Which California parks and recreation program has the lowest debt?

Fresno State reports the lowest median federal debt, $14,061, with first-year pay of $32,697.

How much do parks and recreation graduates earn in California?

The median across 9 California parks and recreation bachelor's programs is $33,920 in the first year after graduating and $56,924 five years after.

How many parks and recreation bachelor's programs are in California?

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

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

9 programs report first-year pay
8 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California parks and recreation bachelor's program pays its graduates $33,920 in their first year, $114 more than the national median. Cal State East Bay reports the highest first-year pay ($43,700), and Fresno State the lowest median debt ($14,061).

Median first-year pay$33,920National $33,806

Median pay after 5 years$56,924National $49,799

Median federal debt$16,583National $22,741

Debt-to-earnings45%National 66%

All 9 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 State East BayHayward · public	$43,700	Not reported	$20,306	46%
2	Sacramento StateSacramento · public	$40,338	$60,227	$20,024	50%
3	Cal Poly SLOSan Luis Obispo · public	$39,157	Not reported	$16,369	42%
4	Cal State Long BeachLong Beach · public	$35,532	$47,459	$14,500	41%
5	Chico StateChico · public	$33,920	$56,924	$18,179	54%
6	San Diego StateSan Diego · public	$33,692	$62,734	$14,999	45%
7	Fresno StateFresno · public	$32,697	$45,967	$14,061	43%
8	San Francisco StateSan Francisco · public	$28,427	$49,799	$16,797	59%
9	Cal Poly HumboldtArcata · public	$26,224	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported

Cal Poly Humboldt reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every California parks and recreation 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

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.

Common questions

Cal State East Bay in Hayward reports the highest median first-year pay, $43,700. Its median federal debt is $20,306.

Parks and Recreation (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked52 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 parks and recreation 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