Find Schools

Study Area & Zipcode

Best Value Legal Professions Schools in California

Find Schools Near

2023 Best Value Legal Professions Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

22 Colleges
$34,532 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$61,809 Avg Salary

In 2020-2021, 6,896 degrees and certificates were awarded to legal professions students who went to a California college or university. This makes it the #20 most popular major in the state.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value Legal Professions Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 22 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value programs for legal professions 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.

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for legal professions majors pursuing a .

#1

Cerritos College

Norwalk, CA
$1,346 Average Tuition & Fees

Our analysis found Cerritos College to be the best value school for legal professions students who want to pursue a degree in California. Cerritos College is a large public school located in the large suburb of Norwalk.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Cerritos College are $1,346 a year. Legal Professions majors at Cerritos College take out an average of $16,650 in student loans while working on their egree.

Read More…

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Thomas Jefferson School of Law. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Legal Professions Schools in California list. Thomas Jefferson School of Law is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of San Diego.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Thomas Jefferson School of Law

$14,226 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of California - Berkeley. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Legal Professions Schools in California list. Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UC Berkeley are $14,226 per year. On average, legal professions graduates from UC Berkeley take out $15,000 in student loans while working on their degree. For students who choose a 10-year repayment plan, the average monthly student loan payment is $278.

UC Berkeley did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our Best Legal Professions Schools in California list.

Full Legal Professions at University of California - Berkeley Report

$13,258 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 22 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Los Angeles landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UCLA are $13,258 per year.

UCLA also claimed a spot on our Best Legal Professions Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

Read More…

$13,775 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of California - Irvine. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Legal Professions Schools in California list. Located in the city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UC Irvine are $13,775 a year.

Full Legal Professions at University of California - Irvine Report

$14,645 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - Davis did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for legal professions students. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UC Davis are $14,645 a year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UC Davis also is in the top 15% of our Best Legal Professions Schools in California ranking.

Read full report on Legal Professions at University of California - Davis

#7

South Coast College

Orange, CA
$13,106 Average Tuition & Fees

With a ranking of #7, South Coast College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for legal professions students. Located in the city of Orange, South Coast College is a private for-profit college with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at South Coast College are $13,106 a year.

Read full report on Legal Professions at South Coast College

#8

Southwestern Law School

Los Angeles, CA

Southwestern Law School ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Legal Professions Schools in California list. Southwestern Law School is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Southwestern Law School

#9

Loyola Marymount University

Los Angeles, CA
$53,051 Average Tuition & Fees

Loyola Marymount University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Legal Professions Schools in California ranking. Loyola Marymount is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Loyola Marymount are $53,051 per year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Loyola Marymount also did well on our Best Legal Professions Schools in California list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Loyola Marymount University

#10

Trinity Law School

Santa Ana, CA

Trinity Law School did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for legal professions students. It came in at #10 on the list. Trinity Law School is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Santa Ana.

Read full report on Legal Professions at Trinity Law School

Explore all the Best Value Legal Professions Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 892
Oregon 506
Hawaii 128
Nevada 265
Alaska 32

Major Annual Graduates
Law 36,216
Legal Support Services 11,545
Legal Research 6,874
Non-Professional General Legal Studies 4,407
Legal Professions (Other) 2,013

Related Major Annual Graduates
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting 142,610
Public Administration & Social Service 98,583
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies 73,813
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences 4,477

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 22 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 The wub.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

Featured Schools

Find Schools Near You

Our free school finder matches students with accredited colleges across the U.S.