2025 Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools in California

If you pursue a doctor's degree in social work, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #38 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 73 doctor's degrees in social work to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Doctor’s Degree Schools List

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on social work students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of social work students who choose to seek a doctor'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.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized social work related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for social work students working on their doctor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Social Work Schools

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 Doctor's Degree Schools in California.

Best Schools for Doctorate Students to Study Social Work in California

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a doctor's degree in social work.

Top California Schools for a Doctorate in Social Work

1

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

26 Annual Graduates

Every student pursuing a degree in a doctor's degree in social work has to take a look at University of Southern California. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.More information about a doctorate in social work from University of Southern California

2

California Baptist University
Riverside, CA

Doctor's Degree Highest Degree Type

30 Annual Graduates

Every student who is interested in a doctor's degree in social work has to check out California Baptist University. Cal Baptist is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Riverside.More information about a doctorate in social work from California Baptist University

Best Social Work Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Social Work Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Washington	216	5
Oregon	145	2
Hawaii	65	2

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Rankings in Majors Related to Social Work

One of 3 majors within the Social Work area of study, Social Work has other similar majors worth exploring.

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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Army Medicine. More about our data sources and methodologies.