Best DNP Programs

Los Angeles metro

Best DNP Programs In Los Angeles 2026

Seven accredited institutions spread across two counties, four of them public, at published in-state rates that run from one end of the national range to the other.
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Key Takeaways

  1. 1

    7 accredited institutions, drawn from 6 municipalities. This guide counts the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area rather than the city limits, so the pool is wider than the city name suggests and every campus in it is inside one commute.

  2. 2

    4 public, 3 private, and the cheap end is public. The lowest published in-state rate belongs to a public institution, so residency is the lever here. That figure is one school's published year, not a typical cost, and it excludes fees and clinical expenses.

  3. 3

    Output is concentrated in one school. California State University, Fullerton conferred 51 of the 122 DNP awards recorded across this metro. A number that lopsided says where the cohorts and the placement relationships are, which a ranking position does not.

  4. 4

    1 of 7 reach you at a distance. That many carry the federal distance-education flag, which covers taught content and never the supervised practice hours. Ask for the number of on-campus days and the months they fall in.

Two Counties, Four Publics, And A Commute That Is Part Of The Decision

Four of the seven accredited doctorates here are public, a healthier public share than most large metros manage, and it puts a genuine price ladder in front of a California resident rather than one cheap option and a cliff.

The geography is doing more work here than in any other metro on this site. This is Los Angeles and Orange counties together, and the campuses sit in Azusa, Pomona, Fullerton, Irvine and Aliso Viejo as well as the city itself. Two of them are ninety minutes apart at the wrong hour. A shortlist built on price alone will put schools on it you would not realistically attend.

Only one of the seven carries the federal distance-education flag, so the commute is not easily avoided by enrolling remotely inside the metro. For a reader who cannot drive it, the national distance-flagged field is the more honest place to look.

How This Ranking Is Scored

Three published figures, weighted. Scores are relative to the 6 institutions on this page and to nothing else.

  1. 50%

    Published in-state graduate tuition

    Institution-level. Published annual graduate tuition, not a DNP per-credit rate and not net of aid.

  2. 35%

    Established program

    Program-level. DNP conferrals in this CIP and award level in the reporting year, saturating at 25. Above that a program scores full marks and gains nothing further for size.

  3. 15%

    Institution-wide undergraduate completion

    Institution-level and undergraduate. The IPEDS 150%-of-normal-time rate for first-time, full-time bachelor's students.

Nothing is imputed. A program that does not publish a figure is scored on the ones it does publish, with the remaining weights renormalized; below 2 published figures it is listed without a position rather than ranked on a single number. Accreditation is a condition of appearing at all, not a factor that earns points. What the rubric cannot see.

Accredited Schools In The Los Angeles Metro, Ranked

Ordered on the same three published figures the state guides use: in-state tuition, annual conferrals and completion rate. One row per institution, not per federal filing.

# Program In-state tuition DNP awards UG completion Score of 100
1 of 6 California State University-Fullerton Fullerton, CA · Public $6,084 51 70% 94.5
2 of 6 University of California-Irvine Irvine, CA · Public $12,260 26 87% 90.4
3 of 6 University of California-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA · Public $12,260 11 93% 81.3
4 of 6 University of Massachusetts Global Aliso Viejo, CA · Public · offered online $12,000 11 43% 69.7
5 of 6 Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science Los Angeles, CA · Private nonprofit $23,000 11 30% 52
6 of 6 Azusa Pacific University Azusa, CA · Private nonprofit $43,758 11 62% 32.1

Listed Without A Score

Accredited and in the metro, but publishing too few of the three figures to place on the table above. The gap is in what the institution reports, not in what it teaches.

What This Guide Counts As The Los Angeles Metro

This guide follows the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim metropolitan statistical area, which is Los Angeles and Orange counties together. Two of the seven institutions are in the city of Los Angeles; the rest are in Azusa, Pomona, Fullerton, Irvine and Aliso Viejo, which are between thirty minutes and two hours apart depending on the hour. Treat the commute as a real input here rather than a footnote.

Municipalities Included

  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Azusa, CA
  • Pomona, CA
  • Fullerton, CA
  • Irvine, CA
  • Aliso Viejo, CA

Deliberately Not Included

  • Riverside, CA Loma Linda and the University of California, Riverside sit in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metro, which adjoins this one but is separately delineated.
  • San Marcos and San Diego, CA The San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad metro, two hours south.
  • San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose, CA Northern California, and three separate metros between them.

The Best 6 DNP Programs In Los Angeles, Ranked

Every scored institution above, with what it publishes and what it does not.

