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Best MBA Programs in California

By David Krug, Co-Founder, CollegeRanker · Updated 2026-05-31 · 43 schools · Agent Insights
43
Schools Analyzed
$71,878
Avg. Earnings (10yr)
69%
Avg. Graduation Rate
$20,643
Avg. Net Price

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This ranking scores 43 institutions on graduation rates, graduate earnings, debt burdens, and social mobility data from Opportunity Insights. Every data point comes from federal sources. No surveys, no opinions.

Social mobility carries the heaviest weight in our algorithm. We use Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card — built on 30 million anonymized tax records — to measure whether a college changes a family's economic trajectory across generations. Schools that take low-income students and launch them into higher earnings rank higher than schools that admit wealthy students and take credit for their success.

The transparency penalty matters here. Schools that don't report their data get scored lower than schools that do. If an institution won't show you its numbers, we think you should know that before you write them a tuition check.

Quick Numbers

Schools ranked 43
Avg. earnings at 10yr $71,878
Avg. graduation rate 69%
Avg. net price $20,643
Avg. median debt $18,144

How We Ranked

MBA programs in California ranked by graduate outcomes and value

Read our full methodology →

Earnings vs. Cost

Each dot is a ranked school. Up = higher earnings. Right = higher cost. Top-left is the best value.

$15K$68K$120K$0$58KNET PRICESan JoseUniversity ofSanta ClaraSan DiegoUniversity of

Graduation Rates

Longer bars = higher graduation rate.

San Jose State University67%University of Southern C…92%Santa Clara University88%San Diego State Universi…77%University of San Diego83%San Francisco State Univ…50%Sonoma State University59%University of the Pacific68%University of California…93%University of Redlands69%Saint Mary's College of …70%University of California…86%California Lutheran Univ…72%University of California…87%Azusa Pacific University63%Loyola Marymount Univers…79%Fresno Pacific University53%Chapman University81%California Polytechnic S…86%Vanguard University of S…56%

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Full Rankings

#1

San Jose State University

San Jose, CA · 27,601 students · Public

85% accepted 67% graduate $78,988 earnings
San's full profile
#2

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA · 20,443 students · Private nonprofit

10% accepted 92% graduate $92,498 earnings
University's full profile
#3

Santa Clara University

Santa Clara, CA · 6,552 students · Private nonprofit

48% accepted 88% graduate $109,183 earnings
Santa's full profile
#4

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA · 35,377 students · Public

36% accepted 77% graduate $64,909 earnings
San's full profile
#5

University of San Diego

San Diego, CA · 5,671 students · Private nonprofit

52% accepted 83% graduate $86,522 earnings
University's full profile
#6

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA · 18,639 students · Public

96% accepted 50% graduate $68,077 earnings
San's full profile
#7

Sonoma State University

Rohnert Park, CA · 5,166 students · Public

93% accepted 59% graduate $65,986 earnings
Sonoma's full profile
#8

University of the Pacific

Stockton, CA · 3,204 students · Private nonprofit

71% accepted 68% graduate $78,445 earnings
University's full profile
#9

University of California-Berkeley

Berkeley, CA · 33,068 students · Public

11% accepted 93% graduate $92,446 earnings
University's full profile
#10

University of Redlands

Redlands, CA · 2,049 students · Private nonprofit

83% accepted 69% graduate $72,690 earnings
University's full profile
#11

Saint Mary's College of California

Moraga, CA · 1,947 students · Private nonprofit

87% accepted 70% graduate $78,812 earnings
Saint's full profile
#12

University of California-Irvine

Irvine, CA · 30,197 students · Public

29% accepted 86% graduate $80,735 earnings
University's full profile
#13

California Lutheran University

Thousand Oaks, CA · 2,296 students · Private nonprofit

76% accepted 72% graduate $68,712 earnings
California's full profile
#14

University of California-San Diego

La Jolla, CA · 34,948 students · Public

27% accepted 87% graduate $84,943 earnings
University's full profile
#15

Azusa Pacific University

Azusa, CA · 2,759 students · Private nonprofit

88% accepted 63% graduate $66,677 earnings
Azusa's full profile
#16

Loyola Marymount University

Los Angeles, CA · 7,094 students · Private nonprofit

45% accepted 79% graduate $78,349 earnings
Loyola's full profile
#17

Fresno Pacific University

Fresno, CA · 1,544 students · Private nonprofit

64% accepted 53% graduate $58,896 earnings
Fresno's full profile
#18

Chapman University

Orange, CA · 7,478 students · Private nonprofit

65% accepted 81% graduate $70,070 earnings
Chapman's full profile
#19

California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo, CA · 21,996 students · Public

