Which UC Davis major has the lowest debt?

Microbiology graduates leave with a median of $11,000 in federal loans, the lowest among 56 UC Davis bachelor's programs that report debt.

How much does UC Davis cost?

In-state tuition and fees are $16,774 a year, and $50,974 for out-of-state students. After grants and scholarships, the average net price is $14,741 a year.

How many UC Davis programs report graduate pay?

57 bachelor's programs at UC Davis report first-year pay, and 56 of them also report federal debt.

UC Davis Programs, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

University of California-Davis
Public university
Davis, CA
32,253 undergraduates

College Scorecard June 2026 release

The short answer

57 UC Davis bachelor's programs report what graduates earn. Computer Engineering pays the most in the first year ($96,418), and Film and Photography the least ($19,258). The median program pays $38,954.

In-state tuition and fees$16,774Per year. Out-of-state $50,974

Average net price after aid$14,741Per year

Graduation rate86%Within 6 years

Admission rate42%Of applicants

All 57 bachelor's programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in California" compares first-year pay with the same field's bachelor's programs across California. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	Program	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Rank in California
1	Computer EngineeringAbout 102 graduates a year	$96,418	$146,640	$12,804	3rd of 19
2	Computer and Information ScienceGraduates a year not reported	$84,343	$143,465	$14,282	3rd of 18
3	EngineeringGraduates a year not reported	$82,956	$124,810	$15,000	2nd of 2
4	Mechanical EngineeringAbout 153 graduates a year	$75,231	$99,885	$15,000	10th of 26
5	Civil EngineeringAbout 133 graduates a year	$75,165	$98,091	$16,101	8th of 20
6	Materials EngineeringAbout 26 graduates a year	$74,110	Not reported	$18,777	2nd of 3
7	Aerospace EngineeringAbout 79 graduates a year	$71,633	$98,457	$19,058	5th of 9
8	Biomedical EngineeringAbout 87 graduates a year	$68,419	$105,286	$15,977	7th of 15
9	Chemical EngineeringAbout 61 graduates a year	$68,337	$109,456	$16,000	5th of 10
10	BiotechnologyAbout 75 graduates a year	$59,156	$93,489	$11,985	2nd of 4
11	Business EconomicsGraduates a year not reported	$54,546	$91,429	$13,000	2nd of 8
12	Applied MathematicsAbout 94 graduates a year	$53,940	$95,412	$14,750	5th of 8
13	Management ScienceAbout 502 graduates a year	$52,684	Not reported	$12,144	4th of 6
14	Food ScienceAbout 80 graduates a year	$52,084	$72,469	$14,750	3rd of 5
15	EconomicsAbout 417 graduates a year	$50,295	$86,559	$13,000	21st of 35
16	StatisticsAbout 196 graduates a year	$49,264	$107,082	$15,000	5th of 7
17	MicrobiologyAbout 76 graduates a year	$46,005	$90,315	$11,000	7th of 13
18	Other Social SciencesGraduates a year not reported	$45,178	$65,669	$12,790	2nd of 4
19	Other Public and Social ServicesAbout 43 graduates a year	$44,593	$63,217	$14,171	1st of 1
20	Plant ScienceAbout 19 graduates a year	$43,873	Not reported	Not reported	6th of 6
21	Geology and Earth ScienceAbout 19 graduates a year	$43,462	$66,050	$16,416	3rd of 10
22	CommunicationsAbout 288 graduates a year	$42,569	$75,758	$13,000	8th of 39
23	Cognitive ScienceAbout 190 graduates a year	$42,342	Not reported	$15,000	4th of 8
24	Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyAbout 160 graduates a year	$42,266	$87,815	$11,208	10th of 19
25	ChemistryAbout 91 graduates a year	$42,204	$81,776	$14,000	17th of 23
26	GeneticsAbout 87 graduates a year	$41,334	$78,152	$14,293	1st of 1
27	Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical SciencesAbout 57 graduates a year	$40,002	$82,523	$13,470	1st of 2
