Which California computer and information science program has the lowest debt?

Cal State LA reports the lowest median federal debt, $13,000, with first-year pay of $45,355.

How much do computer and information science graduates earn in California?

The median across 18 California computer and information science bachelor's programs is $53,881 in the first year after graduating and $87,236 five years after.

How many computer and information science bachelor's programs are in California?

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

Computer and Information Science (Bachelor's) Programs in California, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

18 programs report first-year pay
15 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Computer and Information Sciences, General

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California computer and information science bachelor's program pays its graduates $53,881 in their first year, $6,807 less than the national median. UCLA reports the highest first-year pay ($136,099), and Cal State LA the lowest median debt ($13,000).

Median first-year pay$53,881National $60,688

Median pay after 5 years$87,236National $87,830

Median federal debt$18,879National $24,750

Debt-to-earnings34%National 40%

All 18 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	$136,099	$218,770	$15,248	11%
2	UC BerkeleyBerkeley · public	$88,030	Not reported	$13,550	15%
3	UC DavisDavis · public	$84,343	$143,465	$14,282	17%
4	Westmont CollegeSanta Barbara · private nonprofit	$83,026	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
5	Loyola Marymount UniversityLos Angeles · private nonprofit	$79,763	Not reported	$26,000	33%
6	Point Loma Nazarene UniversitySan Diego · private nonprofit	$71,111	Not reported	$25,000	35%
7	CSUNNorthridge · public	$55,931	$82,112	$19,007	34%
8	California Baptist UniversityRiverside · private nonprofit	$55,001	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
9	San Diego StateSan Diego · public	$54,244	$87,236	$16,375	30%
10	UC IrvineIrvine · public	$53,517	$122,422	$20,000	37%
11	San Francisco StateSan Francisco · public	$52,288	$82,648	$19,716	38%
12	University of La VerneLa Verne · private nonprofit	$52,160	Not reported	$25,000	48%
13	Chico StateChico · public	$49,967	$90,685	$20,886	42%
14	Cal State Dominguez HillsCarson · public	$49,916	$60,375	$18,750	38%
15	Cal State Channel IslandsCamarillo · public	$45,552	$92,421	Not reported	Not reported
16	Cal State LALos Angeles · public	$45,355	$69,513	$13,000	29%
17	Cal State San BernardinoSan Bernardino · public	$42,180	$77,323	$16,119	38%
18	Fresno StateFresno · public	$39,954	$80,652	$13,570	34%

Westmont College, California Baptist University, and Cal State Channel Islands report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every California computer and information science 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 15 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

UCLA$136,099
UC Berkeley$88,030
UC Davis$84,343
Westmont College$83,026
Loyola Marymount University$79,763

Lowest median debt

Cal State LA$13,000
UC Berkeley$13,550
Fresno State$13,570
UC Davis$14,282
UCLA$15,248

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 computer and information science, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Software Developers

$174,410

Median pay in California. 284,390 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 95,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $105,060Top 10%: $272,670

Computer and Information Systems Managers

$218,290

Median pay in California. 94,720 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 16% from 2025 to 2035, with about 53,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $129,970Top 10%: $325,970

Computer Systems Analysts

$127,720

Median pay in California. 59,060 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $79,110Top 10%: $181,770

Network and Computer Systems Administrators

$106,440

Median pay in California. 26,170 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 13,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $72,400Top 10%: $166,730

Common questions

UCLA in Los Angeles reports the highest median first-year pay, $136,099. Its median federal debt is $15,248.

Computer and Information Science (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked402 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 computer and information science 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