Best psychology colleges in California

Psychology bachelor graduates in California earn a weighted average salary of $47,315 3 years after graduation. This places California graduate earnings in the top 25% nationally. Additionally, psychology graduates earn 17% less than the total graduating bachelor class in the state.

Cost of living is not considered when comparing states.

Our psychology rankings cover 53 of the 72 programs available in California, accounting for 88% of total student graduates. We only include schools with sufficient earnings and/or cost data.

Interested in how we rank schools? Review our ranking methodology.

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20 of 53

#1 in California | #16 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 2.82

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $11,159

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $53,636

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 70%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

Acceptance rate: 96.2% 

Finishing off our list of best-value psychology bachelor’s programs is that of California State University, East Bay (CSUEB), a midsized public university in Hayward, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. CSUEB is both an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander and Hispanic-Serving Institution.

CSUEB offers students the unique opportunity to choose between a BA or BS psychology degree depending on their interests and career aspirations. The Bachelor of Science in Psychology is available with a concentration in either Ergonomics and Human Factors or Industrial/Organizational Psychology.

Students of the Psychology Department can apply the concepts they’ve learned in the classroom in facilities like a state-of-the-art computer lab, shared vivarium, and labs for studying human behavior.

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#2 in California | #21 in Psychology nationally

San Jose State University

San Jose, California

Economic score 3.32

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $14,370

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $55,532

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 76%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#3 in California | #27 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 3.58

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $15,637

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $53,974

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 93%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#4 in California | #29 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 3.86

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $15,674

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $53,955

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 89%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#5 in California | #31 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 3.92

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $4,058

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $43,516

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 70%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

Acceptance rate: 89.1%

Coming in at 10th place in best-value psychology undergraduate degrees in the country is the psychology program at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), a large public university in Carson, California and California State University system member.

CSUDH’s Bachelor of Arts in Psychology program offers a diverse curriculum to choose from. To start, students will need to take statistical analysis, research methods, general education psychology, and quantitative methods. Upper division coursework includes a research experience component focused one of the concentrations below:

  • Personality and Social Psychology
  • Learning and Evolutionary Psychology
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Biological Psychology
  • Forensic and Legal Psychology

Directed research and independent study are also options toward the end of the program.

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#6 in California | #35 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 3.97

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $15,482

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $53,297

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 86%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#7 in California | #40 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 4.29

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $7,485

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $46,506

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 81%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

Acceptance rate: 66.7%

California State University, Fullerton is a public university in Fullerton, in Southern California, and the largest university in the California State University system.

The psychology bachelor’s degree program consists of 3 lower-division courses (introduction to psychology, introduction to statistics in psychology, and research methods in psychology) and upper-division experimental psychology and laboratory courses. Students will also choose between several courses across different subdisciplines, as well as take 300 and 400-level courses.

Students will need to take 8 units to satisfy the university’s upper division writing requirement, which includes a mixture of lecture/discussion and laboratory courses.

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#8 in California | #41 in Psychology nationally

University of the Pacific

Stockton, California

Economic score 4.29

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $23,800

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $57,652

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 74%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#9 in California | #46 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 4.55

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $10,911

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $49,078

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 70%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#10 in California | #53 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 4.96

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $12,426

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $49,370

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 87%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#11 in California | #59 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 5.06

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $7,191

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $45,294

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 62%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

Acceptance rate: 86.5%

California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB), is a midsized public university in Bakersfield, Central California, and designated Hispanic-Serving Institution.

CSUB’s psychology bachelor’s degree program combines foundational courses with flexible opportunities for students to pursue their interests, including supervised applied experiences (a unique feature of the program) and advanced research method courses.

Students choose their own foundational courses, which consist of 2 areas (A and B) and cover key areas like personality, abnormal, and social psychology.

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#12 in California | #65 in Psychology nationally

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, California

Economic score 5.45

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $12,912

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $48,599

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 68%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#13 in California | #75 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 5.79

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $8,721

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $45,416

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 83%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#14 in California | #78 in Psychology nationally

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California

Economic score 5.87

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $29,462

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $55,156

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 93%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#15 in California | #79 in Psychology nationally

National University

San Diego, California

Economic score 5.89

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $29,412

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $54,307

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 69%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#16 in California | #84 in Psychology nationally

University of San Diego

San Diego, California

Economic score 6.04

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $29,725

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $55,078

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 81%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#17 in California | #90 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 6.16

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $6,744

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $44,022

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 71%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

Acceptance rate: 95.4%

California State University, Fresno, or Fresno State, is a large public university in Fresno, California and member of the California State University system.

Fresno State’s Department of Psychology offers a psychology undergraduate degree designed to impart to students a comprehensive understanding of the theory, methodology, and applications of psychology.

To qualify for the psychology major, students will need to have taken introductory courses in psychology, statistics, and the psychology major, as well as research designs and experimental methods.

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#18 in California | #104 in Psychology nationally

Santa Clara University

Santa Clara, California

Economic score 6.69

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $44,133

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $58,545

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 93%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#19 in California | #109 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 6.88

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $15,069

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $47,539

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 90%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

#20 in California | #116 in Psychology nationally
Economic score 7.09

Our economic score ranks programs based on a combination of payback and EarningsPlus. Lower scores are better. Check our methodology page for details and data sources.

Cost $11,649

The median net cost of students who receive federal financial aid. This is lower than the price advertised by the school.

Earnings $45,847

Median earnings of all students 4 years after graduating.

Graduation rate 72%

Graduation rates below the school’s state average are shown in red. Schools with graduation rates in the bottom 25% nationally (49%) are not  displayed.

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