2024 Best Social Work Schools in the Great Lakes Region
83Colleges in the Great Lakes Region
10,408Social Work Degrees Awarded
$35,459Avg 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 10,408 degrees in social work during the 2020-2021 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.
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 pursuing a degree in social work has to check out University of Chicago. Located in the city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #2 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UChicago is a great university overall.
There were about 175 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 get an earnings boost of approximately $9,360 over the average earnings of social work graduates.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a degree in social work. U-M is a fairly 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 403 social work students who graduated with this degree at U-M in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social work program at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor earn $9,847 above the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
University of Wisconsin - Madison is a good decision for students pursuing a degree in social work. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #30 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UW - Madison is a great university overall.
There were roughly 208 social work students who graduated with this degree at UW - Madison in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, social work degree recipients generally make around $36,000 in their early careers.
Ohio State University - Main Campus is a good choice 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 roughly 526 social work students who graduated with this degree at Ohio State in the most recent data year. Those social work students who get their degree from Ohio State University - Main Campus receive $2,291 more than the average social work graduate.
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 schools nationwide means UIUC is a great university overall.
There were about 226 social work students who graduated with this degree at UIUC in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social work degree program at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign earn $5,042 above the typical college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
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 colleges nationwide means Loyola Chicago is a great university overall.
There were approximately 317 social work students who graduated with this degree at Loyola Chicago in the most recent data year. Those social work students who get their degree from Loyola University Chicago earn $7,384 more than the typical social work graduate.
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 schools for overall quality in the state of Indiana.
There were approximately 617 social work students who graduated with this degree at IUPUI in the most recent data year. Those social work students who get their degree from Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis make $3,280 more than the typical social work grad.
Case Western is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Cleveland. A Best Colleges rank of #63 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means Case Western is a great university overall.
There were approximately 202 social work students who graduated with this degree at Case Western in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the social work degree program at Case Western Reserve University get $8,830 above the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
Located in the large 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 roughly 712 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 income 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 approximately 251 social work students who graduated with this degree at UIC in the most recent year we have data available. Those social work students who get their degree from University of Illinois at Chicago earn $9,075 more than the typical social work graduate.
Located in the small city of Eau Claire, UW - Eau Claire is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 5th out of 46 schools for overall quality in the state of Wisconsin.
There were about 108 social work students who graduated with this degree at UW - Eau Claire 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 income of $37,242.
Located in the 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 schools nationwide means Michigan State is a great university overall.
There were roughly 76 social work students who graduated with this degree at Michigan State in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the social work program earn about $34,809 in the first couple years of working.
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.
college factual
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.
