What Your Major Is Worth in California
For a long time, a college degree came with a guarantee, spoken or not: enroll, graduate, and a job and financially secure future would follow. That assumption is no longer taken on faith. Costs have climbed, student debt has become the norm, and the economic return of attending college is in question. Even as the economy demands some sort of college for nearly three-fourths of jobs by 2031, confidence in higher education's ability to deliver on its promise is steadily slipping.
That shift matters most in a state the size of California. With close to 40 million residents and one of the largest, most varied higher education systems in the country — community colleges, the CSU and UC systems, private and for-profit institutions alike — Californians collectively spend billions of dollars and millions of hours earning degrees and certificates every year. They deserve a clear, verifiable answer about what that investment actually returns, field by field and credential by credential, not marketing copy.
That's what this report sets out to provide. Drawing on the most recent earnings data released by the federal government, this analysis examines how earnings vary by field of study and credential level for graduates of California colleges and universities. It is California-specific, covering 397 institutions, 2,991 individual programs, 289,853 graduates, and 230 distinct fields of study throughout the state.
The outcomes in this report aren't intended to rank one major against another. For example, a degree in social work and a degree in computer science exist for different reasons, and both carry a different societal value that goes beyond pure economics. Instead, this report is meant to give prospective students, families, and counselors clear information on the earnings tied to specific fields of study, so that choosing a college and a major can be more informed than in years past.