Medical Assisting · California

California colleges that awarded Medical Assisting credentials

84 colleges in California reported conferring Medical Assisting credentials to the federal IPEDS collection in 2024-25, and every one of them also awarded in the year before. 42 awarded a degree, and 42 awarded only a certificate. That is a record of credentials already awarded, not confirmation that a program is currently admitting.

Colleges and what they awarded

Largest first by credentials conferred in 2024-25. That order measures the size of the graduating class and nothing else: it is not a ranking, and the largest entry is often a certificate provider rather than the strongest degree program. The credential is labelled on every row for exactly that reason.

Colleges in California that conferred Medical Assisting credentials in 2024-25, with the number awarded and whether any was a degree.
CollegeCredentials awardedHighest level
American Career College-Los Angeles393Certificate only
Santa Ana College320Degree
Concorde Career College-San Diego294Certificate only
Carrington College-Sacramento289Certificate only
American Career College-Anaheim286Certificate only
San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia286Degree
Concorde Career College-San Bernardino276Certificate only
High Desert Medical College235Certificate only
Central Coast College195Certificate only
Fresno City College190Degree
American Career College-Ontario186Certificate only
Contra Costa Medical Career College176Certificate only
Carrington College-Stockton172Certificate only
Carrington College-San Jose163Certificate only
Concorde Career College-Garden Grove151Certificate only
Concorde Career College-North Hollywood148Certificate only
San Joaquin Valley College-Modesto147Degree
San Joaquin Valley College-Fresno141Degree
Carrington College-San Leandro Campus128Certificate only
Pima Medical Institute-San Marcos126Certificate only
West Los Angeles College118Degree
Carrington College-Pleasant Hill Campus113Certificate only
Long Beach City College113Degree
North-West College-West Covina110Certificate only
Pima Medical Institute-Chula Vista110Certificate only
San Joaquin Valley College-Temecula107Degree
San Joaquin Valley College-Bakersfield105Degree
San Joaquin Valley College-Lancaster101Degree
San Joaquin Valley College-Hesperia99Certificate only
Modesto Junior College92Degree
National Career College87Certificate only
Institute of Technology80Certificate only
Gurnick Academy of Medical Arts77Certificate only
Healthcare Career College75Certificate only
MTI College73Certificate only
San Jose City College63Degree
Cerritos College53Degree
Ventura College53Degree
Cerro Coso Community College46Degree
East Los Angeles College46Degree
Cabrillo College44Degree
San Joaquin Valley College-Santa Maria43Degree
Allan Hancock College42Certificate only
North-West College-San Diego41Certificate only
San Joaquin Valley College-Ontario41Certificate only
Antelope Valley Community College District38Degree
Canada College35Degree
Merritt College32Certificate only
San Joaquin Valley College-Rancho Mirage32Degree
City College of San Francisco31Degree
Cosumnes River College31Degree
Moreno Valley College28Degree
Mt San Jacinto Community College District27Degree
San Diego Mesa College27Degree
Santa Rosa Junior College27Degree
Southwestern College27Degree
Platt College-Riverside26Degree
Saddleback College26Certificate only
ATA College24Certificate only
Platt College-Ontario23Degree

Showing the 60 largest of 84.

How much of this field is in California

Credentials awarded
6,965
Share of U.S. total
21%
Colleges awarding it
84
Awarding a degree
42

California colleges conferred 6,965 Medical Assisting credentials in 2024-25, which is 21% of the 33,567 conferred across the 49 U.S. jurisdictions reporting any. Of the 84 colleges here, 42 awarded a degree and 42 awarded only a certificate. These counts measure the size of graduating classes, not program quality, and not how many students are currently enrolled.

What level those credentials were

  • Certificates: 90%, 6,278 credentials.
  • Associate: 10%, 687 credentials.

Most Medical Assisting credentials awarded in California were certificates. The mix here is close to the national pattern for this field. A certificate is a different credential from a degree, not a lesser one, and the level a program awards is set by the program rather than by the student.

We measured how much this varies nationwide, and for most fields the credential level is set by the field rather than the state: is your major a certificate or a degree?

