Child Development & Psychology is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #37 most popular bachelor's degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 9 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Child Development & Psychology Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 4,337 bachelor's degrees in child development & psychology to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Child Development & Psychology School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of child development & psychology for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality child development 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
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. 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
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's 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 child development & psychology students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other child development & psychology students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's 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 child development & psychology to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized child development & psychology related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for child development & psychology students working on their bachelor's degree.
The child development 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 Child Development & Psychology Bachelor's Degree Schools in California.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
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It's hard to beat University of California - Irvine if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in child development & psychology. UC Irvine is a fairly large public university located in the city of Irvine.
After graduation, child development bachelor's recipients usually earn around $29,830 at the beginning of their careers.
It is difficult to beat University of California - Santa Barbara if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in child development & psychology. Located in the suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the child development & psychology major at University of California - Santa Barbara get $5,115 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
It is difficult to beat University of California - Davis if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in child development & psychology. Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Bachelor's recipients from the child development & psychology major at University of California - Davis make $2,985 above the typical college grad in this field shortly after graduation.
University of California - Berkeley is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in child development & psychology. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public university located in the city of Berkeley.
Bachelor's recipients from the child development & psychology major at University of California - Berkeley make $5,134 above the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
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.
by our College Data Analytics Team
Your choice of child development & psychology for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality child development program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
