Free tool · federal data

What does this major pay at different colleges?

Pick a major, a degree level and a state. You get what graduates of each college's program earned four years after graduating and what they borrowed in federal loans, from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard, with the national median for the same program as the yardstick.

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Economics, bachelor's programs in California

Among 25 California bachelor's programs in Economics with federal earnings data, Claremont McKenna College graduates earn the highest median, $146,524 four years after graduating, with a median federal debt of $12,000. University of California, Berkeley follows at $135,050. The national median for bachelor's graduates in the same program is $82,686. (2017-19 graduates, measured 2022-23, College Scorecard.)

Programs with data
25
Highest median
$146,524
National median
$82,686
The link opens this exact comparison.
Economics, bachelor's programs in California: median earnings four years after graduating and median federal debt, in order of earnings.
CollegeMedian earnings, 4 yrs aftervs national medianDebt borrowed at this college (median)
Claremont McKenna College$146,524+77%$12,000
University of California, Berkeley$135,050+63%$12,650
Santa Clara University$121,307+47%$19,500
Occidental College$103,164+25%$23,000
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo$98,927+20%$17,500
University of California-Santa Barbara$98,178+19%$13,440
University of California, Los Angeles$95,440+15%$15,000
University of Southern California$94,435+14%$13,850
Loyola Marymount University$88,682+7%$20,125
University of California-San Diego$87,307+6%$14,667
University of California-Irvine$83,937about the same$15,004
Sonoma State University$83,668about the same$19,000
California State University-San Marcos$83,339about the same$18,620
University of California-Davis$83,248about the same$12,500
San Francisco State University$82,697about the same$13,625
University of California-Santa Cruz$76,382−8%$18,017
San Diego State University$74,123−10%$15,250
California State University-Northridge$72,890−12%$12,500
California State University-Fullerton$71,595−13%$13,750
California State University-Long Beach$71,220−14%$18,250
California State University-Sacramento$70,290−15%$15,493
University of California-Merced$67,692−18%$19,303
University of California-Riverside$66,682−19%$17,666
California State Polytechnic University-Pomona$61,084−26%$8,724
California State University-San Bernardino$54,060−35%$17,000

Ordered by median earnings four years after graduating: one federal measure, not a ranking of program quality.

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The Economics major guideHow much the college matters, by major

What these numbers are

Earnings: graduates of 2017-18 and 2018-19, earnings measured in 2022 and 2023, in 2024 dollars. Only programs with at least 30 graduates in the earnings cohort are listed, and a multi-state system whose figure pools campuses in several states is left out of state lists. Median earnings of graduates who received federal student aid, worked, and were not enrolled in school; debt is the median federal loans borrowed at this college by graduates who borrowed (Direct Subsidized, Unsubsidized and Grad PLUS; not Parent PLUS, private loans or interest). Programs with too few graduates are suppressed by the Department of Education. Federal program group: Economics. Earnings reflect who enrolls and where graduates work as well as the program itself.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field-of-study data, 10 June 2026. Download every program (CSV).