2025 Best Cosmetology Associate Degree Schools in California
4Colleges in California
257Associate Degrees
Cosmetology is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #81 most popular associate degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
College Factual reviewed 4 schools in California to determine which ones were the best for associate degree seekers in the field of cosmetology. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 257 associate degrees in cosmetology during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Cosmetology School for Your Associate Degree
The cosmetology associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality cosmetology program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
The overall quality of a associate degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their associate degree from the school. After all, your associate degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How much a school focuses on cosmetology students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other cosmetology students want to attend this school to pursue a associate degree.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How easy is it for cosmetology to pay back their student loans after receiving their associate degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized cosmetology related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for cosmetology students working on their associate degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Cosmetology Associate Degree Schools in California ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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It is difficult to beat Golden West College if you wish to pursue an associate degree in cosmetology. Located in the large suburb of Huntington Beach, Golden West College is a public college with a fairly large student population.More information about a associate in cosmetology from Golden West College
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).
by our College Data Analytics Team
The cosmetology associate degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality cosmetology program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
