If you pursue a master's degree in accounting, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #10 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 27 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Accounting Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,073 master's degrees in accounting to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Accounting School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of accounting for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality accounting program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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 accounting students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other accounting students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
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.
Student Debt - How easy is it for accounting to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized accounting related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for accounting students working on their master's degree.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Accounting Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list to help you make the college decision.
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University of Washington - Seattle Campus is a good decision for students pursuing a master's degree in accounting. UW Seattle is a fairly large public university located in the city of Seattle.
Soon after graduating, accounting master's recipients generally earn an average of $72,420 in their early careers.
Saint Mary's College of California is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in accounting. Located in the large suburb of Moraga, SMC is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Master's recipients from the accounting degree program at Saint Mary's College of California get $6,340 above the average college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.
University of San Diego is a wonderful decision for individuals interested in a master's degree in accounting. Located in the large city of San Diego, USD is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a master’s in accounting from University of San Diego
Loyola Marymount University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in accounting. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in accounting from Loyola Marymount University
Golden Gate University - San Francisco is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of San Francisco.
Master's recipients from the accounting degree program at Golden Gate University - San Francisco make $20,053 more than the standard college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the city of San Diego, SDSU is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the accounting degree program at San Diego State University get $3,331 above the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
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).
Your choice of accounting for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality accounting program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
