Which California physics program has the lowest debt?

UC Irvine reports the lowest median federal debt, $15,000, with first-year pay of $43,144.

How much do physics graduates earn in California?

The median across 11 California physics bachelor's programs is $50,219 in the first year after graduating and $80,559 five years after.

How many physics bachelor's programs are in California?

11 California programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 10 of them also report federal debt.

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

11 programs report first-year pay
10 also report federal debt
Bachelor's in Physics

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California physics bachelor's program pays its graduates $50,219 in their first year, $1,845 more than the national median. Cal Poly Pomona reports the highest first-year pay ($64,045), and UC Irvine the lowest median debt ($15,000).

Median first-year pay$50,219National $48,374

Median pay after 5 years$80,559National $80,500

Median federal debt$16,800National $23,000

Debt-to-earnings35%National 49%

All 11 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 PomonaPomona · public	$64,045	$74,433	$23,000	36%
2	UCLALos Angeles · public	$60,495	$80,500	$21,100	35%
3	Cal State San BernardinoSan Bernardino · public	$57,114	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
4	Cal State San MarcosSan Marcos · public	$56,018	$80,480	$19,069	34%
5	UC Santa BarbaraSanta Barbara · public	$53,597	$104,149	$15,982	30%
6	UC BerkeleyBerkeley · public	$50,219	Not reported	$15,508	31%
7	UC San DiegoLa Jolla · public	$48,951	$84,411	$16,800	34%
8	UC IrvineIrvine · public	$43,144	Not reported	$15,000	35%
9	Cal State Long BeachLong Beach · public	$42,057	$79,330	$23,229	55%
10	UC Santa CruzSanta Cruz · public	$37,859	Not reported	$16,250	43%
11	UC RiversideRiverside · public	$19,977	Not reported	$19,000	95%

Cal State San Bernardino reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay. 3 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every California physics 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 10 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Cal Poly Pomona$64,045
UCLA$60,495
Cal State San Bernardino$57,114
Cal State San Marcos$56,018
UC Santa Barbara$53,597

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

Secondary School Teachers, Except Special and Career/Technical Education

$101,370

Median pay in California. 99,230 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 63,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $64,600Top 10%: $132,600

Natural Sciences Managers

$210,230

Median pay in California. 14,950 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 9,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $130,730Top 10%: $330,050

Physicists

$207,490

Median pay in California. 5,930 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 1,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: doctoral or professional degree.

Bottom 10%: $125,390Top 10%: $296,740

Common questions

Cal Poly Pomona in Pomona reports the highest median first-year pay, $64,045. Its median federal debt is $23,000.

Physics (Bachelor's) programs in the US, ranked67 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 physics 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