How concentrated it is. The single college with the largest reported graduating class in this field accounted for 6% of California’s Medical Assisting credentials. Activity is spread across several institutions rather than sitting with one.

What these California colleges cost

Median net price across the 57 of these 84 colleges that report it, by family income. Net price is what students receiving federal aid actually paid for the WHOLE college after grants and scholarships, so it is not the price of a Medical Assisting program specifically, and not a quote for any family.

0-30k
$22,458
30-48k
$23,081
48-75k
$23,238
75-110k
$26,054
110k+
$27,120

By the kind of college

The figure above averages very different institutions together. Split by federal sector, for a family earning under $30,000:

Median net price for a family earning under $30,000, by kind of college, among California colleges that reported awarding Medical Assisting credentials.
Kind of collegeCollegesMedian net price
Public two-year19$3,300
Private34$25,719

Sector is the federal classification (IPEDS ICLEVEL and CONTROL). Private covers both nonprofit and for-profit colleges, which CampusPin does not split here because the for-profit sample in a single state is usually too small to publish a median. Each row needs at least five colleges reporting net price, so a sector with fewer is left out rather than estimated.

A family earning under $30,000 paid a median of $22,458 at these colleges, against $27,120 for a family earning over $110,000. Individual colleges vary widely around these medians. See every California college by income band.

What this evidence does and does not prove

This lists colleges that reported conferring credentials in this field to the federal IPEDS completions collection, in both 2023-24 and 2024-25. It does not confirm that any of them is currently admitting students to the program, and a college can appear here after deciding to close it. Confirm with the institution before it affects where you apply.

How this list was built

From the U.S. Department of Education IPEDS completions collection, matched to each college on its exact federal program classification. A college appears only if it conferred credentials in both 2023-24 and 2024-25, which is what separates a running program from one that has already closed.

This page exists because its list of colleges is materially different from that of every closely related field in California — the fields a reader could otherwise mistake it for, such as two engineering disciplines, or nursing and practical nursing. Where a related field resolves to the same colleges, the second page would be the first one with its title changed, and CampusPin does not publish it. Sharing colleges with an unrelated field is different, and not a reason to withhold the page: in most states the same colleges award business, psychology and biology alike, which says something about the colleges rather than about the fields. We measured exactly how often that happens, and published the result: does choosing a major narrow your college list?

What Medical Assisting graduates go on to do

Occupations the federal CIP–SOC crosswalk associates with Medical Assisting, ordered by projected annual openings. National figures: openings and pay do not vary by where you studied, and the crosswalk describes related fields rather than a required or guaranteed path.

Occupations associated with Medical Assisting, with median annual wage, projected annual openings, and the education most entrants hold.
OccupationMedian payOpenings / yrMost entrants hold
Medical Assistants$44,200112,300Postsecondary nondegree award
Health Specialties Teachers, Postsecondary$105,62027,400Doctoral or professional degree

Crosswalk: U.S. Department of Education (NCES), CIP 2020 to SOC 2018. Pay and projections: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2024 wages, Employment Projections). “Most entrants hold” is what BLS observes about people already in the occupation, not a legal requirement, an admission rule, or a guarantee of entry. Projected openings are a projection, not jobs promised.

Questions about Medical Assisting in California

How many colleges in California awarded Medical Assisting credentials?
84 colleges in California reported conferring Medical Assisting credentials to the federal IPEDS completions collection in 2024-25, 42 of them a degree rather than only a certificate. Together they awarded 6,668 credentials in the fields covered.
Does this mean these colleges currently offer Medical Assisting?
Not necessarily. Completions record credentials already awarded, so they confirm a program ran and graduated students. They do not confirm it is still admitting. Every college here also awarded in the prior year, which makes a closed program less likely, but confirm directly with the institution before it affects where you apply.
Is a college missing from this list?
Possibly. A new program with no graduates yet does not appear, and CampusPin matches the federal classification exactly rather than guessing, so a college filing under a neighbouring code is absent. Absence is never evidence a program does not exist.

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