Best Legal Studies Schools Near Berkeley, CA (2026)

Berkeley, California has 16 accredited schools offering legal studies programs, with tuition ranging from $1,180 to $50,547 per year for indexed programs. Berkeley has a population of about 120,223. Median household income is $108,558 (Census ACS 2023, 5-year). About 75.1% of adults 25+ hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. In the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA metro area, the top-earning legal studies-related role is Lawyer at a median $212,500 annually (BLS OEWS, May 2025).


The accredited institutions listed below are the closest in our directory that offer legal studies programs near Berkeley, ranked by BOC Score and straight-line distance from Berkeley city center. The list is rebuilt from federal IPEDS data on every site update.

No school data available.

Source: IPEDS / College Scorecard (2023 cohort). Browse all California schools on the California legal studies page.


Berkeley is part of the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA metro area (BLS area code 41860). Where MSA-level wages are published, the table below shows MSA medians; otherwise it falls back to California statewide.

OccupationMedian WageSourceCOL-Adjusted (US=100)
Paralegal and Legal Assistant$84,030San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$72,690
Lawyer$212,500San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$183,824
Legal Secretary and Administrative Assistant$79,410San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA$68,694

Source: BLS, May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes wage data at the metro (MSA) and state level – not by individual city.


Berkeley at a Glance

MetricValueSource
Population120,223Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B01003)
Median household income$108,558Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B19013)
Adults 25+ with bachelor’s+75.1%Census ACS 2023 5-yr (B15003)
Regional Price Parity (US=100)115.6 (above U.S. average)BEA RPP 2024


Frequently Asked Questions

Our directory has 16 accredited schools offering legal studies programs near Berkeley. The closest is University of California-Berkeley in Berkeley, CA (0.8 miles), and the farthest of the schools shown is San Joaquin Delta College (52.9 miles). 8 of the highlighted schools are flagged as offering distance education.

Based on BLS OEWS May 2025 wage data, the top-paying legal studies-related roles near Berkeley are: Lawyer ($212,500), Paralegal and Legal Assistant ($84,030), Legal Secretary and Administrative Assistant ($79,410). These reflect MSA-level medians where published, with California statewide fallback for occupations not reported at the metro level.

Should I look at programs in El Cerrito instead of Berkeley?

El Cerrito, CA is 3.6 miles from Berkeley and has its own set of local legal studies programs – see the city’s page. For online programs, distance matters less; for hybrid or in-person formats, comparing both can help.

Berkeley’s median household income of $108,558 (Census ACS 2023) is one input. Online programs let students stay in Berkeley while attending lower-cost out-of-state schools, and California public universities often offer reduced in-state online tuition.

How do I verify a program is accredited?

Confirm institutional accreditation via the U.S. Department of Education database (U.S. Dept. of Education database), and check for any program-specific accreditation listed by the school.


Other Programs Available in Berkeley

Compare every accredited online degree program with city-level data for Berkeley:

Data verified: August 11, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.