Ranked 1 of 6

California State University-Fullerton

Fullerton, CA

94.5 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Public
  • Doctorate (professional)

Fullerton asks for one commitment that decides it for a lot of working nurses: students must be available all day on Fridays for the entirety of the program. The format is hybrid, on-site and online, so that standing Friday is the practical constraint to weigh against a rota before anything else. Admission requires a master’s from a regionally accredited institution and a nursing specialty, and the indirect care track narrows that further to a master’s in nursing leadership, administration, education or community health, so this is a doctorate for nurses who have already specialized. Clinical hours can be completed at your own place of employment. The program has been run by the CSUF School of Nursing since 2023, its predecessor consortium having graduated a final cohort in 2024.

In-State Tuition
$6,084
Out-Of-State
$18,684
DNP Awards
51
UG Completion
70%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 100
  • Established program 100
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 63.5

Visit California State University-Fullerton →

Ranked 2 of 6

University of California-Irvine

Irvine, CA

90.4 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Public
  • Doctorate (research)

Irvine’s post-master’s DNP is a two-year, primarily online commitment written for working professionals, and the family nurse practitioner track is the heavy one at 98 units and 1,020 hours of clinical practice, though California counts in quarter units, so the load is less alarming than it looks. The useful provision is that the clinical hours attached to the scholarly project can be completed at your own place of employment or another agency suited to the project, which removes the hardest logistical problem in the degree for anyone already working somewhere appropriate. Cohorts are small and the school says it turns away qualified applicants. Nurses employed on a career appointment within the University of California system can apply for a $10,000 scholarship.

In-State Tuition
$12,260
Out-Of-State
$44,148
DNP Awards
26
UG Completion
87%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 83.6
  • Established program 100
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 90.5

Visit University of California-Irvine →

Ranked 3 of 6

University of California-Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA

81.3 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Public
  • Doctorate (research)

UCLA attaches a freshness rule to one prerequisite that quietly rules people out: the statistics course has to have been taken within five years of when you matriculate. A course from your bachelor’s a decade ago will not carry, so budget for retaking it. The pediatric practitioner focus is scoped precisely, newborns through young adults up to age 21, which tells you the patient population instead of leaving pediatric to mean whatever you assume. The doctorate carries no distance flag in the federal filing, so this is a Los Angeles program rather than a remote one. Out-of-state tuition runs about three and a half times the in-state rate, which is the number that decides it for most applicants from elsewhere.

In-State Tuition
$12,260
Out-Of-State
$44,148
DNP Awards
11
UG Completion
93%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 83.6
  • Established program 69.9
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 100

Visit University of California-Los Angeles →

Ranked 4 of 6

University of Massachusetts Global

Aliso Viejo, CA

69.7 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Public
  • Doctorate (professional)
  • Offered online

3 DNP tracks at this institution, Family nurse practitioner, Nursing practice (general), Psychiatric-mental health NP. Ranked once, on the largest.

UMass Global’s catalog carries a course most schools would rather you did not read about: a zero-credit independent practicum for students who still need to finish their doctoral project hours or the manuscript, and it carries a continuing candidacy fee. It is graded pass or no pass and needs your project chair’s permission. Projects overrun, and this is what it costs when yours does. The rest is straightforward. Three routes run, a post-master’s base track, a post-master’s route that adds a clinical specialty, and a bachelor’s entry, each with clinical residency courses attached. A gap analysis or degree audit can add an independent doctoral topic credit, so what you take is set against your record rather than fixed in advance.

In-State Tuition
$12,000
Out-Of-State
$12,000
DNP Awards
11
UG Completion
43%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 84.3
  • Established program 69.9
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 20.6

Visit University of Massachusetts Global →

Ranked 5 of 6

Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science

Los Angeles, CA

52 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Private nonprofit
  • Doctorate (professional)

Charles R. Drew runs a 40-credit DNP on a cohort model, so you move through it with the same group rather than assembling a schedule of your own. The format is precepted clinical placements alongside online coursework, and the weekend structure is published rather than left vague: three hours of synchronous class followed by twelve hours of asynchronous study. That ratio is the useful part, because it tells you the live commitment is small and the independent one is not, which is the reverse of how most hybrid programs are described to you. The program holds CCNE accreditation, awarded after the degree launched rather than carried across from an existing one.

