These CA Colleges Set Grads Up For The Biggest Paychecks. Some May Surprise You.

CALIFORNIA — Forty-eight colleges and universities in California rank in the top 500 best public and private higher-education institutions in the country when it comes to setting up graduates for financial success, according to a ranking by The Wall Street Journal. And of the top 20 schools ranked in the nation, five are located right here in the Golden State.

The 2025 WSJ/College Pulse Best Salaries ranking lists schools in order of their impact on graduates’ salaries and how this relates to the cost of attending the college. The ranking was developed and executed in collaboration with WSJ research partners College Pulse and Statista.

In California, graduates of Stanford University fared best, according to the national ranking. Stanford was ranked second among the top 500 universities across the nation.

According to the rankings, the value added to a Stanford graduate's salary is $86,188. Given the high boost, the data show it takes approximately six months to pay off the average net price to attend the prestigious school.

To conduct its analysis, the WSJ and its research partner, Statista, looked at raw income data 10 or 11 years after students entered college. They then compared this to the extent to which those earnings outpaced expected salaries, using an analysis modeled on research from the Brookings Institution. The analysis also drew on research from the public policy think tank Third Way, which examined how long it would take these premium earners to cover the cost of their four-year degree.

Twenty-one California colleges and universities made it into the top 100 on the WSJ list:

• #2 Stanford University, Private School, Stanford, CA
• #6 California Institute of Technology, Private School, Pasadena, CA
• #7 Harvey Mudd College, Private School, Claremont, CA
• #11 Claremont McKenna College, Private School, Claremont, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $71,533
• #17 San José State University, Public School, San Jose, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $45,850
• #23 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Public School, San Luis Obispo, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $58,455
• #32 San Francisco State University, Public School, San Francisco, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $36,474
• #41 University of California, Berkeley, Public School, Berkeley, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $60,469
• #46 California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Public School, Pomona, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $39,668
• #49 Santa Clara University, Private School, Santa Clara, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $74,596
• #51 California State University, Sacramento, Public School, Sacramento, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $33,095
• #54 University of the Pacific, Private School, Stockton, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $49,883
• #60 University of California, Davis, Public School, Davis, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $47,820
• #68 California State University, Stanislaus, Public School, Turlock, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $30,669
• #71 University of California, San Diego, Public School, La Jolla, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $53,788
• #76 University of California, Merced, Public School, Merced, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $33,874
• #77 University of San Diego, Private School, San Diego, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $52,833
• #80 University of Southern California, Private School, Los Angeles, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $61,775
• #83 California State University, San Marcos, Public School, San Marcos, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $31,218
• #87 University of California, Irvine, Public School, Irvine, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $48,849
• #99 University of San Francisco, Private School, San Francisco, CA, Value Added to Graduate Salary: $57,256

The Wall Street Journal said the top 20 schools nationwide in the ranking are:

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge (private)
2. Stanford University, Stanford, California (private)
3. Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey (private)
4. Georgia Institute of Technology - main campus, Atlanta, Georgia (public)
5. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (private)
6. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (private)
7. Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, California (private)
8. Babson College, Babson Park, Massachusetts (private)
9. Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla (public)
10. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (private)
11. Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, California (private)
12. Milwaukee School of Engineering (private)
13. Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (private)
14. Bentley University, Waltham, Massachusetts (private)
15. Michigan Technological University, Houghton (public)
16. Colorado School of Mines, Golden (public)
17. San Jose State University, San Jose, California (public)
18. Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (private)
19. Kettering University, Flint, Michigan (private)
20. Manhattan University, Bronx, New York (private)

Private universities claimed 36 of the top 50 spots on the salary list, with prestigious private colleges and universities prominent in the upper tier. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology topped the list, but other schools with robust STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) were also prominent in the top 15: No. 4 Georgia Tech, No. 6 California Institute of Technology and No. 7 Harvey Mudd College, No. 9 Missouri University of Science and Technology, No. 12 Milwaukee School of Engineering, and No. 15 Michigan Technological University.

» See the full Best Salaries ranking and more about the methodology on The Wall Street Journal.