2025 Best Social Work Schools in the Southeast Region
108Colleges in the Southeast Region
12,549Social Work Degrees Awarded
$44,119Avg Early-Career Salary
Ranked #13 in popularity, social work is one of the most sought-after degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 108 schools in the Southeast Region to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of social work. Combined, these schools handed out 12,549 degrees in social work to qualified students.
Your choice of social work school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. We derive our Best Overall Social Work 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.
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 Schools in the Southeast Region list to help you make the college decision.
If you'd like to restrict your choices to just one part of the country, you can filter this list by location.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
Best Schools for Social Work in the Southeast Region
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 social work 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.
Any student who is interested in social work has to take a look at University of Kentucky. UK is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Lexington. A Best Colleges rank of #220 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UK is a great university overall.
There were about 629 social work students who graduated with this degree at UK in the most recent data year. Social Work degree recipients from University of Kentucky earn a boost of approximately $2,515 above the typical earnings of social work graduates.
It is hard to beat Virginia Commonwealth University if you wish to pursue a degree in social work. Located in the medium-sized city of Richmond, VCU is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #189 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means VCU is a great university overall.
There were about 348 social work students who graduated with this degree at VCU in the most recent data year. Those social work students who get their degree from Virginia Commonwealth University receive $3,464 more than the average social work graduate.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of the best schools in the country for getting a degree in social work. UNC Chapel Hill is a very large public university located in the small city of Chapel Hill. A Best Colleges rank of #38 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UNC Chapel Hill is a great university overall.
There were approximately 144 social work students who graduated with this degree at UNC Chapel Hill in the most recent year we have data available. Degree recipients from the social work major at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill get $5,543 above the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
The University of Tennessee - Knoxville is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a degree in social work. Located in the midsize city of Knoxville, UT Knoxville is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 41 colleges for overall quality in the state of Tennessee.
There were approximately 424 social work students who graduated with this degree at UT Knoxville in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program state that they receive average early career earnings of $45,362.
Located in the city of Tallahassee, Florida State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #117 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means Florida State is a great university overall.
There were about 107 social work students who graduated with this degree at Florida State in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, social work degree recipients usually make about $33,079 at the beginning of their careers.
Located in the medium-sized city of Athens, UGA is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #69 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UGA is a great university overall.
There were approximately 233 social work students who graduated with this degree at UGA in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program state that they receive average early career wages of $45,565.
FAU is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Boca Raton. This university ranks 22nd out of 70 colleges for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were about 239 social work students who graduated with this degree at FAU in the most recent data year. After graduating, social work degree recipients generally earn around $39,912 at the beginning of their careers.
UCF is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Orlando. A Best Colleges rank of #217 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UCF is a great university overall.
There were approximately 369 social work students who graduated with this degree at UCF in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, social work degree recipients usually make an average of $44,679 at the beginning of their careers.
GMU is a very large public university located in the suburb of Fairfax. A Best Colleges rank of #92 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means GMU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 141 social work students who graduated with this degree at GMU in the most recent year we have data available. Social Work degree recipients from George Mason University earn a boost of about $10,389 above the average earnings of social work majors.
UofSC is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Columbia. A Best Colleges rank of #99 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UofSC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 195 social work students who graduated with this degree at UofSC in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program state that they receive average early career earnings of $42,028.
Located in the large city of Louisville, UofL is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 2nd out of 39 colleges for overall quality in the state of Kentucky.
There were approximately 246 social work students who graduated with this degree at UofL in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the social work program earn around $45,415 for their early career.
UA is a fairly large public university located in the city of Tuscaloosa. A Best Colleges rank of #180 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means UA is a great university overall.
There were approximately 273 social work students who graduated with this degree at UA in the most recent data year. After graduation, social work degree recipients usually earn an average of $41,362 in the first five years of their career.
FIU is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Miami. This university ranks 13th out of 70 schools for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were approximately 82 social work students who graduated with this degree at FIU in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, social work degree recipients usually make around $41,626 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. This university ranks 11th out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were approximately 238 social work students who graduated with this degree at Liberty University in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the social work program earn about $38,828 for their early career.
USF Tampa is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Tampa. A Best Colleges rank of #198 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means USF Tampa is a great university overall.
There were about 217 social work students who graduated with this degree at USF Tampa in the most recent year we have data available. Those social work students who get their degree from University of South Florida - Main Campus earn $2,827 more than the typical social work graduate.
JMU is a very large public university located in the city of Harrisonburg. A Best Colleges rank of #141 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means JMU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 64 social work students who graduated with this degree at JMU in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the social work program make an average of $31,687 for their early career.
NC State is a very large public university located in the city of Raleigh. A Best Colleges rank of #122 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means NC State is a great university overall.
There were about 156 social work students who graduated with this degree at NC State in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the social work program make around $43,878 in the first couple years of their career.
Eastern is a fairly large public university located in the distant town of Richmond. This university ranks 12th out of 39 schools for overall quality in the state of Kentucky.
There were roughly 117 social work students who graduated with this degree at Eastern in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, social work degree recipients usually earn about $33,575 in their early careers.
UNC Greensboro is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Greensboro. This university ranks 17th out of 93 colleges for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were about 143 social work students who graduated with this degree at UNC Greensboro in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program report average early career wages of $36,056.
Located in the distant town of Boone, Appalachian State is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 11th out of 93 colleges for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were about 163 social work students who graduated with this degree at Appalachian State in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the social work program make an average of $39,622 in their early career salary.
Located in the city of Atlanta, Georgia State is a public university with a very large student population. This university ranks 17th out of 68 colleges for overall quality in the state of Georgia.
There were approximately 134 social work students who graduated with this degree at Georgia State in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the social work program make around $39,322 for their early career.
Rest of the Top Best Social Work Schools in the Southeast Region
Additional Noteworthy Schools
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Social Work Schools in the Southeast 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. We derive our Best Overall Social Work School rankings by rolling up our degree-level rankings after weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each school.
