2025 Best Nursing Associate Degree Schools in California

Ranked #2 in popularity, nursing is one of the most sought-after associate degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 74 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Nursing Associate Degree Schools in California ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 5,712 associate degrees in nursing during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Associate Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Associate Degree

Your choice of nursing for getting your associate 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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To take this into account we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a collection of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of associate graduates during the early years of their career. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their associate degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

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 associate 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 nursing to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized nursing related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for nursing students working on their associate 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 Associate Degree Schools in California.

Best Schools for Associate Students to Study Nursing in California

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing an associate degree in nursing. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

14 Top California Schools for an Associate in Nursing

1

Mount Saint Mary's University
Los Angeles, CA

38 Annual Graduates

$64,968 Median Starting Salary

$29,061 Median Student Debt

Any student who is interested in an associate degree in nursing has to check out Mount Saint Mary's University. MSMU is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Los Angeles.

Students who graduate with their associate from the nursing program report average early career earnings of $64,968.

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

2

Modesto Junior College
Modesto, CA

82 Annual Graduates

$99,339 Median Starting Salary

It is hard to beat Modesto Junior College if you want to pursue an associate degree in nursing. Located in the medium-sized city of Modesto, MJC is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Nursing associate degree recipients from Modesto Junior College receive an earnings boost of about $3,260 above the average earnings of nursing graduates.

More information about a associate in nursing from Modesto Junior College

3

Merced College
Merced, CA

54 Annual Graduates

$107,024 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in an associate degree in nursing has to look into Merced College. Merced Community College District is a fairly large public college located in the small city of Merced.

Associate recipients from the nursing major at Merced College earn $10,945 above the standard college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a associate in nursing from Merced College

4

Carrington College, Sacramento
Sacramento, CA

93 Annual Graduates

$104,423 Median Starting Salary

Carrington College, Sacramento is a good option for students pursuing an associate degree in nursing. Carrington College, Sacramento is a small private for-profit college located in the large suburb of Sacramento.

Associate recipients from the nursing major at Carrington College, Sacramento earn $8,344 more than the typical graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a associate in nursing from Carrington College, Sacramento

5

Santa Rosa Junior College
Santa Rosa, CA

100 Annual Graduates

$100,800 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Santa Rosa, SRJC is a public college with a large student population.

Nursing associate degree recipients from Santa Rosa Junior College earn a boost of approximately $4,721 above the average income of nursing majors.

More information about a associate in nursing from Santa Rosa Junior College

6

Riverside City College
Riverside, CA

166 Annual Graduates

$89,869 Median Starting Salary

Riverside City College is a very large public college located in the large city of Riverside.

Soon after graduation, nursing associate recipients typically earn an average of $89,869 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a associate in nursing from Riverside City College

7

Pacific College
Costa Mesa, CA

113 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Costa Mesa, Pacific College is a private for-profit college with a fairly small student population.More information about a associate in nursing from Pacific College

8

City College of San Francisco
San Francisco, CA

84 Annual Graduates

$100,031 Median Starting Salary

City College of San Francisco is a large public college located in the large city of San Francisco.

Those nursing students who get their associate degree from City College of San Francisco receive $3,952 more than the standard nursing grad.

More information about a associate in nursing from City College of San Francisco

9

Southwestern College
Chula Vista, CA

62 Annual Graduates

SWC Chula Vista is a fairly large public college located in the city of Chula Vista.More information about a associate in nursing from Southwestern College

10

Pacific Union College
Angwin, CA

80 Annual Graduates

$110,696 Median Starting Salary

$17,146 Median Student Debt

Located in the rural area of Angwin, PUC is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Associate recipients from the nursing degree program at Pacific Union College get $14,617 more than the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a associate in nursing from Pacific Union College

11

Butte College
Oroville, CA

116 Annual Graduates

$104,268 Median Starting Salary

Butte College is a large public college located in the rural area of Oroville.

Those nursing students who get their associate degree from Butte College earn $8,189 more than the average nursing graduate.

More information about a associate in nursing from Butte College

12

Mt. San Jacinto College
San Jacinto, CA

44 Annual Graduates

$92,087 Median Starting Salary

MSJC is a fairly large public college located in the midsize suburb of San Jacinto.

Soon after graduation, nursing associate recipients generally earn an average of $92,087 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a associate in nursing from Mt. San Jacinto College

13

Yuba College
Marysville, CA

115 Annual Graduates

$117,283 Median Starting Salary

Located in the midsize suburb of Marysville, Yuba College is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

Associate recipients from the nursing degree program at Yuba College get $21,204 above the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a associate in nursing from Yuba College

14

San Joaquin Delta College
Stockton, CA

126 Annual Graduates

$97,843 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Stockton, Delta is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Students who graduate with their associate from the nursing program state that they receive average early career income of $97,843.

More information about a associate in nursing from San Joaquin Delta College

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Nursing Associate Degree Schools in California award.

Rank	College	Location
15	Santa Barbara City College	Santa Barbara, CA
16	College of the Canyons	Santa Clarita, CA
17	San Joaquin Valley College-Ontario	Ontario, CA
18	Fresno City College	Fresno, CA
19	San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia	Visalia, CA
20	Sacramento City College	Sacramento, CA
21	Victor Valley College	Victorville, CA
22	College of the Desert	Palm Desert, CA
23	Moorpark College	Moorpark, CA
24	Ventura College	Ventura, CA

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
Oregon	147	608
Washington	131	1,825
Nevada	112	533
Hawaii	59	135

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	5,712

Most Popular Majors Related to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Allied Health Professions	4,271
Health Sciences & Services	4,204
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services	1,827
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants	1,154
Dental Support Services	801
Health & Medical Administrative Services	797
Mental & Social Health Services	406
Public Health	200
Health/Medical Prep Programs	152
Communication Sciences	135

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.