public university with a very large student population.
After graduation, history bachelor's recipients usually earn about $28,849 in the first five years of their career.
More information about a bachelor’s in history from University of California - Berkeley
UC Davis is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Davis.
Those history students who get their bachelor's degree from University of California - Davis earn $3,011 more than the standard history graduate.
More information about a bachelor’s in history from University of California - Davis