San Diego State Marketing (Bachelor's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Marketing
- Public university
- San Diego, CA
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
San Diego State marketing graduates earn about what marketing graduates earn nationally, $48,229 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $15,000 in federal loans, less than at 97% of marketing programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying marketing degrees in California.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The California and national columns are the medians across all marketing bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, San Diego State graduates earn more than the national figure and about $7,738 more than the California median.
Debt and first-year pay at every California marketing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the California medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 65% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $4,045 less in their first year than other graduates. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $159 a month, or 4.0% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
89% of graduates (331 of 372) were working in California one year after graduating. Prices in the San Diego area are about 12% above the national average, so a $48,229 salary here buys what about $43,105 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to marketing, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
$94,700Median pay in California. 119,070 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 82,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Sales Managers
$134,910Median pay in California. 112,440 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 47,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Marketing Managers
$193,620Median pay in California. 54,660 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 34,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Web and Digital Interface Designers
$136,110Median pay in California. 27,090 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 8,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About San Diego State
Marketing ranks 14th of 59 bachelor's programs at San Diego State by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($100,221), Construction Engineering Technology ($81,608), and Computer Engineering ($76,812).
Other marketing bachelor's programs near San Diego
Common questions
The median graduate earns $48,229 one year after graduating and $79,506 five years after. The median across marketing bachelor's programs in California is $44,891.
The median federal loan balance is $15,000, which ranks 5th lowest of 13 marketing bachelor's programs in California. That works out to about $159 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 31% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 53%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 5% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several California programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 89% (331 of 372) were working in California one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of California comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the marketing program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024