2023 Most Popular Social Work Schools
Finding the Best Social Work School for You
In 2020-2021, 33,631 social work students received their degrees and certificates, making the major the #6 most popular in the country.
When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.
To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Most Popular Social Work Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 332 schools in the United States to see which programs were the most popular for students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Social Work program at each school on the list.
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2023 Most Popular Social Work Schools in the United States
Check out the social work programs at these schools if you want to attend one of the most popular in the United States.
Top 25 Most Popular Schools in Social Work
Our analysis found University of Southern California to be the most popular school for social work students who want to pursue a degree in the United States. USC is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.
Full Social Work at University of Southern California Report
The excellent programs at Fordham University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best social work schools in the United States. Located in the large city of Bronx, Fordham U is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
Out of the 332 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Rutgers University - New Brunswick landed the # 4 spot on the list. Rutgers New Brunswick is a very large public school located in the small city of New Brunswick.
Full Social Work at Rutgers University - New Brunswick Report
The excellent programs at The University of Texas at Arlington helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best social work schools in the United States. Located in the large city of Arlington, UT Arlington is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Full Social Work at The University of Texas at Arlington Report
Hunter College landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular social work programs. Located in the large city of New York, Hunter is a public school with a very large student population.
Simmons University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular schools for social work students. It came in at #7 on the list. Simmons is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Boston.
Aurora University landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular social work programs. Aurora is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Aurora.
University of Denver did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular schools for social work students. It came in at #9 on the list. DU is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Denver.
New York University came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Social Work Schools ranking. Located in the large city of New York, NYU is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.
Columbia University in the City of New York came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Social Work Schools ranking. Columbia is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of New York.
Read full report on Social Work at Columbia University in the City of New York
University of Maryland - Baltimore came in at #12 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Social Work Schools ranking. UMB is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of Baltimore.
Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis ranked #13 on this year’s Most Popular Social Work Schools list. Located in the large city of Indianapolis, IUPUI is a public school with a very large student population.
Read full report on Social Work at Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis
With a ranking of #14, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for social work students. Located in the city of Ann Arbor, U-M is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Read full report on Social Work at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ohio State University - Main Campus landed the #15 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular social work programs. Located in the city of Columbus, Ohio State is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Full Social Work at Ohio State University - Main Campus Report
The University of Tennessee - Knoxville came in at #16 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Social Work Schools ranking. Located in the midsize city of Knoxville, UT Knoxville is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Read full report on Social Work at The University of Tennessee - Knoxville
With a ranking of #17, Wayne State University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for social work students. Wayne State is a fairly large public school located in the city of Detroit.
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College landed the #18 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular social work programs. Located in the medium-sized city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Boston University landed the #19 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular social work programs. Located in the large city of Boston, Boston U is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
With a ranking of #20, Our Lady of the Lake University did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for social work students. Located in the city of San Antonio, OLLU is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Read full report on Social Work at Our Lady of the Lake University
Arizona State University - Skysong came in at #21 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Social Work Schools ranking. Located in the midsize city of Scottsdale, ASU - Skysong is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Full Social Work at Arizona State University - Skysong Report
Yeshiva University came in at #22 in this year’s edition of the Most Popular Social Work Schools ranking. Yeshiva is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of New York.
With a ranking of #23, Boston College did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for social work students. Boston College is a large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Chestnut Hill.
Loyola University Chicago ranked #24 on this year’s Most Popular Social Work Schools list. Located in the large city of Chicago, Loyola Chicago is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.
Washington University in St Louis did quite well in this year’s ranking of the most popular schools for social work students. It came in at #25 on the list. WUSTL is a large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Saint Louis.
Rest of the Top Most Popular Social Work Schools
Additional Noteworthy Schools
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also popular but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Most Popular Social Work Schools award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee | Milwaukee, WI |
| 51 | University of Chicago | Chicago, IL |
| 52 | University of Kansas | Lawrence, KS |
| 52 | University of New England | Biddeford, ME |
| 54 | Troy University | Troy, AL |
| 55 | Edinboro University of Pennsylvania | Edinboro, PA |
| 56 | University of Nevada - Reno | Reno, NV |
| 57 | San Jose State University | San Jose, CA |
| 58 | University of South Carolina - Columbia | Columbia, SC |
| 58 | Tulane University of Louisiana | New Orleans, LA |
| 60 | Baylor University | Waco, TX |
| 61 | University of Oklahoma Norman Campus | Norman, OK |
| 61 | The University of Texas at Austin | Austin, TX |
| 61 | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Champaign, IL |
| 64 | Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global | Marion, IN |
| 65 | California State University - Northridge | Northridge, CA |
| 66 | University of Connecticut | Storrs, CT |
Social Work by Region
View the Most Popular Social Work Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
Social Work Related Majors
One of 5 majors within the area of study, social work has other similar majors worth exploring.
Most Popular Majors Related to Social Work
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Public Administration | 13,571 |
| Public Policy | 3,737 |
| Human Services | 1,277 |
| Community Organization & Advocacy | 741 |
| Other Public Administration | 295 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
- 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.
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