Which California biomedical engineering program has the lowest debt?

USC reports the lowest median federal debt, $14,500, with first-year pay of $80,508.

How much do biomedical engineering graduates earn in California?

The median across 15 California biomedical engineering bachelor's programs is $67,170 in the first year after graduating and $107,318 five years after.

How many biomedical engineering bachelor's programs are in California?

15 California programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 14 of them also report federal debt.

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

15 programs report first-year pay
14 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Biomedical/Medical Engineering

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California biomedical engineering bachelor's program pays its graduates $67,170 in their first year, $2,872 more than the national median. Cal Poly SLO reports the highest first-year pay ($81,186), and USC the lowest median debt ($14,500).

Median first-year pay$67,170National $64,298

Median pay after 5 years$107,318National $94,356

Median federal debt$19,939National $23,125

Debt-to-earnings27%National 36%

All 15 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	Cal Poly SLOSan Luis Obispo · public	$81,186	$111,260	$20,500	25%
2	USCLos Angeles · private nonprofit	$80,508	$112,503	$14,500	18%
3	University of the PacificStockton · private nonprofit	$77,099	Not reported	$26,033	34%
4	Southern California Institute of TechnologyAnaheim · private for-profit	$74,115	$74,370	$38,130	51%
5	Santa Clara UniversitySanta Clara · private nonprofit	$73,710	$118,457	$21,390	29%
6	UC BerkeleyBerkeley · public	$73,348	$89,225	$14,896	20%
7	UC DavisDavis · public	$68,419	$105,286	$15,977	23%
8	UC IrvineIrvine · public	$67,170	$109,350	$17,390	26%
9	Cal State Long BeachLong Beach · public	$66,090	Not reported	$15,720	24%
10	UC San DiegoLa Jolla · public	$65,045	$118,528	$20,000	31%
11	UC RiversideRiverside · public	$61,342	$92,140	$19,877	32%
12	UCLALos Angeles · public	$57,874	$114,571	$15,000	26%
13	UC MercedMerced · public	$57,223	$89,244	$21,234	37%
14	UC Santa CruzSanta Cruz · public	$55,856	$98,115	$22,500	40%
15	Stanford UniversityStanford · private nonprofit	$50,487	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported

Stanford University reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every California biomedical engineering 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 14 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Cal Poly SLO$81,186
USC$80,508
University of the Pacific$77,099
Southern California Institute of Technology$74,115
Santa Clara University$73,710

Lowest median debt

USC$14,500
UC Berkeley$14,896
UCLA$15,000
Cal State Long Beach$15,720
UC Davis$15,977

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 biomedical engineering, 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

Bioengineers and Biomedical Engineers

$128,310

Median pay in California. 2,750 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $89,420Top 10%: $179,810

Common questions

Cal Poly SLO in San Luis Obispo reports the highest median first-year pay, $81,186. Its median federal debt is $20,500.

Biomedical Engineering (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked115 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 biomedical engineering 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