Top colleges in California by 10-year ROI
Executive Summary
Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in California with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. California Institute of Technology leads this list at $754,420 (10 Yr. ROI).
Leaders: top 3
California Institute of Technology
10 Yr. ROI
$754,420
Stanford University
10 Yr. ROI
$541,500
Harvey Mudd College
10 Yr. ROI
$514,302
Top 25 Top colleges in California by 10-year ROI
| Rank | Institution | State | Control | Enrollment | 10 Yr. ROI | Also see |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California Institute of Technology | CA | Private nonprofit | 987 | $754,420 | Grad 89.8% · Net $8,509 |
| 2 | Stanford University | CA | Private nonprofit | 7,554 | $541,500 | Grad 91.6% · Net $12,307 |
| 3 | Harvey Mudd College | CA | Private nonprofit | 921 | $514,302 | Grad 93.3% · Net $39,347 |
| 4 | Claremont McKenna College | CA | Private nonprofit | 1,388 | $427,256 | Grad 89.9% · Net $26,039 |
| 5 | Cal Poly Maritime Academy | CA | Public | 804 | $408,474 | Grad 58.4% · Net $17,793 |
| 6 | University of California-Berkeley | CA | Public | 33,068 | $381,926 | Grad 93.7% · Net $14,538 |
| 7 | Loma Linda University | CA | Private nonprofit | 909 | $353,614 | Grad — · Net $25,018 |
| 8 | California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo | CA | Public | 21,996 | $342,856 | Grad 86.6% · Net $18,832 |
| 9 | University of California-San Diego | CA | Public | 34,948 | $341,416 | Grad 86.0% · Net $14,794 |
| 10 | West Coast University-Anaheim-Orange County | CA | Private for-profit | 3,192 | $329,248 | Grad 25.0% · Net $36,240 |
| 11 | Northeastern University Oakland | CA | Private nonprofit | 464 | $311,583 | Grad — · Net $30,622 |
| 12 | San Jose State University | CA | Public | 27,601 | $310,868 | Grad 67.7% · Net $14,241 |
| 13 | Pomona College | CA | Private nonprofit | 1,666 | $308,188 | Grad 92.1% · Net $18,978 |
| 14 | University of California-Los Angeles | CA | Public | 33,475 | $305,481 | Grad 92.8% · Net $14,659 |
| 15 | California State University-East Bay | CA | Public | 9,809 | $304,298 | Grad 49.0% · Net $6,858 |
| 16 | University of California-Davis | CA | Public | 32,253 | $300,586 | Grad 85.7% · Net $14,318 |
| 17 | California State Polytechnic University-Pomona | CA | Public | 25,042 | $297,224 | Grad 67.8% · Net $9,404 |
| 18 | University of California-Irvine | CA | Public | 30,197 | $296,494 | Grad 86.6% · Net $13,866 |
| 19 | University of Southern California | CA | Private nonprofit | 20,443 | $291,672 | Grad 90.2% · Net $33,056 |
| 20 | California State University-Fullerton | CA | Public | 38,546 | $284,860 | Grad 67.9% · Net $5,115 |
| 21 | Santa Clara University | CA | Private nonprofit | 6,552 | $284,845 | Grad 87.3% · Net $50,570 |
| 22 | San Francisco State University | CA | Public | 18,639 | $278,230 | Grad 50.3% · Net $9,803 |
| 23 | University of California-Santa Barbara | CA | Public | 23,113 | $276,296 | Grad 83.6% · Net $16,807 |
| 24 | West Coast University-Ontario | CA | Private for-profit | 2,671 | $275,088 | Grad 55.6% · Net $47,072 |
| 25 | California State University-Stanislaus | CA | Public | 8,385 | $275,068 | Grad 52.2% · Net $3,565 |
Method notes
- Underlying institution file: EDsmart Data processed College Scorecard extract merged to the IPEDS 2024 directory for HBCU and Carnegie fields.
- Cohort applied on this page: enrollment floor of 200 undergraduates; sorted highest first on 10 Yr. ROI; 100 campuses met every filter and the top 25 are published.
- Ties on the ranked metric are broken by enrollment, then institution name, so ranks stay stable between rebuilds.
- ROI column matches the processed college_roi_rankings series in this site build; see College Scorecard ROI methodology.
- How the 10-year ROI figure is built: median earnings reported 6, 8, and 10 years after entry (years 7 and 9 linearly interpolated) are summed across years 6–10, then average annual net price × typical years enrolled (five for bachelor’s-predominant campuses) is subtracted. It is a nominal-dollar gap—not discounted to present value, and it does not subtract earnings foregone while enrolled or compare against a no-college baseline. Campuses reporting only one of the three earnings years are excluded from these tables.
- School profile links use generated slugs; not every campus has a published profile page yet—use the Scorecard site as fallback.