Operations Management · California

Operations Management colleges in California

CampusPin lists 325 U.S. colleges in California that offer Operations Management programs. Compare tuition, acceptance rate, and enrollment in the table below, every figure links back to the institution's official IPEDS data.

Operations management trains you to run the day-to-day production and delivery work of a company, planning output, controlling quality, and keeping plants and processes efficient.

Schools in California that offer Operations Management

Operations Management programs in California: by the numbers

A quick comparison of the 50 schools (of 325 total) listed above, drawn from each institution's published IPEDS data.

Schools listed

325

Public / private

20 / 30

Universities / 2-year

39 / 11

Cities represented

38

In-state tuition range

$1,104–$57,946

Median in-state tuition

$14,275

Lowest published in-state tuition

Barstow Community College

$1,104

Most selective

California Institute of the Arts

26% acceptance

Largest by enrollment

California State University-Fullerton

41,793 students

Figures reflect the schools currently listed and each institution's most recent reported data. Verify current tuition and admissions details with the school before applying.

What you'll study in a Operations Management program

  • Production and operations planning and scheduling
  • Inventory control and materials requirements planning
  • Quality management and Six Sigma or lean continuous improvement
  • Process analysis, flowcharting, and process-simulation labs
  • Demand forecasting and productivity and cost analysis
  • Plant layout, facility design, and capacity planning
  • Supply and logistics coordination with internal operations
  • Project management and operations capstone or practicum
  • Industrial labor relations and frontline workforce supervision

Where a Operations Management degree can lead

  • Operations Manager
  • Production Manager
  • Supply Chain Manager
  • Quality Manager
  • Plant Manager
  • Logistics Manager

Typical pay: Early-career wages vary by employer, region, and experience (BLS, 2024 general and operations managers median $102,950).

Operations management is about making the work of an organization actually happen on schedule, at the right cost, and at a consistent level of quality. Students learn how goods get produced and how services get delivered, how to schedule production, lay out a factory floor or service operation, control inventory and materials, maintain equipment, and measure productivity so bottlenecks can be found and fixed. Coursework leans on general management principles alongside quantitative methods: forecasting demand, modeling process flow, analyzing cost, and applying quality and continuous-improvement techniques. It overlaps with supply chain management but is not the same thing, supply chain focuses on the end-to-end movement of materials and goods across suppliers, transportation, and distribution, while operations management centers on running and improving the internal production or service process itself, including plant management, labor relations, and frontline supervision.

The usual credential is a four-year bachelor's degree, often housed in a business school and offered as an operations or production major, a concentration within a broader management or business degree, or as part of an industrial engineering track. Programs typically blend lecture-based courses with hands-on components such as process-simulation labs, case studies of real plants, and a capstone or project in which student teams analyze and redesign an actual operation. Some students pursue voluntary professional certifications in areas like quality or production-and-inventory management, and any specific program's accreditation should be verified directly with the school. Graduates work in settings where physical output or service throughput must be managed, manufacturing plants, warehouses and distribution centers, hospitals and clinics, logistics and transportation firms, retail chains, and service operations such as call centers, often starting in supervisory, planning, or analyst roles before moving into broader operations leadership.

In federal data for the closely related occupation of general and operations managers, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a 2024 median wage of $102,950 and projects employment to grow about 4.4% from 2024 to 2034; a bachelor's degree is the typical entry-level education for that occupation. National figures are occupation-wide medians across all experience levels, not starting wages or graduate outcomes.

Operations Management in other states

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Use CampusPin's filter-first search to narrow 325+ Operations Management programs in California by tuition, school size, acceptance rate, and campus setting.

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