11 Best California Law Schools

There are 18 ABA-accredited law schools in California, and 11 schools were ranked in top 100 U.S. law school ranking with academic excellence.
21 state accredited law schools (non-ABA) are excluded from the best law school selection. You can compare all law schools including state accredited law schools at California law school comparison page.
The below list compares important statistics between the 11 best law schools and all law schools in California.
  • The average LSAT Score of the best law schools is 166.5, which is 4.3 points higher than average score of all California law schools.
  • The average GPA of the best law schools is 3.83, which is 0.15 points higher than average GPA of all California law schools.
  • The average acceptance rate is 18.28%, which is 9.49% lower than average rate of all California law schools.
  • The average yield is 30.77%, while all California law schools's yield is 28.18%
  • In average, 950 students enrolled in ech best law school, which is larger than California' average (836).
  • The students to faculty ratio of the best law schools is 5.3 to 1, which means that a faculty can focus on smaller number of students than other California law schools (5.4 to 1).
  • The average bar exam pass rate of the best law schools is 87.65%, which is higher than California' average (80.91%).

California Best Law Schools Comparison

The following table compares the 11 best California law schools with important statistics.
California Best Law Schools Overview
SchoolU.S. Law School RankingFoundedTuition & FeesLSATGPAPopulationStudents to Faculty
Stanford Law SchoolPrivateStanford, CA21893$82,1221733.966703 to 1
Los Angeles School of LawPublicLos Angeles, CA141949$76,9921713.951,3766 to 1
Gould School of LawPrivateLos Angeles, CA171896$88,4361693.911,5437 to 1
Berkeley School of LawPublicBerkeley, CA241894$84,4761703.921,1284 to 1
Irvine School of LawPublicIrvine, CA312009$76,3961693.805324 to 1
Davis School of Law PublicDavis, CA511965$74,8811653.706065 to 1
Pepperdine University School of LawPrivateMalibu, CA581971$76,1201643.859297 to 1
University of San Diego School of LawPrivateSan Diego, CA651954$70,0911633.849727 to 1
Loyola Law SchoolPrivateLos Angeles, CA681920$74,0261633.741,1146 to 1
University of California College of the Law, San FranciscoPublicSan Francisco, CA751878$65,4771613.711,1554 to 1
Chapman University School of LawPrivateOrange, CA851995$66,9721633.704205 to 1

California Best Law Schools Statistics over the Past 5 Years

The tables below compare tuition, admission statistics, bar exam pass over the past 5 years. The data used is from 2022 to 2026, except bar exam pass rate from 2021 to 2025.