2025 Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

Ranked #2 in popularity, nursing is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 44 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 9,158 bachelor's degrees in nursing to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Your choice of nursing for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a bachelor'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 include a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of different 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 bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor'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 many resources a school devotes to nursing students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other nursing students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor'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 much debt nursing students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized nursing related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for nursing students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Nursing Schools

The nursing school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in California.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Nursing in California

Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for nursing students seeking a a bachelor's degree.

10 Top California Schools for a Bachelor's in Nursing

1

Samuel Merritt University
Oakland, CA

511 Annual Graduates

$119,486 Median Starting Salary

$50,559 Median Student Debt

Samuel Merritt University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in nursing. Samuel Merritt University is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Oakland.

Bachelor's recipients from the nursing program at Samuel Merritt University earn $16,221 above the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Samuel Merritt University

2

Loma Linda University
Loma Linda, CA

160 Annual Graduates

$98,610 Median Starting Salary

$32,236 Median Student Debt

Loma Linda University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in nursing. Loma Linda University is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Loma Linda.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program state that they receive average early career income of $98,610.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Loma Linda University

3

University of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

227 Annual Graduates

$101,731 Median Starting Salary

$61,945 Median Student Debt

University of San Francisco is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in nursing. Located in the large city of San Francisco, USFCA is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program state that they receive average early career earnings of $101,731.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of San Francisco

4

Azusa Pacific University
Azusa, CA

558 Annual Graduates

$105,521 Median Starting Salary

$26,200 Median Student Debt

Any student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in nursing has to look into Azusa Pacific University. Located in the suburb of Azusa, Azusa Pacific is a private not-for-profit university with a medium-sized student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the nursing major at Azusa Pacific University get $2,256 more than the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Azusa Pacific University

5

Mount Saint Mary's University
Los Angeles, CA

172 Annual Graduates

$99,457 Median Starting Salary

$27,000 Median Student Debt

MSMU is a small private not-for-profit university located in the city of Los Angeles.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the nursing program make about $99,457 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Mount Saint Mary’s University

6

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

49 Annual Graduates

$94,611 Median Starting Salary

UCLA is a very large public university located in the city of Los Angeles.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program report average early career earnings of $94,611.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of California - Los Angeles

7

California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA

157 Annual Graduates

$100,178 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Soon after graduation, nursing bachelor's recipients typically make about $100,178 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from California State University - Long Beach

8

California State University - Stanislaus
Turlock, CA

135 Annual Graduates

$119,356 Median Starting Salary

Stan State is a moderately-sized public university located in the small suburb of Turlock.

Nursing bachelor's degree recipients from California State University - Stanislaus get an earnings boost of about $16,091 above the typical earnings of nursing majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from California State University - Stanislaus

9

West Coast University - Orange County
Anaheim, CA

973 Annual Graduates

$95,859 Median Starting Salary

$62,391 Median Student Debt

West Coast University - Orange County is a small private for-profit university located in the large city of Anaheim.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program state that they receive average early career earnings of $95,859.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from West Coast University - Orange County

10

West Coast University - Los Angeles
North Hollywood, CA

981 Annual Graduates

$95,859 Median Starting Salary

$62,391 Median Student Debt

West Coast University - Los Angeles is a small private for-profit university located in the large city of North Hollywood.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program state that they receive average early career income of $95,859.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from West Coast University - Los Angeles

Best Nursing Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Washington	226	1,465
Oregon	185	825
Nevada	129	1,271
Hawaii	112	354
Alaska	75	160

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Nursing

Nursing is one of 34 different types of Health Professions programs to choose from.

Nursing Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing	9,054
Nursing Science	54
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing	50

Majors Similar to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Public Health	3,361
Health Sciences & Services	1,799
Communication Sciences	1,211
Health & Medical Administrative Services	1,004
Allied Health Professions	453
Dental Support Services	250
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences	173
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	110
Alternative Medicine & Systems	91
Mental & Social Health Services	83

Notes and References

• 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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle. More about our data sources and methodologies.