28	Pharmacology and ToxicologyAbout 18 graduates a year	$39,202	$73,345	$11,811	2nd of 2
29	Environmental Science and ConservationAbout 241 graduates a year	$38,954	$74,836	$15,200	6th of 24
30	Cell Biology and AnatomyAbout 49 graduates a year	$37,952	$72,879	$12,000	7th of 10
31	Physiology and PathologyAbout 112 graduates a year	$37,550	$74,551	$14,598	1st of 6
32	Political ScienceAbout 336 graduates a year	$36,208	$65,407	$14,250	18th of 44
33	BiologyAbout 430 graduates a year	$35,241	$66,924	$13,000	17th of 47
34	International RelationsAbout 125 graduates a year	$34,949	$68,661	$12,416	9th of 12
35	Nutrition ScienceAbout 88 graduates a year	$34,512	$65,993	$14,166	3rd of 9
36	Design and Applied ArtsAbout 240 graduates a year	$32,816	$67,513	$15,000	11th of 27
37	PhilosophyAbout 69 graduates a year	$32,749	Not reported	$13,200	3rd of 15
38	Ethnic, Cultural, and Gender StudiesAbout 160 graduates a year	$32,563	$56,498	$14,155	6th of 21
39	Animal ScienceAbout 304 graduates a year	$32,309	$54,122	$13,625	5th of 5
40	Experimental PsychologyAbout 958 graduates a year	$32,301	$62,401	$13,219	3rd of 8
41	Ecology and EvolutionAbout 44 graduates a year	$32,161	$52,700	$19,951	6th of 10
42	SociologyAbout 287 graduates a year	$32,137	$59,319	$12,600	30th of 42
43	HistoryAbout 116 graduates a year	$31,895	$54,357	$14,593	8th of 30
44	Other PsychologyGraduates a year not reported	$31,345	$64,230	$14,745	2nd of 2
45	Wildlife ScienceAbout 77 graduates a year	$29,896	Not reported	$15,499	1st of 2
46	NeuroscienceAbout 394 graduates a year	$29,765	$67,848	$13,000	6th of 9
47	Romance LanguagesAbout 94 graduates a year	$29,330	$53,788	$14,171	11th of 23
48	MathematicsAbout 84 graduates a year	$29,300	$62,895	$13,000	21st of 23
49	East Asian LanguagesAbout 18 graduates a year	$28,997	$56,513	$15,375	1st of 4
50	AnthropologyAbout 106 graduates a year	$28,059	$55,777	$15,000	10th of 22
51	EnglishAbout 153 graduates a year	$25,477	$50,377	$13,900	18th of 35
52	MusicAbout 26 graduates a year	$24,630	$40,840	$17,500	8th of 24
53	Linguistics and Language StudiesAbout 48 graduates a year	$22,965	$41,582	$16,079	5th of 12
54	Fine and Studio ArtsAbout 68 graduates a year	$22,700	$46,486	$15,061	12th of 29
55	Area StudiesAbout 25 graduates a year	$21,527	Not reported	$14,167	8th of 8
56	TheatreAbout 16 graduates a year	$19,398	$42,690	$13,000	16th of 23
57	Film and PhotographyAbout 76 graduates a year	$19,258	$50,629	$18,000	22nd of 25

Program names link to the program's own page, and California ranks link to the full ranking for the field. A program gets its own page when it reports both pay and debt and at least five California programs in the field do too.

2 more bachelor's programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Microbiology$11,000
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology$11,208
Pharmacology and Toxicology$11,811
Biotechnology$11,985
Cell Biology and Anatomy$12,000

Largest programs

Experimental PsychologyAbout 958 graduates a year
Management ScienceAbout 502 graduates a year
BiologyAbout 430 graduates a year
EconomicsAbout 417 graduates a year
NeuroscienceAbout 394 graduates a year

Common questions

Computer Engineering graduates earn a median of $96,418 in their first year, the most of 57 UC Davis bachelor's programs that report pay.

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Tuition, net price, graduation rate, and admission rate are for the whole school, not one program.
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 rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
NCES, IPEDS tuition and fees, 2023-24, for in-district tuition labels