In-State Tuition
$23,000
Out-Of-State
$23,000
DNP Awards
11
UG Completion
30%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 55.1
  • Established program 69.9
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 0

Visit Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science →

Ranked 6 of 6

Azusa Pacific University

Azusa, CA

32.1 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Private nonprofit
  • Doctorate (professional)

Azusa Pacific attaches its experience requirement to a point inside the program rather than to admission. The family nurse practitioner track wants eight months of work as a registered nurse before you begin the second year of courses, so you can be admitted while you are still accumulating it, which is not how most schools handle the same requirement. The residency requirement is 1,000 hours, and the school counts leadership experience toward that total alongside clinical work, a broader definition than programs treating the whole thing as patient contact. Admitted students hold their place in the cohort with a nonrefundable deposit, so the commitment lands earlier than at schools admitting on a rolling basis.

In-State Tuition
$43,758
Out-Of-State
$43,758
DNP Awards
11
UG Completion
62%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 0
  • Established program 69.9
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 50.8

Visit Azusa Pacific University →

Choosing A DNP Program In Los Angeles

What studying in the Los Angeles metro changes. The questions that apply wherever you study are on the national ranking page.

Settle your residency before you compare anything else

Across the 3 public institutions in the Los Angeles metro publishing both rates, the out-of-state rate runs a median of 3.6 times the in-state one. At University of California-Irvine the gap is $31,888 a year on its own. Residency is decided by the state under its own rules and a distance program does not confer it, so for an out-of-state applicant this one question is worth more than the difference between most of the programs on this page.

The California board of nursing decides the license, not the diploma

No doctorate confers authority to practice or prescribe. That authority comes from an advanced practice license the state issues and the national certification behind it, which is why a DNP-prepared and a master's-prepared nurse practitioner on the same license prescribe the same things. What varies between states is the licensure requirement itself, so take it from the board rather than from a program page, and take it early: several programs want an active license in the state where your practicum will happen rather than wherever you hold one now, and licensure by endorsement runs to months. What the degree does and does not grant sets out the distinction.

University of Massachusetts Global carries the distance flag

1 of the 7 measured institutions in the Los Angeles metro carry it. That flag records only that taught content can be delivered at a distance. It says nothing about campus days, and nothing about the supervised practice hours, which happen in a building with a preceptor present wherever you enroll. Ask for the number of on-campus days and the months they fall in, because that is what you hold against a roster. Online DNP programs ranks the distance-flagged field nationally.

A metro is a commute, and California is the field

This page covers the institutions inside the Los Angeles area because a campus you can reach on a weekday is a different proposition from one you cannot. It is a narrower field than the one you are actually choosing from: DNP programs in California carries every accredited institution in the state, and for a program you would attend at a distance the metro boundary means nothing at all.

Who Licenses You In The Los Angeles Metro

Practice environment from AANP’s own state fact sheets, read 2026-09-08; AANP last revised the classification 05/2026. Boards from the NCSBN member directory, read 2026-09-08.

California
Restricted Practice
California Board of Registered Nursing

Every institution on this page sits in California, so one board licenses all of them and AANP classifies the jurisdiction as restricted practice. The school does not grant practice authority and never has; the license and the certification behind it do.

The board detail, the full AANP definition and the license verification route are on the state guide: DNP programs in California . AANP is reading state statute rather than issuing a federal designation, and statutes move each legislative session, so confirm with the board before you rely on it.

What The Work Pays In The Los Angeles Metro

BLS OEWS, May 2025, metropolitan area cut for Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, read 2026-09-09. BLS classifies by occupation, not by credential: there is no DNP wage series, and every figure here covers everyone in the occupation regardless of which degree they hold.

OccupationMedian, Los Angeles metroEmployedNational median
Nurse practitioners29-1171$161,47010,060$132,300
Nurse anesthetists29-1151$282,930—$236,590
Registered nurses29-1141$135,560109,360$97,550
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary25-1072$79,6802,350$80,250

Nurse practitioners in the Los Angeles metro have a median of $161,470, across about 10,060 of them, $29,170 above the national $132,300.

A median is the midpoint of what people in the occupation are paid, so half earn less and half earn more; it is not a starting salary and not an offer. The metropolitan cut is a different survey area from the state one, so these figures will not reconcile with the state page and are not meant to. How BLS defines these areas .

Shortage Areas, And The Debt Relief Attached To Them

HRSA designated primary-care Health Professional Shortage Areas, read 2026-09-08. These are state counts, not metro ones.

California, designated areas
576
California, of those rural
232

These figures cover California in full rather than the Los Angeles metro specifically. HRSA publishes designations at the level of the individual area, and rolling them into a metro needs a county crosswalk this guide does not hold, so the state count is what is shown and it is shown as a state count. What follows from it still applies here, because eligibility never attached to a jurisdiction in the first place.

