College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

California State University-Long Beach

Long Beach, CA · Public · Bachelor-granting · 35,924 undergrads · 46% admitted

Do students finish?

69% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?

$22,679/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$90,716 over four years if you finish on time.

What former students go on to earn

The middle 50% of students who received federal aid, measured 10 years after they entered (an earlier entering class — not a guarantee, and not limited to those who graduated). Earnings vary enormously by field of study.

$64,403 median, 10 yrs after entry

25th pct $38,902 median $64,403 75th pct $91,639

76% earn more than a typical high-school graduate (the dashed line above, $28,000 — a fixed, somewhat dated federal benchmark) ten years on.

Your major matters more than your school

The school-wide figure above blends every major together — but pay varies enormously by program. Pick a degree level (and search your major) to compare like-for-like.

Read these on their own terms. Program pay is measured 1 year after completing the program (early career, graduates only) — not the same as the school-wide number above, which is 10 years after a student first enrolled. Don't compare a program figure to the school figure; use the programs to compare majors to each other.

62 Bachelor's programs · $15,531 to $83,777 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt

Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $83,777 $16,743

Construction Engineering Technology/Technician.Bachelor's $83,666 $18,000

Computer Engineering.Bachelor's $68,683 $17,129

Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering.Bachelor's $67,072 $19,000

Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering.Bachelor's $66,374 $25,775

Biomedical/Medical Engineering.Bachelor's $65,701 $15,500

Civil Engineering.Bachelor's $62,480 $15,850

Mechanical Engineering.Bachelor's $61,380 $16,616

Computer Science.Bachelor's $60,701 $14,885

Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences.Bachelor's $49,915 —

Chemical Engineering.Bachelor's $47,727 $16,248

Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technologies/Technicians.Bachelor's $46,366 —

Accounting and Related Services.Bachelor's $45,106 $14,551

Finance and Financial Management Services.Bachelor's $44,864 $14,650

Management Information Systems and Services.Bachelor's $43,803 $12,500

Physics.Bachelor's $43,640 $18,654

Human Resources Management and Services.Bachelor's $43,226 $13,000

Microbiological Sciences and Immunology.Bachelor's $41,546 —

Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $41,174 $15,000

Design and Applied Arts.Bachelor's $40,105 $16,500

Business/Managerial Economics.Bachelor's $39,824 $18,329

Health and Medical Administrative Services.Bachelor's $39,402 $11,000

Marketing.Bachelor's $39,095 $13,750

Economics.Bachelor's $36,911 $18,250

Hospitality Administration/Management.Bachelor's $36,180 $12,500

Geography and Cartography.Bachelor's $36,016 $18,000

Biochemistry, Biophysics and Molecular Biology.Bachelor's $35,185 $11,000

Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Studies.Bachelor's $34,586 $14,750

Ecology, Evolution, Systematics, and Population Biology.Bachelor's $34,271 $17,750

Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $34,094 $13,766

Chemistry.Bachelor's $32,996 $12,430

Social Work.Bachelor's $32,587 $11,716

Criminal Justice and Corrections.Bachelor's $31,210 $15,000

Area Studies.Bachelor's $30,213 $15,348

Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $29,965 $14,000

Journalism.Bachelor's $29,760 $15,000

Sociology.Bachelor's $29,491 $12,713

Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $29,475 $15,000

Family and Consumer Sciences/Human Sciences, General.Bachelor's $29,311 $12,956

Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $29,118 $9,500

International/Globalization Studies.Bachelor's $28,381 $15,000

Public Health.Bachelor's $27,767 $13,200

Human Development, Family Studies, and Related Services.Bachelor's $27,268 $13,500

Psychology, General.Bachelor's $26,891 $11,952

History.Bachelor's $26,582 $13,804

Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $26,031 $14,236

Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $25,974 $16,500

Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies.Bachelor's $25,929 $12,337

Communication Disorders Sciences and Services.Bachelor's $25,872 $12,250

Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $25,102 $14,016

Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services.Bachelor's $24,868 $13,151

Biology, General.Bachelor's $24,556 $12,994

Radio, Television, and Digital Communication.Bachelor's $23,937 $15,000

Mathematics.Bachelor's $23,769 $18,000

East Asian Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $23,737 —

Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services.Bachelor's $23,605 $11,543

English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $23,239 $14,400

Rhetoric and Composition/Writing Studies.Bachelor's $22,522 $15,000

Dance.Bachelor's $21,620 $20,500

Anthropology.Bachelor's $21,124 $11,229

Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $20,025 $15,000

Music.Bachelor's $15,531 $21,050

The Dept. of Education omits programs with too few graduates (to protect privacy), so not every major appears. Pay is a median for federally-aided graduates. Full program detail on the official Scorecard.

Typical federal loan debt

$12,227

≈ 19% of one year's typical earnings here

This counts federal student loans only — not private loans, Parent PLUS loans, or family savings, so the true cost of borrowing is usually higher. And because students who drop out borrow less, a school where many students don't finish can show a deceptively low debt figure — read it next to the completion rate above.

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is an institution-wide median from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. It is not a prediction of what you would earn or owe — a computer-science and a fine-arts graduate of the same school can earn wildly different amounts, and your field of study matters more than your school. It is not a figure for any one program, not proof the school caused the outcome (selective schools admit students who would earn more anyway), and not a "best college" ranking. Earnings and debt cover federally-aided students.

→ The number that actually answers "worth it" is earnings by major — see the by-major breakdown above (89 programs at this school).

Also available: structured data (JSON-LD) · plain text · JSON. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (2026-06-10 release). · school website