31% accepted 86% graduate $90,768 earnings
California's full profile
#20

Vanguard University of Southern California

Costa Mesa, CA · 1,933 students · Private nonprofit

62% accepted 56% graduate $59,541 earnings
Vanguard's full profile
#21

California State University-Fullerton

Fullerton, CA · 38,546 students · Public

91% accepted 70% graduate $62,951 earnings
California's full profile
#22

University of La Verne

La Verne, CA · 3,050 students · Private nonprofit

71% accepted 64% graduate $65,464 earnings
University's full profile
#23

California State Polytechnic University-Pomona

Pomona, CA · 25,042 students · Public

75% accepted 68% graduate $71,902 earnings
California's full profile
#24

Pepperdine University

Malibu, CA · 3,553 students · Private nonprofit

63% accepted 84% graduate $82,939 earnings
Pepperdine's full profile
#25

University of California-Davis

Davis, CA · 32,253 students · Public

42% accepted 85% graduate $80,838 earnings
University's full profile
#26

University of California-Riverside

Riverside, CA · 22,593 students · Public

76% accepted 76% graduate $67,699 earnings
University's full profile
#27

California State University-Stanislaus

Turlock, CA · 8,385 students · Public

98% accepted 56% graduate $63,188 earnings
California's full profile
#28

California State University-Long Beach

Long Beach, CA · 35,924 students · Public

46% accepted 69% graduate $64,403 earnings
California's full profile
#29

Point Loma Nazarene University

San Diego, CA · 3,188 students · Private nonprofit

84% accepted 76% graduate $63,998 earnings
Point's full profile
#30

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA · 5,287 students · Private nonprofit

62% accepted 71% graduate $89,812 earnings
University's full profile
#31

University of California-Merced

Merced, CA · 8,372 students · Public

91% accepted 69% graduate $64,368 earnings
University's full profile
#32

California State University-East Bay

Hayward, CA · 9,809 students · Public

97% accepted 47% graduate $71,401 earnings
California's full profile
#33

Biola University

La Mirada, CA · 3,474 students · Private nonprofit

74% accepted 68% graduate $56,778 earnings
Biola's full profile
#34

Dominican University of California

San Rafael, CA · 1,114 students · Private nonprofit

84% accepted 77% graduate $84,713 earnings
Dominican's full profile
#35

California State University-Northridge

Northridge, CA · 32,691 students · Public

93% accepted 57% graduate $59,115 earnings
California's full profile
#36

California State University-San Bernardino

San Bernardino, CA · 15,023 students · Public

94% accepted 55% graduate $59,977 earnings
California's full profile
#37

California State University-Sacramento

Sacramento, CA · 28,350 students · Public

94% accepted 56% graduate $64,876 earnings
California's full profile
#38

University of California-Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, CA · 17,940 students · Public

66% accepted 75% graduate $68,396 earnings
University's full profile
#39

California State University-Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA · 19,562 students · Public

91% accepted 53% graduate $59,211 earnings
California's full profile
#40

California State University-Channel Islands

Camarillo, CA · 5,013 students · Public

95% accepted 52% graduate $62,152 earnings
California's full profile
#41

California State University-Monterey Bay

Seaside, CA · 6,819 students · Public

97% accepted 61% graduate $59,247 earnings
California's full profile
#42

California State University-Dominguez Hills

Carson, CA · 12,538 students · Public

93% accepted 45% graduate $57,162 earnings
California's full profile
#43

California State University-San Marcos

San Marcos, CA · 14,877 students · Public

95% accepted 54% graduate $62,908 earnings
California's full profile

Sources & Citations

[1]

Chetty, R., Friedman, J., Saez, E., Turner, N., & Yagan, D. (2017). Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility. NBER Working Paper No. 23618.

[2]

U.S. Department of Education. College Scorecard Data. Federal Student Aid, National Center for Education Statistics.

[3]

National Center for Education Statistics. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).

[4]

U.S. News & World Report. Best Business Schools MBA Rankings. Used for MBA program validation.

DK

David Krug

Co-Founder, CollegeRanker

David Krug is the co-founder of CollegeRanker and a data systems architect focused on making institutional research accessible to families. He builds the data pipelines and ranking algorithms that power CollegeRanker, drawing from federal datasets and Raj Chetty's Opportunity Insights research to measure what traditional rankings ignore: whether a college actually changes a family's economic trajectory.