Which California computer engineering program has the lowest debt?

UC Davis reports the lowest median federal debt, $12,804, with first-year pay of $96,418.

How much do computer engineering graduates earn in California?

The median across 19 California computer engineering bachelor's programs is $75,692 in the first year after graduating and $124,405 five years after.

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

19 California programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 19 of them also report federal debt.

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

19 programs report first-year pay
19 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Computer Engineering

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California computer engineering bachelor's program pays its graduates $75,692 in their first year, $3,223 less than the national median. Cal Poly SLO reports the highest first-year pay ($111,560), and UC Davis the lowest median debt ($12,804).

Median first-year pay$75,692National $78,915

Median pay after 5 years$124,405National $107,903

Median federal debt$19,086National $24,500

Debt-to-earnings26%National 31%

All 19 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	$111,560	$146,406	$20,556	18%
2	Santa Clara UniversitySanta Clara · private nonprofit	$103,804	$191,635	$24,666	24%
3	UC DavisDavis · public	$96,418	$146,640	$12,804	13%
4	UC San DiegoLa Jolla · public	$96,256	$154,498	$18,497	19%
5	UC Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara · public	$91,387	$139,942	$14,410	16%
6	UC Santa CruzSanta Cruz · public	$79,969	$137,877	$23,392	29%
7	UC IrvineIrvine · public	$79,812	$115,244	$19,233	24%
8	Cal State Long BeachLong Beach · public	$79,809	$108,748	$15,759	20%
9	San Diego StateSan Diego · public	$76,812	Not reported	$16,248	21%
10	CSUNNorthridge · public	$75,692	Not reported	$19,548	26%
11	Fresno StateFresno · public	$75,101	$131,127	$30,486	41%
12	California Baptist UniversityRiverside · private nonprofit	$75,087	$83,205	$27,000	36%
13	Cal Poly PomonaPomona · public	$70,768	$102,133	$20,250	29%
14	Sacramento StateSacramento · public	$66,266	$107,734	$17,500	26%
15	UC RiversideRiverside · public	$65,049	$117,682	$25,083	39%
16	UC MercedMerced · public	$58,835	$102,036	$19,086	32%
17	Cal State FullertonFullerton · public	$55,093	$113,278	$18,500	34%
18	San Francisco StateSan Francisco · public	$53,180	$111,112	$20,148	38%
19	Cal State San BernardinoSan Bernardino · public	$49,043	$97,972	$18,096	37%

2 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every California computer 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 19 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

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 engineering, 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

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

Software Quality Assurance Analysts and Testers

$128,740

Median pay in California. 27,710 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 10,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $65,890Top 10%: $201,070

Computer Network Architects

$158,870

Median pay in California. 14,870 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $97,070Top 10%: $224,930

Common questions

Cal Poly SLO in San Luis Obispo reports the highest median first-year pay, $111,560. Its median federal debt is $20,556.

Computer Engineering (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked165 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 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