If you pursue a master's degree in social work, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #3 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 12 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Social Work Master's Degree Schools in North Carolina ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 869 master's degrees in social work to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Social Work School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of social work 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. 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 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 Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master'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 many resources a school devotes to social work students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - How many other social work students want to attend this school to pursue a master'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 much debt social work 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 social work related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for social work students working on their master's degree.
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Social Work Master's Degree Schools in North Carolina ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of the best schools in the country for getting a master's degree in social work. UNC Chapel Hill is a very large public university located in the small city of Chapel Hill.
Social Work master's degree recipients from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill receive an earnings boost of about $2,425 above the average income of social work majors.
It is difficult to beat North Carolina State University if you want to pursue a master's degree in social work. NC State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Raleigh.
Soon after graduation, social work master's recipients usually make an average of $46,981 in their early careers.
East Carolina University is a great option for students interested in a master's degree in social work. ECU is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Greenville.
Master's recipients from the social work program at East Carolina University get $3,913 more than the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
It is hard to beat University of North Carolina at Charlotte if you want to pursue a master's degree in social work. Located in the large city of Charlotte, UNC Charlotte is a public university with a fairly large student population.
After graduation, social work master's recipients generally earn about $47,275 at the beginning of their careers.
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).
Your choice of social work 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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
