University of Louisville Social Work (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Social Work
- Public university
- Louisville, KY
- About 62 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
University of Louisville social work graduates earn about what social work graduates earn nationally, $35,257 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $25,209 in federal loans, close to the national median of $26,579. Several Kentucky programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Kentucky and national columns are the medians across all social work bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, University of Louisville graduates earn less than the national figure but about $4,203 more than the Kentucky median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Kentucky social work program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Kentucky 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 34% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $267 a month, or 9.1% 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.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
87% of graduates (26 of 30) were working in Kentucky one year after graduating. Prices in the Louisville area are about 7% below the national average, so a $35,257 salary here buys what about $37,881 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
$59,100Median pay in Kentucky. 8,470 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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
$76,960Median pay in Kentucky. 2,280 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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
$64,080Median pay in Kentucky. 1,980 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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
$42,570Median pay in Kentucky. 1,360 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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 University of Louisville
Social Work ranks 21st of 34 bachelor's programs at University of Louisville by first-year earnings. The top three are Electrical Engineering ($77,732), Industrial Engineering ($74,163), and Computer Engineering ($72,710).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $35,257 one year after graduating and $47,126 five years after. The median across social work bachelor's programs in Kentucky is $35,257.
The median federal loan balance is $25,209, which ranks the lowest of 9 social work bachelor's programs in Kentucky. That works out to about $267 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 72% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 72%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Kentucky programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 87% (26 of 30) were working in Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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