Both federal loan repayment routes open to advanced practice nurses require working at an approved site inside a designated area, and the area’s score sets funding priority when applications outrun the money: Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program and NHSC Loan Repayment Program. HPSA primary-care scores run 0-25; funding priority for loan repayment follows the score.

In a metro that is mostly urban the practical consequence is that eligible sites are a smaller share of the employers you are likely to interview with than the state count suggests, and they are usually federally qualified health centers, public hospital systems and university clinics rather than private practices. Whether a particular employer counts is settled by the program rather than by the designation, so check the site before you take the job.

HRSA’s shortage-area data portal maps the designations to the address. Paying for a DNP covers the routes that do not depend on where you practice, and the state guide breaks the designations down further: California.

Studying From Outside The Los Angeles Metro

1 of the 7 accredited doctorates in the Los Angeles metro carry the federal distance-education flag, which leaves most of the local field expecting you in the room and makes an out-of-state program a real comparison rather than a fallback. Either way it turns on one thing this site cannot answer for you.

Authority to enroll a distance student is set per institution and per state, and the federal flag this page counts records delivery rather than permission, so only the school can answer it. Ask two things before tuition enters the conversation: whether the program can enroll a resident of the Los Angeles metro this cycle, and whether it will place you for supervised clinical hours near where you live.

Which Los Angeles Option Fits Your Situation

Each of these routes to a published figure or a named institution. None is a recommendation, and none is a statement about whether a school will admit you.

If the published price is what decides it: California State University-Fullerton

The lowest published in-state rate among Los Angeles's publics, at $6,084 a year. An annual rate, not a program total, and it assumes residency.

If you are moving to Los Angeles: settle residency before you apply

University of California-Irvine publishes a $31,888 annual gap between its in-state and out-of-state rates, the widest of the 3 Los Angeles publics publishing both. Start with the registrar, not admissions.

If you hold a bachelor's: Azusa Pacific University states that route

Azusa Pacific University's own pages name a bachelor's entry. Others in Los Angeles may take bachelor's entrants too: this site records a route only where the school states it, so an absent name means unread rather than closed.

If you already hold an advanced practice credential: Azusa Pacific University

Azusa Pacific University publishes a post-master's route, the shorter way in when your master's already carries supervised hours. Ask how many transfer; the ceilings differ sharply.

If you cannot relocate: University of Massachusetts Global

University of Massachusetts Global carries the federal distance-education flag. The flag covers taught content only. Supervised hours still happen near you, and campus days are the school's to set, so ask for the count and the months.

What The Figures On This Page Are

Tuition is the institution’s published annual graduate rate, not a per-credit price and not a program total. Awards are conferrals in the reporting year. Completion is the federal undergraduate rate, the weakest input in the model, and no federal series reports DNP completion. Wages are the metropolitan cut of the federal survey, a different survey area from the state one. How this site scores programs sets out each input and its weight in full.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many DNP programs are there in Los Angeles?

7 institutions in the Los Angeles metro hold CCNE accreditation for the Doctor of Nursing Practice. This guide counts the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan statistical area rather than the city limits, so the figure includes institutions in 6 municipalities.

What counts as the Los Angeles metro on this page?

The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan statistical area. In practice that means these municipalities: Los Angeles, CA; Azusa, CA; Pomona, CA; Fullerton, CA; Irvine, CA; Aliso Viejo, CA. Places deliberately left out are listed on this page with the reason.

Is it cheaper to study for a DNP in Los Angeles than online?

Neither is reliably cheaper. Published in-state tuition at a public institution is usually the lowest figure available to someone who qualifies for it, and distance programs charge a single rate to everyone regardless of where they live. Which comes out lower depends entirely on whether you hold in-state status somewhere, so compare the published rates rather than the format.

Do these figures include fees and clinical costs?

No. Every tuition figure on this page is the published rate an institution reports to the federal government, which excludes fees, health insurance, textbooks and the travel a clinical placement can require. Treat it as a floor for comparison between institutions rather than a total cost of attendance.

Related Pages

Sources

  1. 1 CCNE Directory Of Accredited Programs Which institutions hold accreditation.
  2. 2 IPEDS Published tuition, conferrals and completion.
  3. 3 Metro Definition The Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan statistical area, rolled up to the municipalities listed above. Institutions are matched on city and state.

Every federal figure on this site is read from the administering agency’s own page, never from a secondary aggregator, and the reading date is recorded beside it.

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