2025 Best General Psychology Master's Degree Schools in California

Ranked #34 in popularity, general psychology is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

In 2025, College Factual analyzed 24 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best General Psychology Master's Degree Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,327 master's degrees in general psychology to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great General Psychology School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of general psychology for getting your master'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. 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 make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

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 general psychology students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of general psychology students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• 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 much debt general psychology students go into to obtain their master'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 general psychology related body.

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

More Ways to Rank General Psychology Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best General Psychology Master's Degree Schools in California list, to help you choose the best school for you.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study General Psychology in California

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in general psychology.

10 Top California Schools for a Master's in Psychology

1

University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

34 Annual Graduates

University of California - Los Angeles is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in general psychology. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in general psychology from University of California - Los Angeles

2

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA

12 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in general psychology has to look into University of Southern California. USC is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Los Angeles.More information about a master’s in general psychology from University of Southern California

3

University of California - Davis
Davis, CA

16 Annual Graduates

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in general psychology needs to take a look at University of California - Davis. Located in the suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a master’s in general psychology from University of California - Davis

4

Pepperdine University
Malibu, CA

269 Annual Graduates

$47,132 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in general psychology has to check out Pepperdine University. Located in the suburb of Malibu, Pepperdine is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.

Master's students who receive their degree from the psychology program make about $47,132 for their early career.

More information about a master’s in general psychology from Pepperdine University

5

California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA

37 Annual Graduates

CSULB is a fairly large public university located in the city of Long Beach.More information about a master’s in general psychology from California State University - Long Beach

6

San Diego State University
San Diego, CA

23 Annual Graduates

$62,663 Median Starting Salary

SDSU is a fairly large public university located in the city of San Diego.

Those general psychology students who get their master's degree from San Diego State University receive $9,581 more than the typical psychology grad.

More information about a master’s in general psychology from San Diego State University

7

California State University - Fullerton
Fullerton, CA

36 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Fullerton, Cal State Fullerton is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in general psychology from California State University - Fullerton

8

Azusa Pacific University
Azusa, CA

35 Annual Graduates

$47,262 Median Starting Salary

Azusa Pacific is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Azusa.

Students who graduate with their master's from the psychology program state that they receive average early career wages of $47,262.

More information about a master’s in general psychology from Azusa Pacific University

9

California State University - Fresno
Fresno, CA

20 Annual Graduates

$70,238 Median Starting Salary

Fresno State is a very large public university located in the city of Fresno.

General Psychology master's degree recipients from California State University - Fresno get an earnings boost of around $17,156 over the average earnings of general psychology majors.

More information about a master’s in general psychology from California State University - Fresno

10

The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

96 Annual Graduates

$45,558 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Los Angeles, The Chicago School Los Angeles Campus is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Soon after graduating, psychology master's recipients generally earn around $45,558 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in general psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles

Best General Psychology Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Washington	183	42
Oregon	158	24
Nevada	105	5
Hawaii	85	10

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Psychology

General Psychology is one of 24 different types of Psychology programs to choose from.

Psychology Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
General Psychology	1,327

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology	5,685
Other Psychology	272
Child Development & Psychology	205

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 BruceBlaus. More about our data sources and methodologies.