Which California business economics program has the lowest debt?

UC Davis reports the lowest median federal debt, $13,000, with first-year pay of $54,546.

How much do business economics graduates earn in California?

The median across 8 California business economics bachelor's programs is $53,047 in the first year after graduating and $89,065 five years after.

How many business economics bachelor's programs are in California?

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

Business Economics (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 Business/Managerial Economics

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California business economics bachelor's program pays its graduates $53,047 in their first year, $960 more than the national median. UCLA reports the highest first-year pay ($83,604), and UC Davis the lowest median debt ($13,000).

Median first-year pay$53,047National $52,087

Median pay after 5 years$89,065National $79,847

Median federal debt$17,666National $22,419

Debt-to-earnings38%National 42%

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	UCLALos Angeles · public	$83,604	$118,000	$17,332	21%
2	UC DavisDavis · public	$54,546	$91,429	$13,000	24%
3	Westmont CollegeSanta Barbara · private nonprofit	$54,457	$88,820	$25,000	46%
4	Chapman UniversityOrange · private nonprofit	$54,064	$89,309	$22,977	42%
5	UC Santa CruzSanta Cruz · public	$52,029	$89,932	$16,500	32%
6	UC IrvineIrvine · public	$44,277	$74,617	$15,000	34%
7	Cal State Long BeachLong Beach · public	$38,967	$66,980	$18,329	47%
8	UC RiversideRiverside · public	$37,496	$62,909	$18,000	48%

Debt and first-year pay at every California business economics 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

Lowest median debt

UC Davis$13,000
UC Irvine$15,000
UC Santa Cruz$16,500
UCLA$17,332
UC Riverside$18,000

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 business economics, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Management Analysts

$101,460

Median pay in California. 137,280 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 94,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $61,360Top 10%: $174,970

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

Economists

$119,410

Median pay in California. 860 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.

Bottom 10%: $74,030Top 10%: $207,380

Survey Researchers

$83,520

Median pay in California. 1,180 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 600 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.

Bottom 10%: $52,110Top 10%: $171,640

Common questions

UCLA in Los Angeles reports the highest median first-year pay, $83,604. Its median federal debt is $17,332.

Business Economics (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked75 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 business economics 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