Ohio State Social Work (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Social Work
- Public university
- Columbus, OH
- About 163 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Ohio State social work graduates earn about what social work graduates earn nationally, $38,739 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $26,970 in federal loans, close to the national median of $26,579. Several Ohio programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Ohio and national columns are the medians across all social work bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Ohio State graduates earn less than the national figure and about $2,580 less than the Ohio median. Several Ohio programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Ohio social work program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Ohio medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 15% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned slightly more in their first year than other graduates, but borrowed more: a median of $29,604 against $22,275.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $286 a month, or 8.9% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual. Separately, 57 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $17,700.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
93% of graduates (187 of 201) were working in Ohio one year after graduating. Prices in the Columbus area are about 5% below the national average, so a $38,739 salary here buys what about $40,578 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to social work, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Child, Family, and School Social Workers
$51,520Median pay in Ohio. 16,050 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 33,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Social and Community Service Managers
$73,890Median pay in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 18,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Healthcare Social Workers
$63,610Median pay in Ohio. 8,930 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 9% from 2025 to 2035, with about 16,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
$46,080Median pay in Ohio. 6,050 people work in this job in Ohio. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 12,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About Ohio State
Social Work ranks 61st of 98 bachelor's programs at Ohio State by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Engineering ($83,342), Applied Mathematics ($82,523), and Computer and Information Science ($82,448).
Other social work bachelor's programs near Columbus
Common questions
The median graduate earns $38,739 one year after graduating and $44,646 five years after. The median across social work bachelor's programs in Ohio is $37,985.
The median federal loan balance is $26,970, which ranks 4th lowest of 14 social work bachelor's programs in Ohio. That works out to about $286 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 70% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 72%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 5% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Ohio programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 93% (187 of 201) were working in Ohio one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Ohio comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the social work program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024