Ranked, compared, and filtered by real data: costs, outcomes, and admissions
No state has built a more deliberately layered higher education system than California. The UC campuses handle research and graduate education, the Cal States focus on workforce development and professional programs, and 116 community colleges serve as a transfer pipeline that moves hundreds of thousands of students toward four-year degrees each year.
The range of options, from Stanford and Caltech to deeply local institutions serving first-generation students, means there is a realistic path for students at nearly every income level.
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See how California's colleges compare to the national average on the four measures most students and families weigh when deciding where to go: cost, acceptance rates, graduate earnings, and graduation rates.
The colleges in California that rank highest by UCD Score, and those that deliver above-national graduate earnings at a below-average net price, two of the strongest signals when choosing a school.
Not every student is looking for the same thing. These six panels rank California's colleges by the data that matters most for each path.
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by net price
Ranked by enrollment
Ranked by grad earnings
Which colleges give you the most for what you spend? These eight schools rank highest in California by the ratio of 10-year graduate earnings to annual net price.
| # | College | Net Price / yr | Earnings (10yr) | Ratio | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Canada College Redwood City | $32 | $50,087 | 1,565.2× | Excellent |
| 2 | College of San Mateo San Mateo | $536 | $54,172 | 101.1× | Excellent |
| 3 | College of the Sequoias Visalia | $480 | $39,092 | 81.4× | Excellent |
| 4 | San Diego Christian College Santee | $992 | $49,766 | 50.2× | Excellent |
| 5 | Skyline College San Bruno | $1,738 | $55,702 | 32.1× | Excellent |
| 6 | Imperial Valley College Imperial | $1,115 | $34,487 | 30.9× | Excellent |
| 7 | Irvine Valley College Irvine | $2,090 | $49,156 | 23.5× | Excellent |
| 8 | Hartnell College Salinas | $2,039 | $44,316 | 21.7× | Excellent |
ROI Ratio = median earnings 10 years after enrollment ÷ annual net price. Higher is better.
The six fields of study with the most annual graduates across all colleges in California, based on IPEDS completion data.
The specific degree programs producing the most graduates across California's colleges. A more granular view than the Popular Majors above, useful when you already know roughly what you want to study and want to see where the volume is.
Careers with a strong employment footprint in California. What graduates from local colleges actually go on to do. State-level employment is shown where the BLS publishes it; national wage + growth shown alongside.
The cities in California with the most colleges, ranked by number of institutions.
Utah crowds 14,137 students into each of its colleges, four times the national norm. These are the states where college options are scarcest per student.
There are 170 colleges that operate a medical school, and they cluster hard. Texas leads with 14, three states hold a fifth of them, and four states have none.
Northeast college graduates earn about $12,700 more a decade out than Southern ones, but they also pay thousands more to get there. The regional split, by the numbers.
Browse our full directory: every college, major, program, and career we track, all built from verified government data.
Scout uses AI and can make mistakes. Verify important numbers on the page.
