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Best Public & Social Service Schools in California

2023 Best Public & Social Service Schools in California

33 Colleges
$50,986 Avg Salary
$22,122 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Public Administration & Social Service School for You

With 8,979 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, public administration and social service is the #16 most popular major in California.

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.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Public & Social Service Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 33 schools in California to see which programs offered the best educational experiences for students.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best Public Administration & Social Service Schools in California

Check out the public administration and social service programs at these schools if you want to get the best education that money can buy.

Top 10 Best Public Administration & Social Service Schools

Our 2023 rankings named University of California - Berkeley the best school in California for public administration and social service students. Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a fairly large student population.

While working on their degree, public administration and social service majors at UC Berkeley accumulate an average of around $13,045 in student debt.

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The excellent programs at San Jose State University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best public administration and social service schools in California. Located in the large city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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Out of the 33 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Southern California landed the # 3 spot on the list. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.

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The excellent programs at University of California - Los Angeles helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best public administration and social service schools in California. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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#5

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA

Out of the 33 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of San Francisco landed the # 5 spot on the list. USFCA is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of San Francisco.

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Golden Gate University - San Francisco did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best schools for public administration and social service students. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the large city of San Francisco, Golden Gate University - San Francisco is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

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#7

San Diego City College

San Diego, CA

San Diego City College came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Public & Social Service Schools in California ranking. Located in the city of San Diego, San Diego City College is a public college with a fairly large student population.

While working on their degree, public administration and social service majors at San Diego City College accumulate an average of around $8,012 in student debt.

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With a ranking of #8, California State University - Stanislaus did quite well on this year’s best schools for public administration and social service students. Located in the suburb of Turlock, Stan State is a public college with a large student population.

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With a ranking of #9, California State University - Fresno did quite well on this year’s best schools for public administration and social service students. Fresno State is a fairly large public school located in the city of Fresno.

Public Administration & Social Service majors at Fresno State take out an average of $11,042 in student loans while working on their egree.

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With a ranking of #10, California State University - Long Beach did quite well on this year’s best schools for public administration and social service students. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public school with a very large student population.

The average amount in student loans that public administration and social service majors at CSULB take out is $12,434.

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Best Public Administration & Social Service Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Public Administration & Social Service Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 1,252
Oregon 832
Hawaii 396
Nevada 610
Alaska 121

Public Administration & Social Service Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Social Work 58,326
Public Administration 16,905
Human Services 13,238
Public Policy 6,430
Community Organization & Advocacy 3,096
Other Public Administration 588

Related Major Annual Graduates
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting 142,610
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies 73,813
Legal Professions 61,055
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences 4,477

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • 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 University of the Fraser Valley.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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