2025 Best Social Work Master's Degree Schools in Minnesota

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.

College Factual looked at 6 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Social Work Master's Degree Schools in Minnesota ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,572 master's degrees in social work to qualified students.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

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.

One Size Does Not Fit All

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 Minnesota ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Social Work in Minnesota

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

Top Minnesota Schools for a Master's in Social Work

1

Augsburg University
Minneapolis, MN

40 Annual Graduates

$59,377 Median Starting Salary

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in social work needs to take a look at Augsburg University. Located in the large city of Minneapolis, Augsburg is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Social Work master's degree recipients from Augsburg University earn a boost of around $4,740 over the typical income of social work majors.

More information about a master’s in social work from Augsburg University

2

St Catherine University
Saint Paul, MN

48 Annual Graduates

St Catherine University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in social work. Located in the city of Saint Paul, St. Kate's is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in social work from St Catherine University

3

The College of Saint Scholastica
Duluth, MN

33 Annual Graduates

$51,351 Median Starting Salary

Every student who is interested in a master's degree in social work has to check out The College of Saint Scholastica. Located in the small city of Duluth, St. Scholastica is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the social work program make about $51,351 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in social work from The College of Saint Scholastica

4

Minnesota State University - Mankato
Mankato, MN

34 Annual Graduates

$57,499 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in social work has to look into Minnesota State University - Mankato. Located in the small city of Mankato, Minnesota State Mankato is a public university with a large student population.

Master's recipients from the social work major at Minnesota State University - Mankato make $2,862 above the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in social work from Minnesota State University - Mankato

5

Saint Cloud State University
Saint Cloud, MN

27 Annual Graduates

$55,463 Median Starting Salary

St. Cloud State University is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Saint Cloud.

Master's students who receive their degree from the social work program make an average of $55,463 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a master’s in social work from Saint Cloud State University

6

University of Minnesota - Duluth
Duluth, MN

30 Annual Graduates

$45,354 Median Starting Salary

UMN Duluth is a medium-sized public university located in the small city of Duluth.

Master's students who receive their degree from the social work program earn about $45,354 for their early career.

More information about a master’s in social work from University of Minnesota - Duluth

Best Social Work Colleges in the Plains States Region

Explore all the Best Social Work Colleges in the Plains States Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Missouri	193	521
Iowa	154	191
Kansas	149	331
Nebraska	123	100
North Dakota	115	74
South Dakota	89	0

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Social Work Related Rankings by Major

Social Work is one of 0 different types of <nil> programs to choose from.

Social Work Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Social Work	1,572

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 Army Medicine. More about our data sources and methodologies.