US College Programs

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

  • 5 programs report first-year pay
  • 5 also report federal debt
  • Bachelor's in Architecture

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California architecture bachelor's program pays its graduates $50,917 in their first year, $3,375 more than the national median. Cal Poly SLO reports the highest first-year pay ($60,634), and UC Berkeley the lowest median debt ($15,000).

Median first-year pay$50,917National $47,542
Median pay after 5 years$76,376National $67,636
Median federal debt$27,500National $27,000
Debt-to-earnings49%National 57%

All 5 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.

Debt and first-year pay at every California architecture 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 5 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

  1. Cal Poly SLO$60,634
  2. Cal Poly Pomona$57,514
  3. UC Berkeley$50,917
  4. Woodbury University$49,410
  5. University of San Francisco$37,556

Lowest median debt

  1. UC Berkeley$15,000
  2. University of San Francisco$27,000
  3. Cal Poly SLO$27,500
  4. Cal Poly Pomona$28,000
  5. Woodbury University$41,750

Lowest debt for the pay

  1. UC Berkeley29%
  2. Cal Poly SLO45%
  3. Cal Poly Pomona49%
  4. University of San Francisco72%
  5. Woodbury University84%

"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 architecture, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Architectural and Engineering Managers

$210,280

Median pay in California. 29,630 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 14,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $137,900Top 10%: $296,130

Architects, Except Landscape and Naval

$108,540

Median pay in California. 13,270 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 6,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $75,640Top 10%: $171,160

Common questions

Cal Poly SLO in San Luis Obispo reports the highest median first-year pay, $60,634. Its median federal debt is $27,500.

Related pages

Architecture (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked67 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 architecture 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

  1. U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
  2. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
  3. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
  4. NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024