2023 Best Value Law Schools in California
Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices
Finding the Best Law School for You
With 4,128 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, law is the #29 most popular major in California.
When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.
To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Law Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 19 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value programs for law students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.
This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.
For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.
Top 10 Best Law Schools
Our 2023 rankings named Thomas Jefferson School of Law the best value school in California for law students. Thomas Jefferson School of Law is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the city of San Diego.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of California - Berkeley. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Law Schools in California list. Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public school with a very large student population.
UC Berkeley undergraduate students pay an average of $14,226 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
UC Berkeley also made our Best Law Schools in California list, coming in at #3.
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A rank of #3 on this year’s list means University of California - Los Angeles is a great value for law students. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public college with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UCLA are $13,258 a year.
In addition to its great value ranking, UCLA is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Law Schools in California list.
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Out of the 19 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Irvine landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public school with a fairly large student population.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UC Irvine are $13,775 per year.
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A rank of #5 on this year’s list means University of California - Davis is a great value for law students. Located in the suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public school with a very large student population.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UC Davis are $14,645 per year.
UC Davis also claimed a spot on our Best Law Schools in California list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.
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Southwestern Law School landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value law programs. Southwestern Law School is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Los Angeles.
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Loyola Marymount University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for law students. It came in at #7 on the list. Loyola Marymount is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Loyola Marymount are $53,051 per year.
Loyola Marymount also claimed a spot on our Best Law Schools in California list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.
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Santa Clara University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Law Schools in California ranking. SCU is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Santa Clara.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at SCU are $55,860 per year.
SCU did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our Best Law Schools in California list.
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With a ranking of #9, Stanford University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for law students. Stanford is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Stanford.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Stanford are $56,169 per year.
Stanford also took the #1 spot in our Best Law Schools in California rankings.
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University of La Verne landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value law programs. Located in the suburb of La Verne, ULV is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
ULV undergraduate students pay an average of $45,850 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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Request InformationBest Value Law Colleges in the Far Western US Region
Explore all the Best Value Law Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Washington | 514 |
| Oregon | 408 |
| Nevada | 166 |
| Hawaii | 109 |
More Law Rankings in California
Law Related Majors for Law
Law is one of 4 different types of programs to choose from.
Majors Similar to Law
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Legal Support Services | 11,545 |
| Legal Research | 6,874 |
| Non-Professional General Legal Studies | 4,407 |
| Legal Professions (Other) | 2,013 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 19 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).
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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