Which California applied mathematics program has the lowest debt?

USC reports the lowest median federal debt, $12,251, with first-year pay of $71,622.

How much do applied mathematics graduates earn in California?

The median across 8 California applied mathematics bachelor's programs is $56,789 in the first year after graduating and $95,412 five years after.

How many applied mathematics bachelor's programs are in California?

8 California programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 8 of them also report federal debt.

Applied Mathematics (Bachelor's) Programs in California, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

8 programs report first-year pay
8 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Applied Mathematics

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California applied mathematics bachelor's program pays its graduates $56,789 in their first year, $3,529 less than the national median. UC Berkeley reports the highest first-year pay ($71,814), and USC the lowest median debt ($12,251).

Median first-year pay$56,789National $60,318

Median pay after 5 years$95,412National $89,670

Median federal debt$15,133National $20,655

Debt-to-earnings28%National 36%

All 8 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	UC BerkeleyBerkeley · public	$71,814	$144,689	$14,598	20%
2	USCLos Angeles · private nonprofit	$71,622	$94,658	$12,251	17%
3	UCLALos Angeles · public	$61,188	$95,647	$14,400	24%
4	UC Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara · public	$59,638	$109,292	$17,000	29%
5	UC DavisDavis · public	$53,940	$95,412	$14,750	27%
6	UC San DiegoLa Jolla · public	$42,859	$79,708	$15,516	36%
7	San Diego StateSan Diego · public	$42,856	Not reported	$24,563	57%
8	UC MercedMerced · public	$39,138	$79,461	$16,497	42%

Debt and first-year pay at every California applied mathematics 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 the 8 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

UC Berkeley$71,814
USC$71,622
UCLA$61,188
UC Santa Barbara$59,638
UC Davis$53,940

Lowest median debt

USC$12,251
UCLA$14,400
UC Berkeley$14,598
UC Davis$14,750
UC San Diego$15,516

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to applied mathematics, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Financial and Investment Analysts

$109,110

Median pay in California. 45,380 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $72,840Top 10%: $198,280

Data Scientists

$141,590

Median pay in California. 39,310 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 35% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $77,480Top 10%: $224,920

Natural Sciences Managers

$210,230

Median pay in California. 14,950 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $130,730Top 10%: $330,050

Financial Risk Specialists

$129,110

Median pay in California. 5,740 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 4,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $76,610Top 10%: $208,360

Common questions

UC Berkeley in Berkeley reports the highest median first-year pay, $71,814. Its median federal debt is $14,598.

Applied Mathematics (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked38 programs by pay and debt

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.
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.
Medians are across the applied mathematics bachelor's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024