California Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal for best novel by a California author, Tortilla Flat (1935)
California Commonwealth Club's Gold Medal for best novel by a California author, In Dubious Battle (1936)
New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, Of Mice and Men (1938)
National Book Award, The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Pulitzer Prize, The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
King Haakon VII Liberty Cross (1946)
Member of American Academy of Arts and Letters (1948)
Nobel Prize for Literature (1962)
Honorary Consultant in American Literature to the Library of Congress (1963)
Trustee of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library (1964)
United States Medal of Freedom (1964)
Annual Paperback of the Year Award (1964)
Press Medal of Freedom (1964)
Member of the National Arts Council (1966)
California Hall of Fame (2007)