Ranked #20 in popularity, sociology is one of the most sought-after degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 64 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Sociology Schools in California ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 13,805 degrees in sociology annually.
Your choice of sociology school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Sociology School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
The sociology 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 Sociology Schools in California.
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.
If you aren't interested in a particular degree level and want to know which schools are the overall best at delivering an education for the sociology degrees they offer, see the list below. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Every student who is interested in sociology needs to check out University of California - Los Angeles. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #28 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCLA is a great university overall.
There were about 713 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UCLA in the most recent data year.
Stanford University is a great choice for students pursuing a degree in sociology. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Stanford. A Best Colleges rank of #10 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Stanford is a great university overall.
There were about 55 sociology students who graduated with this degree at Stanford in the most recent year we have data available.
Learn to analyze social factors and become an advocate for individual and community health with this online bachelor's from Southern New Hampshire University.
It is hard to beat University of California - Berkeley if you want to pursue a degree in sociology. UC Berkeley is a very large public university located in the city of Berkeley. A Best Colleges rank of #14 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Berkeley is a great university overall.
There were about 300 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UC Berkeley in the most recent data year.
It's difficult to beat University of California - Santa Barbara if you want to pursue a degree in sociology. Located in the suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #47 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCSB is a great university overall.
There were about 684 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UCSB in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #55 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UC Davis is a great university overall.
There were approximately 304 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UC Davis in the most recent year we have data available.
UC Irvine is a very large public university located in the large city of Irvine. A Best Colleges rank of #73 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Irvine is a great university overall.
There were approximately 271 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UC Irvine in the most recent data year.
UCSD is a very large public university located in the large city of La Jolla. A Best Colleges rank of #49 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCSD is a great university overall.
There were approximately 139 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UCSD in the most recent data year.
UC Santa Cruz is a large public university located in the city of Santa Cruz. A Best Colleges rank of #91 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UC Santa Cruz is a great university overall.
There were approximately 227 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UC Santa Cruz in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of Riverside, UCR is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #219 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCR is a great university overall.
There were roughly 355 sociology students who graduated with this degree at UCR in the most recent data year.
USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were about 61 sociology students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the midsize city of Santa Clara, SCU is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. A Best Colleges rank of #53 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means SCU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 23 sociology students who graduated with this degree at SCU in the most recent data year.
SDSU is a very large public university located in the city of San Diego. A Best Colleges rank of #185 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means SDSU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 174 sociology students who graduated with this degree at SDSU in the most recent year we have data available.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Sociology Schools in California award.
Sociology is one of 3 different types of Sociology programs to choose from.
Notes and References
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).
Your choice of sociology school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Sociology School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
