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.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 9 schools in Virginia to determine which ones were the best for social work students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,118 degrees in social work annually.
The social work program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Social Work rankings. 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.
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 Social Work Schools in Virginia ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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.
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.
Any student who is interested in social work needs to look into Virginia Commonwealth University. VCU is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Richmond. A Best Colleges rank of #189 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means VCU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 348 social work students who graduated with this degree at VCU in the most recent data year. Social Work degree recipients from Virginia Commonwealth University earn a boost of about $3,464 above the average earnings of social work majors.
George Mason University is a great choice for students pursuing a degree in social work. Located in the large suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #92 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means GMU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 141 social work students who graduated with this degree at GMU in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social work program at George Mason University earn $10,389 more than the average college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
Liberty University is a good option for students pursuing a degree in social work. Liberty University is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Lynchburg. A Best Colleges rank of #265 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Liberty University is a great university overall.
There were approximately 238 social work students who graduated with this degree at Liberty University in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program report average early career wages of $38,828.
Any student pursuing a degree in social work needs to look into James Madison University. Located in the small city of Harrisonburg, JMU is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #141 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means JMU is a great university overall.
There were about 64 social work students who graduated with this degree at JMU in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program report average early career income of $31,687.
Located in the fringe town of Radford, Radford is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 20th out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were about 86 social work students who graduated with this degree at Radford in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the social work program report average early career income of $44,803.
Located in the city of Staunton, Mary Baldwin is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 49th out of 57 colleges for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were roughly 33 social work students who graduated with this degree at Mary Baldwin in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, social work degree recipients typically make an average of $37,537 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the midsize city of Newport News, CNU is a public university with a small student population. This university ranks 15th out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were roughly 24 social work students who graduated with this degree at CNU in the most recent year we have data available.
Virginia State is a moderately-sized public university located in the large suburb of Petersburg. This university ranks 50th out of 57 colleges for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were roughly 24 social work students who graduated with this degree at Virginia State in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, social work degree recipients usually make around $28,527 in their early careers.
Longwood is a small public university located in the town of Farmville. This university ranks 31st out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were roughly 26 social work students who graduated with this degree at Longwood in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the social work program earn an average of $41,160 in their early career salary.
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.
The social work program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Social Work rankings. 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.
